KOMPONIST UND INTERPRETEN

HAMPARSUM LİMONCUYAN

(1768-1839)

Hamparsum Limoncuyan, a famous Armenian composer and developer of musical notation, was born in Istanbul. He was sponsored by an Armenian family Düzyan. He took his first musical training from Zenne Bogos, and went to the Mevlevihânes and churches. In the Beşiktaş Mevlevihâne, he made the acquaintance of kudümzen İsmail Dede Efendi, and began taking lessons from him. He was then given an audience with Sultan Selim III, who encouraged him to work on his notation system. He was the head cantor at the Church of the Virgin Mary. In addition to playing violin and tanbur, he also sang from time to time. With his notation system, he collected many works into six volumes, thus rescuing them from oblivion.