Edgar Manas

Edgar Manas Effendi (Armenian: Էտկար Մանաս; Constantinople, April 12, 1875 - Istanbul, March 9, 1964) was a Turkish composer, conductor and musicologist of Armenian descent. He is one of the three co-authors of the Turkish National Anthem, as he made the arrangements for orchestra.

Of Armenian descent, Edgar's father, Alexandre Manas, was the chief translator for the Ottoman Public Debt Administration. The family lineage may be traced back to Caesarea (now Kayseri), where it originated in the mid-sixteenth century. Raphael Manas (c.1710 - 1790), an official painter of the Ottoman Empire, was arguably the most outstanding figure of the Manas dynasty: he made the portraits of Mahmud I, Osman III and Mustafa III.

Edgar Manas was born on April 12, 1875 in Constantinople (now Istanbul). Artistically gifted young Edgar was sent to Italy at the age of 13 to attend the Murat-Raphaelian Armenian School to study commerce. While in Venice he also took piano lessons with Professor Trivellini. Upon graduating in 1894, he returned to his native city. Yet, his impulse to continue his music studies took him back to Italy, where he settled in Padua and worked with composer Luigi Bottazzo, focusing on harmony, counterpoint and fugue.

Back in Constantinople, Manas pursued his music studies further. He concentrated primarily on composition by examining the classics and the works of contemporary French masters. He produced a series of piano composition in the idiom of Chopin, including “Minuet-Valse” which was published in 1905 by A. Comendinger of Constantinople. During the same year, Edgar Manas conducted the Gallia choral group in a concert at Salle de fêtes de l'Union française, a local auditorium, which earned him the order of Officier d’académie from the French government.

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