OTTOMAN EMPIRE & EUROPEAN THEATRE

VII. Culture of Politics or Cultural Politics - Act Two:


Representation, Theatricality
and
Cultural Transfer
in the Ottoman-European Diplomatic Relations


On the Occasion of
the 630th Anniversary of the first Ottoman Envoy
to Venice in 1348

International Symposium organized by
Don Juan Archiv Wien

Forschungsverein für Theater- und Kulturgeschichte

Under the patronage of

Exc. Hasan Göğüş

Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey in Vienna

&

Exc. Dr. Klaus Wölfer

Ambassador of the Republic of Austria in Ankara

In cooperation with

Pera Museum Istanbul,
The UNESCO International Theatre Institute in Vienna (ITI)
and
The Austrian Cultural Forum in Istanbul

Vienna 2014

Vienna:
Dates: June 5-6, 2014
Venue: Don Juan Archiv Wien, Trautsongasse 6/6, 1080 Wien

Vienna

Conference Convenors:

Michael Hüttler, Matthias J. Pernerstorfer, Suna Suner, H. E. Weidinger

Thursday, June 5th, 2014

10:00–11:00 Opening Ceremony

Matthias J. Pernerstorfer (Don Juan Archiv Wien)

Suna Suner (Don Juan Archiv Wien)

Exc. Hasan Göğüş (Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey in Vienna)

Message of Exc. Klaus Wölfer (Ambassador of the Republic of Austria in Ankara)

Christian Brunmayr (Austrian Foreign Ministry)

İlber Ortaylı (Galatasaray University)

Helga Dostal (UNESCO ITI Vienna)

11:00–11:30 Coffee Break

11:30–12:45 Session I “Encompassing Centuries”

Holy Roman Empire (15^th–19^th Centuries) – Ottoman Empire

(14^th–18^th Centuries) – Republic of Ragusa (16^th–18^th Centuries)

Chair: Gisela Procházka-Eisl (Vienna – University of Vienna)

1. Matthias J. Pernerstorfer (Vienna – Don Juan Archiv Wien)

From Second Row to the Wide Stage. The Counts of Kuefstein in the Diplomatic Service of the Imperial Dynasty and their Impact on Cultural Affairs

Over centuries members of the comital Kuefstein family have held high positions yet they have always operated from the second row. Thus the majority of their names is barely rooted in the cultural memory even though a great many of them played a central role in politics as well as in cultural affairs. In order to develop an outline of this work until the 19^th century I will single out several aspects of the family history, whereby the numerous delegations from Vienna to the Ottoman Empire and vice versa constitute the common thread.

Of special interest are Hans (Johann) Ludwig (1587–1657) and Johann Ferdinand III (1752–1818). The first is possibly the best known member of the Kuefstein family, who was the Emperor’s representative in a delegation to the Sublime Porte from November 1627 until December 1629. Numerous relations and a diary of Hans Ludwig still exist of this delegation. Hans Ludwig put his function as mediator to use not only in the political arena, but he also translated from Spanish, Latin and Italian.

Johann Ferdinand III – usually simply called Ferdinand at the imperial court of Vienna – held numerous political positions, showed forth social commitment through journalism and additionally was a trained musician – violinist, conductor and composer: He generally played an important role in the Viennese theatre and music world, he was vice director of the Hofburgtheater (1792–1794) and Hofmusikgraf (1796–1818). And there are good reasons to believe that he met Ratip Efendi during his delegation to Vienna in 1792.

2. Luca Scarlini (Florence – European Design School)

Il Gran Teatro di Ragusa: The Town as a Stage for the Relationships between East and West from Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries

Since the time when the Republic of Ragusa (1358–1807) (today Dubrovnik, Croatia) became independent from the Republic of Venice (697–1797) in 1358 (Republic until 1807), it developed many relationships with the Oriental Powers, because of the difficult position in Adriatic Atlas. After the conquest of Constantinople in 1453 by Sultan Mehmed II (r. 1444–1446; 1451–1481), the small republic became a very important contact for the Ottoman Empire with the West. Soon a school of dragomans flourished in Ragusa: experts in Turkish language and diplomats, every year (from 1458 to 1803) a group of dragomans and Ragusan senators went to Constantinople to pay a heavy amount of tribute, renew the agreements with the Sultan and to have a new Firman (or ‘ferman’, imperial edict), for the assurance of the protection of life and business of the Republic. Well known is the description of Ragusa made by Evliya Çelebi (1611–1684). Between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries many representatives of the Sublime Porte as well as businessmen came to the town – the most important in this context being Hekimoğlu Ali Paşa (1689–1758), ambassador and statesman; continuous was also the link to the Sanjak [district] of Bosnia (1463–1878). From Travnik (today in Bosnia-Herzegovina) came always diplomats and businessmen in quest of western doctors, culture, food and entertainment. In this prevalent exchange, Ragusa developed the infamy of being a capital of spionage; information was traded, many times the Republic of Venice and other European powers made heavy criticisms and accusations of treason against the Republic of Ragusa. Many of the Ragusan diplomats were also writers and playwrights, such as the famous Ivan Gundulič (1589–1638), who wrote an epic poem Osman (1826 first print, Martecchini) (referring to Sultan Osman II, reigned 1618–1622), celebrating the Ottoman power. All those elements made out of Ragusa the perfect stage for the representation of Ottomans in the West: the town itself became a theatre.

