[Risālah fī ʿilm al-mūsīqī] [رسالة في علم الموسيقي] Shirwānī, Fatḥ Allāh شرواني، فتح الله

Content

An extensive treatise on music theory, also known as the Majallah fī-l-mūsīqī (مجلة في الموسيقي). It is comprised of two parts (قسم) subdivided into chapters (فصل), and is accompanied by numerous tables and diagrams. In a versified preface the treatise is dedicated to the Ottoman Sultan Muḥammad ibn Murād (Mehmet II 'The Conqueror', ruled 1444-46 and 1451-81; f. 169r, line 17).

This text is attributed to Fatḥ Allāh al-Shirwānī (فتح الله الشرواني, d. 1486) based on its similarity to Istanbul Topkapı Sarayı, Ahmet III, 3449. The present recension is an expanded version of the latter, also incorporating material from the work of ʻAbd al-Qādir ibn Ghaybī al-Marāghī (عبد القادر بن غيبي المراغي, d. 1435) but lacking a section of text from the middle of the preface to the end of the introduction (ff. 169v-170r).

The author cites the Kitāb al-Shifā’ (كتاب الشفاء) of Abū ‘Alī al-Ḥusayn ibn ‘Abd Allāh (أبو علي الحسين بن عبد الله), known as Ibn Sīnā (ابن سينا, latinised as Avicenna, 980-1037); the Kitāb al-Adwār (كتاب الأدوار) and al-Risālah al-Sharafīyah (الرسالة الشرفية) of Ṣafī al-Dīn ʿAbd al-Muʾmin ibn Yūsuf al-Urmawī (صفي الدين عبد المؤمن بن يوسف الأرموي, d. 1294); and the latter's student Quṭb al-Dīn al-Shirāzī (قطب الدين الشيرازي, d. 1311).

The present copy was completed on 28 Rabīʻ II 1073/10 Dec 1662 and collated with the exemplar on 9 Rajab 1073/17 February 1663, in the vicinity of Lahore (see colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. , f. 219v, transcribed below).

Contents:

• Preface (incomplete, ff. 168v-169v);
• Introduction (incomplete): on definitions of music and aspects of the musical sciences (ff. 170r-172r);
• Part One: on Composition (القسم الأول في التأليف, ff. 172r-202r) in twelve chapters;
• Part Two: on Rhythm (القسم الثاني في الإيقاع, ff. 202r-215r) in three chapters;
• Conclusion (الخاتمة, ff. 215r-219v).

Begins (f. 168v, lines 1-2 and 6-7):

الحمد لله الذي فضلنا على كثير من عباده المؤمنين وآتانا من كل شيء أن هذا هو

الفضل المبين...

...أما بعد فإني ايها المتوخي في مسارح الأنظار ما يروقك

حلاوته المتحري في مطارع الأفكار ما يشوقك طلاوته...

Ends (f. 219v, line 5):

...فهذا آخر ما أردت إيراده في هذا المجلة والحمد لله أولًا و آخرًا

Colophon Section at the end of a manuscript text. (f. 219v, lines 5-10):

...تمت الرسالة

في يوم شنبه ٢٧ شهر ربيع الثاني سنة ١٠٧٣

در شاه جهانآباد وفرغت عن مقابلتها بالأصل

٩ رجب سنة ١٠٧٣ في حوالي لاهور وأنا قباد

بن عبد الجليل المخاطب بديانتخان

تم تم تم تم

Extent and format

Ff. 168v-219v

It is part of

A collection of fourteen treatises on music theory in Arabic and Persian

556 images

Ref: Or 2361

Written in

Arabic in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript item

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Or 2361, ff 168v-219v

History of this record

Date(s)

27 Rabīʻ II 1073 (AH, Hijri qamari)

Related material

Finding aids

• Farmer, Henry George, The Sources of Arabian Music. An Annotated Bibliography of Arabic Manuscripts which Deal with the Theory, Practice, and History of Arabian Music , (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1965), No. 320, pp. 62-63
• Rieu, Charles, Supplement to the Catalogue of the Arabic Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: The British Museum, 1894), Item 823, IX, p. 560
• Shiloah, Amnon, The Theory of Music in Arabic Writings (c. 900-1900): Descriptive Catalogue of Manuscripts in Libraries of Europe and the U.S.A . (Munich: G. Henle Verlag, 1979), No. 239, pp. 331-34

Select Bibliography

Facsimile edition of Topkapı Ahmet III 3449:

• Shirwānī, Faṭh Allāh, Majallah f ī'l-mūsīqī ( Codex A collection of pages, usually gathered into quires, and bound between covers. on Music ), ed. by Eckhard Neubauer (Frankfurt: Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, 1986)

Translation:

• D’Erlanger, Baron Rodolphe, 'Traité anonyme dédié au Sultan Osmanli Muhammad II (XVeme sicle)', in La musique arabe , Vol. 4 (Paris: Paul Geuthner, 1939), pp. 3-255

Studies:

• Ghrab, Anas, 'Commentaire anonyme du Kitab al-Adwār: Edition critique, traduction et présentation des lectures arabes de l'oeuvre de Ṣafī al-Dīn al-Urmawī' (unpublished doctoral thesis, Université de Paris Sorbonne, 2009)
• Wright, Owen, 'On the concept of a "Timurid music"', Oriente Moderno, 76, pp. 665-81 (1996), p. 668

People & organisations

Maḥmūd ibn Mas‘ūd Quṭb al-Dīn al-ShīrāzīAvicenna‘Abd al-Mu’min ibn Yūsuf UrmawīFatḥ Allāh ibn Shukr Allāh Shirwānī

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[Risālah fī ʿilm al-mūsīqī] [رسالة في علم الموسيقي] Shirwānī, Fatḥ Allāh شرواني، فتح الله, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Or 2361, ff 168v-219v, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100131607039.0x000006> [accessed 11 March 2025]

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