Modal Modernities: Formations of Persian Classical Music and the Recording of a National Tradition

This dissertation studies the modal system of Persian music. While modern Iranian musicians explain their music as a of seven dastgah plus five sub-dastgah called avaz, the dominant interpretation in the ethnomusicology literature describes the Persian modal system as a set of twelve dastgah. Part I of this dissertation studies how the system of seven dastgah and five avaz was introduced to the ethnomusicology literature and how it was simplified as a set of twelve dastgah. Part I shows that the modal system of Persian music was introduced to the ethnomusicology literature by a generation of Persian musicians who were trained in European music and thus were a hybrid of insider and outsider. Part II studies the historical root of the concept of dastgah. Persian writings on modulation from one mode to another date back to the fourteenth century. This theme was developed into a few collections of modes which were meant to help musicians as modulation instruction. Those collections were developed further and found an order which advised musicians to perform modes in sequences. Modulation instructions were titled “shad” in the seventeenth century. During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, the shad was developed further and was renamed dastgah. Part III shows that, while dastgah was an important concept of multi-modal performance, avaz was the general term for Persian modes. Various sources form the nineteenth century and early twentieth century, including musical texts, diaries and travel accounts, old newspapers, early European publications on Persian music, early Persian books on music, and the first catalog of Persian records show that avaz was the general term to refer to Persian modes. Part IV studies the impact of early commercial records on the formation of the Persian modal system. During the first recording session, most labels featured an avaz or a tasnif (song), while seven sets of records were allocated to record the seven dastgah briefly. During the subsequent recording sessions, not only the number of recorded modes decreased, but also more tracks were allocated to the few popular modes. The top ten recorded modes included five avaz that were the central modes of five of the seven dastgah, and five other avaz that became popular through the process of recording. When the seven dastgah were retrieved as an icon of national identity, the five popular avaz retained their modal status but the rest of the avaz were downgraded as pieces of a dastgah only. During the interwar recording sessions, the pattern for coupling tracks on double-sided Persian records was coupling two rhythmic performances in the same mode or two non-rhythmic performances in related modes. Those related modes (avaz) were usually included in a certain dastgah or followed another avaz that was more popular. Each double-sided record became a mode unit, thus, the five popular dastgah were squeezed into one mode while the five popular avaz were extended into smaller dastgah. Table of Contents 8 List of Figures 9 List of Tables 10 List of Charts 12 Acknowledgments 14 Introduction 16 Overview of Chapter Contents 18 Research Question, Background, and Contribution 23 Methodology 29 Source Criticism and Critical Reading 30 Sources 32 Basic Terminology of Persian Music 34 Transliteration and Word Forms 35 Part I: The Dastgāh System in European Writings; The Hybridization of the Outsider-Insider 38 Introduction to Part I 40 Chapter 1: The Earliest Documentations of the Dastgāh in Europe 42 Arsalān Nāser-Homāyun and Alfred Lemaire: A Persian Pianist and his European teacher 42 The Dastgāh System as Described by Alfred Lemaire 60 Chapter 2: The Early Presence of the Dastgāh System in European Musical Literature 66 Chapter 3: The Emergence of the Twelve Dastgāh System in Ethnomusicology Literature 82 Conclusion to Part I 96 Part II: Historical Survey on the Mode Classifications in Persia 100 Introduction to Part II 102 Chapter 4: Classification of Persian Modes Prior to the Dastgāh System 104 The Modal System in Pre-Islamic Persia 104 Modal Classification from the Thirteenth to the Fifteenth Centuries 108 Safavid Symbolic Classification from the Sixteenth to the Eighteenth Centuries 118 Chapter 5: The Emergence of Dastgāh: The Rise of Multimodal Performance 130 Chapter 6: The Establishment of Dastgāh 146 The New Persian Court and Music Patronage 146 Two Sets of Four Dastgāh 149 The Treatise on the Twelve Dastgāh 152 The Twelve Stanzas by Mohtasham 156 Additional Accounts on the Dastgāh System 158 Conclusion to Part II 160 Part III: Āvāz as the Modal Entity of Persian Music in the Nineteenth Century 166 Introduction to Part III 168 Chapter 7: Āvāz in Persian Writings Prior to 1900 170 Musical Writings Prior to 1900 170 Non-Musical Writings Prior to 1900 181 Chapter 8: Āvāz in 1900 to 1920 188 Alfred Lemaire’s Publications 188 The Gramophone’s Persian Catalog 195 Mirza Shafi 204 First Published Persian Book in Music, 1904 and 1914: Bohur-ol-Alhān 209 Chapter 9: Āvāz as the Main Term for Modes, 1920 to 1950 218 Conclusion to Part III 236 Part IV: The Role of the Recording Technology on the Evolution of the Persian Modal System, c.1900-c.1950 240 Introduction to Part IV 242 Chapter 10: Early years of the Recording Industry in Persia 244 Chapter 11: Data Analysis of Mode Names on Labels 252 Chapter 12: Data Analysis of the Double-Sided Records 284 Conclusion to Part IV 296 Conclusion 300 Appendix: Catalogue de disques Persans de la compagnie The Gramophone & Typewriter Ltd. 318 Bibliography 354 Introduction - 9 Part I: The Dastgāh System in European Writings; The Hybridization of the Outsider-Insider - 31 Introduction to Part I - 33 Chapter 1: The Earliest Documentations of the Dastgāh in Europe - 35 Chapter 2: The Early Presence of the Dastgāh System in European Musical Literature - 59 Chapter 3: The Emergence of the Twelve Dastgāh System in Ethnomusicology Literature - 75 Conclusion to Part I - 89 Part II: Historical Survey on the Mode Classifications in Persia - 93 Introduction to Part II - 95 Chapter 4: Classification of Persian Modes Prior to the Dastgāh System - 97 Chapter 5: The Emergence of Dastgāh: The Rise of Multimodal Performance - 123 Chapter 6: The Establishment of Dastgāh - 139 Conclusion to Part II - 153 Part III: Āvāz as the Modal Entity of Persian Music in the Nineteenth Century - 159 Introduction to Part III - 161 Chapter 7: Āvāz in Persian Writings Prior to 1900 - 163 Chapter 8: Āvāz in 1900 to 1920 - 181 Chapter 9: Āvāz as the Main Term for Modes, 1920 to 1950 - 211 Conclusion to Part III - 229 Part IV: The Role of the Recording Technology on the Evolution of the Persian Modal System, c.1900- c.1950 - 233 Introduction to Part IV - 235 Chapter 10: Early years of the Recording Industry in Persia - 237 Chapter 11: Data Analysis of Mode Names on Labels - 245 Chapter 12: Data Analysis of the Double-Sided Records - 277 Conclusion to Part IV - 289 Conclusion - 293 Appendix: Catalogue de disques Persans de la compagnie The Gramophone & Typewriter Ltd. - 311 Bibliography - 347