Ishaq al-Mawsili
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Ishaq al-Mawsili ( ar, إسحاق الموصلي; 767/772 – March 850) was an Arab musician of
Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
origin active as a composer, singer, music theorist and writer on music. The leading musician of his time in the
Abbasid Caliphate The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
, he served under six successive
Abbasid caliphs The Abbasid caliphs were the holders of the Islamic title of caliph who were members of the Abbasid dynasty, a branch of the Quraysh tribe descended from the uncle of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib. The family came t ...
:
Harun al-Rashid Abu Ja'far Harun ibn Muhammad al-Mahdi ( ar , أبو جعفر هارون ابن محمد المهدي) or Harun ibn al-Mahdi (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Harun al-Rashid ( ar, هَارُون الرَشِيد, translit=Hārūn ...
,
Al-Amin Abu Musa Muhammad ibn Harun al-Rashid ( ar, أبو موسى محمد بن هارون الرشيد, Abū Mūsā Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Rashīd; April 787 – 24/25 September 813), better known by his laqab of Al-Amin ( ar, الأمين, al-Amī ...
,
Al-Ma'mun Abu al-Abbas Abdallah ibn Harun al-Rashid ( ar, أبو العباس عبد الله بن هارون الرشيد, Abū al-ʿAbbās ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hārūn ar-Rashīd; 14 September 786 – 9 August 833), better known by his regnal name Al-Ma'mu ...
,
Al-Mu'tasim Abū Isḥāq Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Rashīd ( ar, أبو إسحاق محمد بن هارون الرشيد; October 796 – 5 January 842), better known by his regnal name al-Muʿtaṣim biʾllāh (, ), was the eighth Abbasid caliph, ruling f ...
,
Al-Wathiq Abū Jaʿfar Hārūn ibn Muḥammad ( ar, أبو جعفر هارون بن محمد المعتصم; 17 April 812 – 10 August 847), better known by his laqab, regnal name al-Wāthiq bi’llāh (, ), was an Abbasid caliph who reigned from 842 un ...
and
Al-Mutawakkil Abū al-Faḍl Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Muʿtaṣim bi-ʾllāh ( ar, جعفر بن محمد المعتصم بالله; March 822 – 11 December 861), better known by his regnal name Al-Mutawakkil ʿalā Allāh (, "He who relies on God") was t ...
. The caliphs and Abbasid court held him in high regard, and his diverse intellect elevated him to a social status that was highly unusual for musicians of the time. Taught by his similarly renowned father
Ibrahim al-Mawsili Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm al-Mawṣilī (; 742–804) was an Arab musician of Persian origin who was among the greatest composers of the early Abbasid period. After Arab and Persian musical training in Ray, Iran, Ray, he was called to the Abbasid ...
and the noted lutenist Zalzal, he succeeded his father in leading the conservative musical establishment, putting him at odds with progressive musicians such as
Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mahdī (; 779–839) was an Abbasid prince, singer, composer and poet. He was the son of the third Abbasid caliph, al-Mahdi, and the half-brother of the poet and musician Ulayya. Ibrahim was contemporary of Abbasid caliph al-Had ...
and
Ziryab Abu l-Hasan 'Ali Ibn Nafi, better known as Ziryab, Zeryab, or Zaryab ( 789– 857) ( ar, أبو الحسن علي ابن نافع, زریاب, rtl=yes) ( fa, زَریاب ''Zaryāb''), was a singer, oud and lute player, composer, poet, and teache ...
. He has appeared in the ''Maqamat'' of
Al-Hariri of Basra Abū Muhammad al-Qāsim ibn Alī ibn Muhammad ibn Uthmān al-Harīrī ( ar, أبو محمد القاسم بن علي بن محمد بن عثمان الحريري), popularly known as al-Hariri of Basra (1054 – 10 September 1122) was an Arab po ...
and ''
One Thousand and One Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...
''.