12:45–14:00 Lunch Break

14:00–15:15 Session II “The Sixteenth Century”

Holy Roman Empire – Ottoman Empire (1532) – Kingdom of France (1536–1537) – Grand Duchy of Tuscany (1589–1620)

Chair: Markus Köhbach (Vienna – University of Vienna)

3. Nevin Zeynep Yelçe (Istanbul – Sabancı University)

Friends and Foes: Ambassadorial Receptions at the Ottoman Camp in Niš and Belgrade (1532)

When in 1532 the Ottoman army under Sultan Süleyman I (r. 1520–1566) marched again towards the lands of Emperor Charles V (r. 1519–1556), two ambassadorial delegations joined on the way. The delegation of the Holy Roman Empire, headed by Count Leonhard von Nogarola (life dates unknown) and Joseph von Lamberg (d. 1554), reached the Ottoman army at Niš (Serbia). After spending several days with the army, the embassy was finally given audience by Sultan Süleyman on 23 June. Ten days later, the Ottoman army reached Belgrade; so did the Holy Roman Empire’s delegation with them. Meanwhile, a French delegation joined the Ottoman army as well. On 17 July, the French delegation, headed by Chevalier Antoine de Rinçon (d. 1541), was given an audience with the Sultan in Belgrade. However, this reception which the Holy Roman Empire’s ambassador had to watch was different than the one given to the Holy Roman Empire’s delegation. The ceremony was modelled on the reception of King Szapolya János (r. 1526–1540) in 1529, or in Feridun Ahmed Bey’s words, on “the manner in which King Szapolya János formerly kissed the [sultan’s] hand at the plain of Mohács during the Vienna campaign (1529)” (Münşeatü's-selatin Istanbul: Darüttıbaati’l-amire, 1858, vol. 1, p. 579). This paper examines and compares the reception of the Holy Roman Empire’s and the Kingdom of France’s ambassadors at the Ottoman Sultan’s camp during the 1532 campaign. These two receptions appear to be thoroughly orchestrated events demonstrating the attitude of the Ottoman Sultan towards the friend and the foe. Through showing the French envoy the best possible reception to honour him respectively his lord King Francis I (r. 1515–1547), the Ottoman intention was to mortify the Imperial envoys to demonstrate their conception of friendship and hostility. Both ceremonial receptions served not only to inspire awe, but to intimidate as well. A cross-comparative examination of the 1529 reception of the King of Hungary Szapolyai János by Sultan Süleyman and the 1532 receptions shed light not only on the stately and ritual elements employed in Ottoman ceremonies in general and in ambassadorial receptions in particular, but also how these elements come together as part of a theatrical display serving to create the politically desired effect.

4. Maria Alberti (Florence – Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia)

The Mirror of Politics: Turqueries at the Medici Court (1589–1620)

The excellent relationship established by the “senior” branch of the Medici dynasty with the Ottomans after the conquest of Constantinople (1453) considerably decreased during the latest years of Lorenzo il Magnifico’s life (1449–1492), and, after the expulsion of the family from Florence (1494) and the tumultuous events that followed, further declined.

After the establishment of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany (1569/1575), the Medicean foreign policy towards the Sublime Porte displayed contradictory attitudes: effectively, several attempts of agreement failed, owing to the Tuscan strict position towards the Ottoman request to stop the attacks against the Turkish ships by the Knights of the Military Order of Santo Stefano, founded in Pisa in 1562 by Cosimo I (r. 1537–1574), on the model of the Knights Hospitallers of Malta. This sort of political ‘schizophrenia’ – whereby peaceful trades were requested to those who were the object of assaults and pillages – was probably due to the need to obtain, through the corsair warfare, the economic benefits that the commercial practice was no longer able to ensure, as well as international prestige in front of European powers. Simultaneously, in the Levant, Tuscan emissaries were instructed to come into contact with alternative partners as opposed to the Ottomans; that is, those local chieftains who had showed their readiness to establish profitable business relationships – despite the strict restrictions of the Capitulations regime – and to provide a safe landing place to Tuscan ships within harbours under their direct control.

