Biography
Born in Istanbul in 1906, Ulvi Cemal Erkin distinguished himself across the twentieth century as a composer, conductor, and educator who played a pivotal part in the evolution of Turkish classical music. He ranked among the Turkish Five, whose efforts produced a singular Turkish idiom by fusing local folk melodies and rhythms with modal tonalities and opulent orchestral writing.
Piano lessons from his mother began in earliest childhood. After his father’s death around 1913, Erkin moved with his mother and two brothers into his maternal grandfather’s household. He later attended Galatasaray Lycée, studying piano there with Mercenier and Adinolfi. A 1925 scholarship from the Turkish Ministry of National Education sent him to the Paris Conservatory, where his teachers included Jean Batalla, Isidor Philipp, and Camile Decreus. Further studies followed with Nadia Boulanger, Jean Galon, and Noel Galon at the École Normale de Musique; he returned to Turkey in 1930 to join the faculty of the Ankara School for Music Teachers.
Two Dances for orchestra received its first performance in 1931. The following year he married pianist Ferhunde Remzi, a colleague at the Ankara School; the couple’s shared musical outlook proved mutually enriching, and she became a leading interpreter of his piano music. The Turkish Music Revolution of the 1930s prompted the founding of the Ankara State Conservatory in 1936, where Erkin was named head of the piano department—a post he held for life except for a brief term as director from 1949 to 1951. He also conducted student ensembles and professional groups such as the Orchestre Colonne, the Paris Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Czech Philharmonic. As a musicologist he took part in 1937 and 1938 collection tours that recorded folk songs throughout Turkey. His 1942 Piano Concerto won the Republican People’s Party composition competition of 1943 and was introduced by Remzi with the Presidential Orchestra.
Health difficulties arose in the late 1950s and grew steadily more severe. Despite this he composed into the late 1960s and remained active at the Conservatory until a fatal stroke ended his life in 1972. His works appear on the recordings Ulvi Cemal Erkin: Symphony No. 2; Violin Concerto; Köçeckçe - Dance Rhapsody, To Anatolia: Selections from The Turkish Five, and Ravel, Schulhoff, Erkin.
Piano lessons from his mother began in earliest childhood. After his father’s death around 1913, Erkin moved with his mother and two brothers into his maternal grandfather’s household. He later attended Galatasaray Lycée, studying piano there with Mercenier and Adinolfi. A 1925 scholarship from the Turkish Ministry of National Education sent him to the Paris Conservatory, where his teachers included Jean Batalla, Isidor Philipp, and Camile Decreus. Further studies followed with Nadia Boulanger, Jean Galon, and Noel Galon at the École Normale de Musique; he returned to Turkey in 1930 to join the faculty of the Ankara School for Music Teachers.
Two Dances for orchestra received its first performance in 1931. The following year he married pianist Ferhunde Remzi, a colleague at the Ankara School; the couple’s shared musical outlook proved mutually enriching, and she became a leading interpreter of his piano music. The Turkish Music Revolution of the 1930s prompted the founding of the Ankara State Conservatory in 1936, where Erkin was named head of the piano department—a post he held for life except for a brief term as director from 1949 to 1951. He also conducted student ensembles and professional groups such as the Orchestre Colonne, the Paris Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the Czech Philharmonic. As a musicologist he took part in 1937 and 1938 collection tours that recorded folk songs throughout Turkey. His 1942 Piano Concerto won the Republican People’s Party composition competition of 1943 and was introduced by Remzi with the Presidential Orchestra.
Health difficulties arose in the late 1950s and grew steadily more severe. Despite this he composed into the late 1960s and remained active at the Conservatory until a fatal stroke ended his life in 1972. His works appear on the recordings Ulvi Cemal Erkin: Symphony No. 2; Violin Concerto; Köçeckçe - Dance Rhapsody, To Anatolia: Selections from The Turkish Five, and Ravel, Schulhoff, Erkin.