Life and career


Early life

Modern sources vary on the exact location and birthdate of Ishaq al-Mawsili. The arabist
Everett K. Rowson Everett K. Rowson is an Americans, American scholar and Professor Emeritus of Middle Eastern studies, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University. He is known for his works on the intellectual and social history of the Medieval Islami ...
(in ''
Encyclopædia Iranica ''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times. Scope The ''Encycl ...
'') and the musicologist Eckhard Neubauer (in ''
Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...
'') record 767–768 and 767 respectively (150 AH), while the musicologist Owen Wright (in the ''
Encyclopaedia of Islam The ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' (''EI'') is an encyclopaedia of the academic discipline of Islamic studies published by Brill. It is considered to be the standard reference work in the field of Islamic studies. The first edition was published in ...
'') records 772 (155 AH). With similar contradiction, Rowsen and Wright state that he was born in Ray, while Neubauer records
Arrajan Arrajan (Argan) was a medieval Persian city located between Fars and Khuzestan, which was settled since Elam period and an important in the Sasanian period until the 11th century. It was the capital of a medieval province of the same name, which ...
, though he includes '?', noting uncertainty on the matter. Ishaq's father
Ibrahim al-Mawsili Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm al-Mawṣilī (; 742–804) was an Arab musician of Persian origin who was among the greatest composers of the early Abbasid period. After Arab and Persian musical training in Ray, Iran, Ray, he was called to the Abbasid ...
, an Arab of Persian origin, received Arab and Persian musical training in Ray. Ibrahim met and married Ishaq's mother Šāhak, before the family moved to Abbasid capital of
Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
. The capital was previously Damascus and had only recently become Baghdad upon the
Abbasid dynasty The Abbasid dynasty or Abbasids ( ar, بنو العباس, Banu al-ʿAbbās) were an Arab dynasty that ruled the Abbasid Caliphate between 750 and 1258. They were from the Qurayshi Hashimid clan of Banu Abbas, descended from Abbas ibn Abd al-M ...
's ascendancy; such a shift towards Persia was reflected in the Abbasid society, and Ibrahim was among the many emerging prominent Persian intellectuals of the Caliphate. Ibrahim found considerable acclaim and patronage in the capital, serving under three successive
Abbasid caliphs The Abbasid caliphs were the holders of the Islamic title of caliph who were members of the Abbasid dynasty, a branch of the Quraysh tribe descended from the uncle of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, Al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib. The family came t ...
:
Al-Mahdi Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Manṣūr ( ar, أبو عبد الله محمد بن عبد الله المنصور; 744 or 745 – 785), better known by his regnal name Al-Mahdī (, "He who is guided by God"), was the third Abba ...
, Al-Hadi and
Harun al-Rashid Abu Ja'far Harun ibn Muhammad al-Mahdi ( ar , أبو جعفر هارون ابن محمد المهدي) or Harun ibn al-Mahdi (; or 766 – 24 March 809), famously known as Harun al-Rashid ( ar, هَارُون الرَشِيد, translit=Hārūn ...
. The success of his father allowed Ishaq to be raised "among the cultured elite", being given a comprehensive education in both music and the
Islamic sciences The Islamic sciences ( ar, علوم الدين, ʿulūm al-dīn, lit=the sciences of religion) are a set of traditionally defined religious sciences practiced by Islamic scholars ( ), aimed at the construction and interpretation of Islamic relig ...
. His teachers included the noted literary scholars
Abu Ubaidah ʿĀmir ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Jarrāḥ ( ar, عامر بن عبدالله بن الجراح; 583–639 CE), better known as Abū ʿUbayda ( ar, أبو عبيدة ) was a Muslim commander and one of the Sahabah, Companions of the Prophets ...
and
Al-Asmaʿi Al-Asmaʿi (, ''ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Qurayb al-Aṣmaʿī ''; -828/833 CE), or Asmai; an early philologist and one of three leading Arabic grammarians of the Basra school. Celebrated at the court of the Abbasid caliph, Hārūn al-Rashīd, as p ...
. Ishaq attended a high level of skill in poetry, primarily using traditional styles. He was "known for his scholarly prowess", particularly his knowledge of
philology Philology () is the study of language in oral and writing, written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defin ...
and
jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...
(''
fiqh ''Fiqh'' (; ar, فقه ) is Islamic jurisprudence. Muhammad-> Companions-> Followers-> Fiqh. The commands and prohibitions chosen by God were revealed through the agency of the Prophet in both the Quran and the Sunnah (words, deeds, and ...
''). The caliph
Al-Ma'mun Abu al-Abbas Abdallah ibn Harun al-Rashid ( ar, أبو العباس عبد الله بن هارون الرشيد, Abū al-ʿAbbās ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hārūn ar-Rashīd; 14 September 786 – 9 August 833), better known by his regnal name Al-Ma'mu ...
would later permit him to attend court sessions with literary and legal scholars, rather than musicians, in light of his intellect. Al-Ma'mun would also remark that he would have, in the words of Wright, "appointed him ''
qadi A qāḍī ( ar, قاضي, Qāḍī; otherwise transliterated as qazi, cadi, kadi, or kazi) is the magistrate or judge of a '' sharīʿa'' court, who also exercises extrajudicial functions such as mediation, guardianship over orphans and mino ...
'' judgehad he not already been known as a musician". Ishaq's importance, however, lies chiefly with his musical contributions. His principal teachers were his father Ibrahim and the noted
lute A lute ( or ) is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted. More specifically, the term "lute" can ref ...
nist Zalzal, who was a student of his father. Ishaq would later declare that Zalzal to be the most outstanding lutenist of his time. The singer Atika bint Shuhda was also his teacher, and purportedly taught Ishaq one or two pieces each day for seven years.