This political attitude is exemplary highlighted by many performances staged at the Medici Court between the end of the sixteenth century and the first decades of the next century: as is known, the Medici family used theatricality as an effective instrumentum regni, aimed at a precise image politics, addressed not only to the subjects of the Grand Duchy and to the Court, but primarily to foreign guests and ambassadors who came to Florence at weddings, christenings and official visits.

The foregoing clearly emerges regarding the celebrated 1589 festival, on the occasion of the marriage (1589) of Ferdinand I (r. 1587–1609) with Christina of Lorraine (1565–1637), which was both opened and ended with two great mock ship battles between Turks and Christians: the former took place at Pisa in the Arno River, the latter in Florence, in the flooded courtyard of Palazzo Pitti, signifying the Grand Duke’s intent about increasing the fleet and strengthening the Knights of Santo Stefano (founded 1561).

Only later, during the reign of Ferdinand’s and Christina’s son Cosimo II (r. 1609–1621), the staging of these events, influenced by a fully ‘baroque’ taste, turned into exoticism and Turqueries. Even in this case, however, beyond the exhibition of the magnificence and the lush imagination of costumes and stage sets, these theatrical events were disguising political messages directly addressed to the Druze Emir Fakhr ad-Din (1572–1635) – ally and trading partner of Tuscany in Levant – who, at the end of 1613, had fled to Tuscany with a large retinue to save himself from Ottoman retaliation against his daring policies.

Just to mention a few of the most striking examples, in 1613 the Grand Duke himself wore clothes “at the Turkish style”, impersonating the “Love Woe” (il Duolo Amoroso) accompanied by seven Thracian (i.e. Turkish) knights during a tourney fought in the Uffizi Court Theatre; the following year, in honour of a foreign guest was performed Il Ballo della Cortesia (1614) by Michelangelo Buonarroti the Younger (1568–1646), which explicitly alluded to his story, as it was about some girls who fled from “Soria” because of being persecuted by “il barbaro Ottomanno”. Furthermore, during the 1615 Carnival the famous Ballo di donne turche, with music by Marco da Gagliano (1582–1643) and costumes by Iacopo Ligozzi (1547–1627), took place, again in the presence of the Emir, to remark how generous and merciful were those who had made him welcome in Florence.

This propensity for Turqueries persisted in Florence even after Fakhr ad-Din returned, as testified, to his homeland (today’s Lebanon) in 1620, with the project to stage the soon famous tragedy by Prospero Bonarelli (1580–1659), Il Solimano, premiered in Florence, in that same 1620.

15:15–15:30 Coffee Break

15:30–17:00 Session III “The Seventeenth Century”

Holy Roman Empire (1600–1700)

Chair: Claudia Römer (Vienna – University of Vienna)

5. Arno Strohmeyer (Salzburg – University of Salzburg)

Staging – Representation – Reminiscence: Imperial Diplomats on the Way to Constantinople in the Seventeenth Century (ca. 1600–1700)

In early modern times, relations between the Ottoman and the Holy Roman Empires were not only characterized by a series of cruel wars, but also by intensive efforts for conflict containment and peace, as more than 65 peace agreements respectively truces between 1533 (Constantinople) and 1791 (Sistowa) illustrate. Inherent parts of this intercultural peace process were the reciprocal diplomatic missions with acts of staging and representation. During this century there were nineteen Ottoman embassies to Vienna between 1603 and 1699, and twenty four Imperial embassies to Kostantiniyye between 1606 and 1700.

Highlights of each embassy were the departure from the home court, the crossing of the border, the solemn entry in Kostantiniyye respectively Vienna and the audience at the court of the ruler. These latter were virtually massive spectacles and staged like plays at a theatre with actors, spectators, stage directors and a script. Therefore to this ‘theatrical performance’ particular attention is paid. In the main focus of the paper are symbolic actions (ceremonies, banquets, rituals, but also gestures, body language etc.) and signs (clothes, flags etc.) of the Imperial and Ottoman diplomats in the seventeenth century (e.g. the grand embassies of count Wolfgang VI von Oettingen Wallerstein and Ibrahim Pascha 1699–1701). The paper illustrates different cultural references and understandings of these signs and actions and their utilisation in the peace process. Special attention is also paid to their contradictory documentation in diplomatic correspondences, travel books and picture sources.