Musical career

In a career of over 40 years, Ishaq became both a leading court musician and companion to six caliphs: Harun,
Al-Amin Abu Musa Muhammad ibn Harun al-Rashid ( ar, أبو موسى محمد بن هارون الرشيد, Abū Mūsā Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Rashīd; April 787 – 24/25 September 813), better known by his laqab of Al-Amin ( ar, الأمين, al-Amī ...
,
Al-Ma'mun Abu al-Abbas Abdallah ibn Harun al-Rashid ( ar, أبو العباس عبد الله بن هارون الرشيد, Abū al-ʿAbbās ʿAbd Allāh ibn Hārūn ar-Rashīd; 14 September 786 – 9 August 833), better known by his regnal name Al-Ma'mu ...
,
Al-Mu'tasim Abū Isḥāq Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Rashīd ( ar, أبو إسحاق محمد بن هارون الرشيد; October 796 – 5 January 842), better known by his regnal name al-Muʿtaṣim biʾllāh (, ), was the eighth Abbasid caliph, ruling f ...
,
Al-Wathiq Abū Jaʿfar Hārūn ibn Muḥammad ( ar, أبو جعفر هارون بن محمد المعتصم; 17 April 812 – 10 August 847), better known by his laqab, regnal name al-Wāthiq bi’llāh (, ), was an Abbasid caliph who reigned from 842 un ...
and
Al-Mutawakkil Abū al-Faḍl Jaʿfar ibn Muḥammad al-Muʿtaṣim bi-ʾllāh ( ar, جعفر بن محمد المعتصم بالله; March 822 – 11 December 861), better known by his regnal name Al-Mutawakkil ʿalā Allāh (, "He who relies on God") was t ...
. He was given additional patronage by
vizier A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was a ...
s and other important figures of the Abbasid court. On one occasion
Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani Ali ibn al-Husayn al-Iṣfahānī ( ar, أبو الفرج الأصفهاني), also known as Abul-Faraj, (full form: Abū al-Faraj ʿAlī ibn al-Ḥusayn ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Ḥaytham al-Umawī al-Iṣfahānī) (284–356 AH / 897 ...
records that Ishaq identified a single mistuned string upon listening to twenty ''
oud , image=File:oud2.jpg , image_capt=Syrian oud made by Abdo Nahat in 1921 , background= , classification= * String instruments *Necked bowl lutes , hornbostel_sachs=321.321-6 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded with a plectrum , ...
s'' simultaneously. Also according to al-Isfahani, he was inspired by the
Sasanian The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
musician
Barbad Barbad or Bārbad ( fa, باربد; various other names; ) was a Persian poet-musician, lutenist, music theorist and composer of Sasanian music who served as chief minstrel-poet under Shahanshah Khosrow II (). A '' barbat'' player, he is among ...
, and often told friends a story of Barbad being able to play a song on his '' barbat'' lute, even though a jealous rival had mistuned all of his strings. Among Ishaq's students was 'Alī ibn Yaḥyā al-Munajjim (died 888)—the father of poet and music theorist Abu Ahmad Monajjem—who wrote a book on Ishaq al-Mawsili. The geographer
Ibn Khordadbeh Abu'l-Qasim Ubaydallah ibn Abdallah ibn Khordadbeh ( ar, ابوالقاسم عبیدالله ابن خرداذبه; 820/825–913), commonly known as Ibn Khordadbeh (also spelled Ibn Khurradadhbih; ), was a high-ranking Persian bureaucrat and ...
is also said to have been his student, as Khordadbeh's father Abdallah ibn Khordadbeh was a friend of Ishaq's. Like his father Ibrahim al-Mawsili, Ishaq al-Mawsili led a conservative musical faction, upholding the classical Arab traditions of
Hejaz The Hejaz (, also ; ar, ٱلْحِجَاز, al-Ḥijāz, lit=the Barrier, ) is a region in the west of Saudi Arabia. It includes the cities of Mecca, Medina, Jeddah, Tabuk, Yanbu, Taif, and Baljurashi. It is also known as the "Western Provin ...
. This put him in opposition with the progressive musical ideology led by
Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi Ibrāhīm ibn al-Mahdī (; 779–839) was an Abbasid prince, singer, composer and poet. He was the son of the third Abbasid caliph, al-Mahdi, and the half-brother of the poet and musician Ulayya. Ibrahim was contemporary of Abbasid caliph al-Had ...
, who was joined by
Ziryab Abu l-Hasan 'Ali Ibn Nafi, better known as Ziryab, Zeryab, or Zaryab ( 789– 857) ( ar, أبو الحسن علي ابن نافع, زریاب, rtl=yes) ( fa, زَریاب ''Zaryāb''), was a singer, oud and lute player, composer, poet, and teache ...
, a pupil of Ibrahim al-Mawsili. An Abbasid Prince, Ibrahim was "portrayed as a champion of greater freedom of expression" and noted for his musical innovations which often employed Persian aesthetics. Contemporary sources frequently comment on the rivalry between Ishaq and Ibrahim and agree on Ishaq's musical preeminence, particularly as an instrumentalist and composer. Ishaq was celebrated for his technique, command of repertoire and musical ear, and according to al-Isfahani he once purposefully played an out of tune ''oud'' to show up Ibrahim. Contemporary sources relay that Ishaq had an unattractive singing voice, and in this he was surpassed by Ibrahim ibn al-Mahdi, who was famous for his tone and vocal range of four
octave In music, an octave ( la, octavus: eighth) or perfect octave (sometimes called the diapason) is the interval between one musical pitch and another with double its frequency. The octave relationship is a natural phenomenon that has been refer ...
s. To make up for his poor natural voice, Ishaq may have sung in
falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...
, a technique that commentators such as al-Isfahani credit him with introducing. Despite Ishaq's greater renown, Rowson notes that "it seems clear that the future lay with brahim; Ishaq's colleagues Allawayh al-Asar (Alluyah) and
Mukhariq Abu’l-Muhannāʾ Mukhāriq ibn Yaḥyā ibn Nāwūs () (), was one of the most distinguished singers of the Abbasid period, and a protege of the Barmakids and the caliphs from Harun al-Rashid to al-Wathiq. Life He was born in Madma (although ...
eventually joined Ibrahim's faction. By the time of Al-Wathiq () Ishaq had ceased music composition, though he was still active as a performer. In his later years he gradually became blind and died in Baghdad on March 850 (235 AH).