6. Nedret Kuran-Burçoğlu (Istanbul – Yeditepe University)

Reflections of the Image of the Turk in the 17th Century Baroque Plays of Andreas Gryphius (1616–1664) and Daniel Caspar von Lohenstein (1635–1683)

German baroque literature is marked with the suspense of its topics between worldy endeavours – the impact of humanism – and the rewards that await in the other world – the impact of the Reformation and the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648). This is reflected in the contrastive characters of the plays that are written in that period. Andreas Gryphius’ (1616–1664) tragedy Catharina von Georgien (1651) and Daniel Caspar von Lohenstein’s (1635–1683) matyr drama İbrahim Bassa (1650) are a case in point. While the antagonists, all oriental and male characters are portrayed with their devotion to worldly rewards; the protagonists, all western female characters are represented with their chastity and piety, believing that they will be rewarded in the other world. After briefly elaborating on the plots of the two plays and discussing the functions of the oriental characters within the context of the Image of the Turk in Europe in the seventeenth century, the paper will also question the relationship of the authors to their patrons in the light of the cultural policy of the time.

7. Dirk Van Waelderen (Brussels – University of Leuven)

The pamphlet ‘Klagten des Turksen Keysers Sultan Mahomet gedaan aan Louis de XIV’ or how the French-Ottoman relations are portrayed by the Habsburgs in the Spanish Netherlands (1688)

From the sixteenth century on, there was a firm alliance between the French Rois Très-Chrétiens (‘Most Christian Kings’) and the Sultans of the Ottoman Empire. Embassies were exchanged and agreements for mutual support against the Holy Roman Empire and Spain, governed by the Habsburg dynasty, were set up. In the sixteenth century, the French king Francis I (1494–1547; r. 1515–1547) became allies with the Ottoman sultan Suleiman the Magnificent (1494–1566; r. 1520–1566). In 1535 the French king cemented the alliance by sending Ambassador Jean de la Forêt (d. 1537) to conclude a treaty with the Ottomans. As a direct result the French king and Barbarossa Hayreddin Pasha (1478–1546), the Ottoman admiral in the Western Mediterranean Sea and ruler of Tunis, joined forces and set up actions against the Habsburgs. The diplomatic relations forged between France and the Ottoman Empire in this period would persist during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In the seventeenth century there was an alliance between the French king Louis XIV (1638–1715; r. 1643–1715) and the Ottoman sultan Mehmed IV (1642–1693; r. 1648–1687). The Ottoman-French relations helped the French king in his struggle for territorial expansion, like in the brief war of Réunions (1683–1684). Territories like the Spanish Netherlands were invaded and partly conquered by the French armies. The Austrian Habsburgs, supporting their Spanish cousins, were however forced to fight on a second front at the Eastern borders against the Ottomans.

In the Spanish Netherlands, the French-Ottoman relations often became the subject of mockery and outrage in printings like pamphlets, plays, etc. In 1688, a pamphlet was published in Brussels by Symon van Bloemendaal on the item Klagten Des Turksen Keysers, Sultan Mahomet Gedaan aan Louis de XIV van die Naam, Koning van Vrankrijk, als sijn goede Vriend (‘Complaints by the Turkish emperor Mahomet made to Louis the XIV of that name, King of France, as his good friend’). In the pamphlet supposedly written by the sultan, the latter protests to his friend, the French king about the recent defeats of the Ottomans by the Emperor and asks him for help. In the same time he also warns the French king against the Imperial power and predicts a similar doom for the French armies.

Despite this mockery or outrage of the French-Ottoman contacts, the Habsburgs also had regular diplomatic contacts with the Ottoman Empire from the sixteenth century on. During the reign of Emperor Charles V (1500–1558; r. 1519–1556), ambassadors like Ogier Ghislain de Busbecq (1522–1592) were sent to the Porte to negotiate with the Ottomans. When necessary, short term alliances between the sultan or local sovereigns of the Ottoman Empire were set up. Ottoman envoys were received with great dignity at the Habsburg courts in Spain and Austria. These and other contacts with the Ottomans were also displayed in printings.

Notwithstanding the Habsburg-Ottoman diplomatic relations, the portrayal of the Ottomans in the Spanish Netherlands was marked by a religious and an antagonistic perspective. How exactly were the Ottoman-French relations portrayed in the Spanish Netherlands? What aspects were shown, and was there a specific evolution? Did the printings contain only outrage and mockery? How was the imaging of the own diplomatic contacts between the Ottomans and the Habsburgs – projected in comparison to the French-Ottoman relations? Did these portrayals serve the Habsburgs in the Spanish Netherlands and if so, how? Were there any similarities of these portrayals to images in other regions, like in the United Provinces in the seventeenth century?

18:00 onwards Symposium Dinner

Friday, June 6th, 2014

10:00–11:30 Session IV “The Eighteenth Century”

Holy Roman Empire (1764, 1770, 1799) – Ottoman Empire (1774, 1776, 1792, 1797)

Chair: Bent Holm (Copenhagen – University of Copenhagen)

8. Martin Nedbal (Arkansas – University of Arkansas)

Censoring the Harem: The Suppression of the ‘Handkerchief’ Moments in Viennese Türkenopern in the Late Eighteenth Century (1764, 1770, 1799)

The image of a sultan throwing a handkerchief to a concubine whom he has selected for the night is a common trope in Western accounts and representations of the harem. The image also often appears in numerous eighteenth-century French plays and operas set in the Eastern Mediterranean. At least two of the works containing a ‘handkerchief’ moment – the 1726 opera Les pèlerins de la Mecque by Alain René Le Sage (1668–1747) and Jacques-Philippe D’Orneval (d. 1766), and the 1761 comedy Soliman second, ou Les trois sultanes by Charles-Simon Favart (1710–1792) – were adapted for the Viennese court theatre. Le pèlerins was reworked and set to music by Christoph Gluck (1714–1787) as La rencontre imprévue (Vienna 1764) in 1763, whereas Soliman II was presented at the court theater (k. k. Hofburgtheater) first in the French original in 1765, then in a German translation in 1770, and finally in 1799 in the Kärntnertortheater as a singspiel Soliman der Zweite, oder Die drey Sultaninen with a libretto by Franz Xaver Huber (1755–1809) and music by Franz Xaver Süßmayr (1766–1803).Most of the Viennese adaptations brought significant changes to the operatic depictions of the sultan’s nocturnal selection.

This paper argues that the treatment of the ‘handkerchief’ moments in the Viennese adaptations reflects both the strict moral standards of the imperial court theatre and the growing importance of the idea that theatre should be a means of national representation. In some cases the references to thrown handkerchiefs were simply cut (as happened in the 1763 La rencontre imprévue), whereas at other times they were replaced with plot situations that introduced a didactic element and were more palatable to the Viennese authorities and critics. This happened in Süßmayr’s 1799 Soliman der Zweyte, where instead of a handkerchief the sultan throws a ring to his favourite female slave to show not temporary lust, but his eternal devotion. The most prominent discussion of a ‘handkerchief’ moment occurred in 1770 when the act was performed as part of the Viennese German adaptation of Favart’s Soliman II. The correspondence between two Germans, the aesthetician and theatre critic Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (1729–1781) and his future wife Eva König (1736–1778), suggests that the permission for Favart’s ‘handkerchief’ scene to stay in the opera was one of the reasons behind the fall of Joseph von Sonnenfels (1733–1817) as the chief theatre censor in Vienna. The ‘handkerchief’ moment was apparently also understood as an expression of the lasciviousness that mid-eighteenth-century Viennese critics commonly considered an innate characteristic of the French culture. Through their adaptations of harem scenes, Viennese librettists therefore expressed their relationship to and distance from both an Eastern and a Western ‘Other’.

9. Suna Suner (Vienna – Don Juan Archiv Wien)

Ottoman Diplomats in Vienna during the Eighteenth Century and the Visit of Süleyman Efendi (1774)

The earliest diplomatic relations between the Ottoman and the Holy Roman Empire succeded in 1497 with the despatch of an Ottoman subject of Greek Catholic origin, Andrea Graeco Pontcaracca, who was posted as envoy of Sultan Bayezid II (r. 1481–1512) and sent to the court of Emperor Maximilian I (r. 1486–1519). Following this diplomatic visit, an delegacy of the Holy Roman Court, consisting of the representatives Johannes von Thun, Francesco Bonomo and twelve knights who set off to Kostantiniyye in 1498. This first diplomatic exchange between the two Empires is not reported by Hammer-Purgstall who, as next envoys of the Holy Roman Empire to the Ottoman Empire, sent under the reign of Charles V (r. 1519–1556), indicates Johann Hobordansky von Salathnok and Sigmund Weixelberger in 1521. Following this first Vienna mission until the eighteenth century, the Ottoman State sent 32 envoys, and alone during the entire eighteenth century, the Sublime Porte sent twelve envoy delegations to the Imperial Court of Vienna. In this century the first envoy was Mir-i Âlem İbrahim Paşa (1704), and the last was İbrahim Afif Efendi (1797–1800), the first Ottoman resident ambassador to Vienna.

In 1774, Süleyman Efendi (also Süleyman Bey) was sent by Sultan Abdülhamid I (r. 1774–1789) to the court of Emperor Joseph II (r. 1764–1790) to announce the enthronement of the new Sultan, who was the uncle of Selim III (r. 1789–1807), and stayed three months during the summer in Vienna.