Music and writings

Later sources credit Ishaq with the composition of 200 to 400 songs as well as poetry numbering 50
folio The term "folio" (), has three interconnected but distinct meanings in the world of books and printing: first, it is a term for a common method of arranging sheets of paper into book form, folding the sheet only once, and a term for a book ma ...
s, though all of it is lost. Ishaq is said to have written around 40 books on music, though none have survived. Among these was the ''Kitab al-aghani al-kabir'' (''Great Book of Songs'') which became the primary source for Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani's work of the same name. Al-Isfahani's work also included a substantial biography on Ishaq and an overview of his compositions.


Legacy

A diversely educated individual, Ishaq exemplified the "cultivated musician-courtier" of his time by having considerable ability in the variety of disciplines in addition to music. Yet his reputation and historical importance centers solely around his music. He is featured prominently in the music treatise of Ibn al-Tahhan (), ''Hawi al-funun wa-salwat al-mahzun'' (''Compendium of the arts to comfort sad hearts''), and far more than many of al-Tahhan's contemporaneous musicians. Ishaq appears in tales from the ''Maqamat'' of
Al-Hariri of Basra Abū Muhammad al-Qāsim ibn Alī ibn Muhammad ibn Uthmān al-Harīrī ( ar, أبو محمد القاسم بن علي بن محمد بن عثمان الحريري), popularly known as al-Hariri of Basra (1054 – 10 September 1122) was an Arab po ...
and ''
One Thousand and One Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...
''.


References


Notes


Citations


Sources

;Books * * ;Journal and encyclopedia articles * * ** * * * * ** ** * *


Further reading

* * {{Authority control 766 births 850 deaths Persian musicians Musicians from the Abbasid Caliphate 9th-century Iranian people 8th-century Iranian people 9th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate People from Kufa Courtiers of the Abbasid Caliphate 8th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate People from Ray, Iran One Thousand and One Nights characters Iranian music theorists