Süleyman Efendi’s visit in 1774 is one of the least known Ottoman missions to Vienna, yet one of the most remarkable and culturally engaged Vienna sojourns, along with that of his successor, Ebubekir Râtib Efendi in 1792.

10. John Plemmenos (Athens – Hellenic Folklore Research Centre, Academy of Athens)

Interpreting Thoughts, Expressing Sentiments: Greek Dragomans for European Embassies in Eighteenth Century Kostantiniyye and their Representation in Literature and Music (1776, 1792, 1797)

This paper focuses on a particular aspect of the diplomatic relations between the Ottoman Empire and Europe, namely the role of Greek dragomans employed by European embassies in eighteenth century Kostantiniyye (since 1930: Istanbul). Greek dragomans had already served both parts from the early sixteenth century, such as Yunus Bey (d. 1551), who had close relations with the first French diplomats in the Ottoman Empire. Dragomans for the Venetian Embassy in Istanbul were recruited from their Greek colonies, such as Cyprus (up to 1571 when it passed to the Ottomans) and Corfu (the one Ionian island that remained a Venetian colony until the end of the Republic of Venice in 1797). The role of the Greek dragomans was intensified during the early eighteenth century, when the class of Phanariots (from the so-called Phanar – today, Fener – area in the Fatih district of Istanbul where they were based) rose to prominence, covering among others, the posts of the Great Dragoman of the Ottoman Porte and the Prince of Wallachia and Moldavia (then under Ottoman suzerainty, Wallachia from 1476 and Moldavia from 1538, and both until the Congress of Berlin in 1878). Furthermore, sometimes the negotiations between the Ottomans and the Europeans were mediated by Greek dragomans on both parts (for instance, the Treaty of. Karlowitz on 26 January 1699, negotiated by Nicholas Mavrocordatos as grand dragoman).

This phenomenon inspired some writers of the age, the best-known example being an anonymous literary work entitled Effects of Love (Έρωτος Αποτελέσματα) published in Vienna (1792) by a Greek printing press (George Vendotis) relating to the adventures of a Greek dragoman from Corfu to the Venetian Embassy in Kostantiniyye. The same work is inundated with love songs, interpreted by the hero and other protagonists, the music of which has been found by the author of this contribution in coeval manuscripts in Greece and Romania.

Greek dragomans provided European travellers with translations of Phanariot songs, sometimes accompanied with their music, as, for example, in Pierre Augustin de Guys (1721–1799) Voyage littéraire de la Grèce (Paris 1776, published by Duchesne) and James Dallaway (1763–1834)’s Constantinople Ancient and Modern (London 1797, published by T. Cadell Jr. & W. Davies). On the other hand, Greek dragomans contributed to the translation of European dramatic and poetic works into Greek that were staged in Greek theatres, such as Il pastor Fido (1580/84, first print 1590 Venice) by Giambattista Guarini (1538–1612), translated into Greek (as Ο πιστός βοσκός) by George Soutzo (Venice 1804).

Therefore, this paper has a dual purpose: firstly, to display and discuss the literary and cultural output of the Greek dragomans of the eighteenth century and secondly their representation in Greek literary and musical production of the time.

11:30–11:45 Coffee Break

11:45–13:15 Session V “The Nineteenth Century”

Kingdom of Prussia (1763–1806) – Kingdom of Denmark (1859) – Second French Empire (1870)

Chair: Michael Hüttler (Vienna – Hollitzer Publishing)

11. Irena Fliter (Tel Aviv – Tel Aviv University, Orient-Institute Istanbul)

“A Home away from Home” – Ottoman Diplomats’ Private Suites as a Stage for Cultural Representation in Late Eighteenth Century and Early Nineteenth Century Prussia (1763–1806)

An apartment is a stage where the resident exhibits his culture vis-à-vis himself, his co-habitants or his guests; it is a representation and a reflection of the resident. Where the apartment is located away from the resident’s place of birth, the rooms are either equipped with private items originating in the resident’s culture, or reflect the culture of the current location or expectations of the guests’ taste and comfort. Considering the cultural significance of private housing, I will examine Ottoman diplomats’ suites in eighteenth-century Prussia as a sort of theatrical stage, where representation during private receptions was highly important and which had to be arranged according to either Prussian and Ottoman styles or expectations.

My sources are petitions submitted by Prussian subjects to their government. The petitioners, who primarily complained about unrecovered bills, also reveal a great deal about the diplomats’ housing situation. Other sources include reports to the Prussian king or his ministries composed by Prussian officials, who were responsible for receiving the diplomatic missions and organizing their hotels, apartments and rooms. Based on these sources, I argue that understanding the apartment as a stage enhances our understanding of the cultural encounters between Ottomans and Prussians. I further suggest that a study of the demeanour in which Ottoman diplomats chose to stage and perform their private lives in a state of exception away from home can tell us a great deal about normative private life in the Ottoman society. Between 1763 and 1806, the Ottoman Empire appointed to Prussia three ambassadors (Ahmed Resmi Efendi 1763–1764, Ahmed Azmi Efendi 1790–1791 and Ali Aziz Efendi 1797–1798) and four chargés d’affaires (Mehmed Ziver Bey 1798, Mehmed Esad Efendi 1800–1802, Yanko Kopri 1802–1804, Yakovos [Yakovaki] Argyropoulos 1804–1805). In 1763, the Prussians carefully furnished Ahmed Resmi Efendi’s rooms in the Nüßlersche Landhaus in Weißensee, where he stayed before his official entry to Berlin, and later in the Prinz Albrecht Palais in Berlin, trying to reflect the Ottoman style and accommodate the mission. In the late eighteenth century however, Ottoman ambassadors and chargés d’affaires were more involved in the choice and decoration of their apartments. Consequently, the issues of rent, furniture and utensils became a point of contestation and dispute between Ottomans and Prussians.

The ambassadors’ furniture, which the Prussians often decorated and stud with red silk or other red cloth, and objects such as porcelain played a major role in the physical representation of the diplomats’ culture or the host’s anticipations. Another performance of the Ottoman culture and social order was the distribution of the rooms. The ambassadors received guests in the only reception room of the apartment, whereas their dragomans, secretaries, servants as well as the chargés d’affaires had to find other venues for social encounter and representation. Besides the notion of who could host visitors, the choice of guests also reflected the cultural self-understanding of the Ottomans and influenced the character of the rooms. The diplomats received high ranking guests but also encountered ordinary Prussians. Finally, the absence of the diplomat’s family and the presence of Prussian women likewise affected the setting of the suites.

12. Luca Zuccolo (Venice – Italian Institute of Human Sciences)

In the Mirror of the Others: Ottoman Ambassadors in France between 1850 and 1870

From the fourteenth century on the Ottoman Empire sent diplomatic missions to European states, but until the nineteenth century the Sublime Porte did not feel the need to establish permanent embassies in the major European capitals. Starting from the reign of Selim III (r. 1789–1807) we could observe a radical change in the Ottoman diplomatic perspective to Europe, in particular to European culture and socio-political life. Throughout the nineteenth century, in fact, the Ottoman ambassadors played a fundamental role in the diffusion of European ideas and modernity among the Ottoman elites and a key role as a medium between European states and the Ottoman Empire, as their experience as diplomats led them describe the European society, culture, and life.

By studying the documents conserved in the Başbakanlık Osmanlı Arşivi (‘Prime Ministry Ottoman Archives’) in Istanbul, and especially those of Hariciye Nezareti Siyasi Kısım (‘Foreign Ministry Political Section’) I will analyze the transformation of Ottoman diplomacy in the nineteenth century, and, paying attention on the Ottoman-France relations, I will present, as a case study, a description of the Ottoman ambassadors (Veliyeddin Rıfat Paşa 1852, 1861; Mehmed Cemil Paşa 1855, 1862, 1866) life in Paris and their point of view about France during the period of 1850–1870. My paper aims to demonstrate how the Ottoman diplomats describe the French society and through that how they adapt their own culture. The diplomatic relations and the social reseau of ambassadors both in Europe and Ottoman Empire produced a distinctive channel for the cultural and political transfers. In conclusion, my paper will demonstrate how the fashions followed by the Ottoman ambassadors during their diplomatic missions and above all their tastes influenced the new Ottoman elite culture built during the nineteenth century. Considering the ambassadors as the apex of the European-Ottoman cultural transfers, in fact, we might be able to set a brand new imagery of Europe following a non-Euro centric perspective.

13. Bent Holm (Copenhagen – University of Copenhagen)

‘Politician in spite of himself’. Mehmet Ali Pasha’s visit to Copenhagen seen in a political and cultural context (1859)

A drawing by Danish artist Wilhelm Marstrand (1810–1873) which has been ignored up to now shows “the Turkish Prince Mehemet Aly during his visit to Copenhagen, may 1859”. The drawing gives an authentic picture of the prince and the royal couple, and at the same time it contains an implicit comment to the political situation in Denmark. Prince Mehmet Ali Pasha (Cairo 1833 – Kostantiniyye 1861) belonged to the Ottoman-Egyptian ruling class, he visited Copenhagen accompanied by his entourage, and was officially received by the Danish king, Frederik VII (b.1808, r. 1848–1863). He was decorated with the highest Danish order, the Elephant order and all his servants were knighted.

This happened an era of great tensions and animosity against the Danish royal house, and involuntarily the prince came to play a role in the ongoing game of power, politics and prestige at the Danish court, including even a government crisis. The actual Turk should be seen against a backdrop of the exotic imagined Turk, as reflected in the era’s literature (Bernhard Severin Ingemann, 1779–1862), theatre (Carsten Hauch, 1790–1872) and art (Niels Simonsen, 1807–1885; Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann, 1819–1881) – an alien and fascinating figure which influenced even the decoration of the king’s private residence and his way of dressing. The visit does not figure in the prevailing depictions of the period’s history. But in a way it anticipates the relations later in the nineteenth century where princes and artists travelled to Cairo and Constantinople and encountered the leading Ottoman-Egyptian figures.

Closure of the sessions

13:30–15:00 Lunch Break

15:00–16:00 Book Presentation by Hollitzer Publishing

Bent Holm: The Taming of the Turk-Ottomans on the Danish Stage 1596–1896. Wien: Hollitzer, 2014 (= Ottomania 2).

Michael Hüttler and Hans Ernst Weidinger (eds): Ottoman Empire and European Theatre. Vol. II: The Time of Joseph Haydn: From Sultan Mahmud I to Mahmud II (r. 1730–1839), Wien: Hollitzer, 2014 (= Ottomania 3).

16:00–16:30 Coffee Break

16:30–18:30 Ottoman Round Tables – II

Three Themes, three Discussions

Concept and Organization: Matthias J. Pernerstorfer, Suna Suner, H. E. Weidinger

“Copenhagen – Istanbul – Vienna and Melchior Lorck: Art Historical Aspects on a Joint Culture Project”

Presentation by Bent Holm and follow-up discussion

 

“The Genealogy of a Viennese-Istanbulite Family Saga in the Wake of Fin de Siècle”

Presentation by Nedret Kuran-Burçoğlu and follow-up discussion

 

“Sefâretnâmes Edition Project: Continuation Aspects”

 

Discussion with the attendees

With the attendances of

(Names in alphabetical order)

David Chataignier (Turku – Åbo Akademi University)

Bent Holm (Copenhagen – University of Copenhagen)

Michael Hüttler (Vienna – Hollitzer Verlag)

Seyfi Kenan (Istanbul – Marmara University)

Nedret Kuran-Burçoğlu (Istanbul – Yeditepe University)

İlber Ortaylı (Istanbul – Galatasaray University)

Matthias J. Pernerstofer (Vienna – Don Juan Archiv)

Suna Suner (Vienna – Don Juan Archiv)

Hans Ernst Weidinger (Vienna / Florence – Studium Faesulanum)

18:30 onwards Closing Dinner

Maria Alberti

PhD in History of Theatre at the University of Florence: Turkish Occurrences in Florentine Performances in Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries. Currently, she teaches at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, after having taught for many years at Siena University. Her field of research is focused on the links between politics and entertainment in Italian courts of Ancient Régime. She also worked at the reorganization and cataloguing of important theatrical institutions Archives.

Her most recent publications are: “The Discovery of Theatre in Arab World. Theatre festivals of the Medici described by a special spectator: the Druze Emir Fakhr ad-Din”, in The Medici and the Levant, proceedings ed. by M. Caroscio and M. Arfaioli, Roma, Viella, (in print); Fakhr ad-Din II al-Ma’n, Viaggio in Italia (1613–1618). La Toscana dei Medici e il Mezzogiorno spagnolo nella descrizione di un viaggiatore orientale, a cura di M. Alberti, Milano-Udine, Jouvence, 2013; Spettacoli acquatici a Firenze e a Mantova tra Cinque e Seicento, in Tra boschi e marine. Varietà della pastorale nel Rinascimento e nell’Età barocca, a cura di D. Perocco, Bologna, Archetipolibri, 2013; “Le parti scannate per Il Solimano di Prospero Bonarelli”, in Studi di Storia dello spettacolo. Omaggio a Siro Ferrone, a cura di S. Mazzoni, Firenze, Le Lettere, 2011.

Irena Fliter

Irena Fliter is a PhD candidate at the School of History at Tel Aviv University and a fellow at the Orient-Institut Istanbul. Her research interests are in the private lives of Ottoman diplomats and the practical organization of the diplomatic missions between the Ottoman Empire and Prussia in the 18th and the early 19th centuries. She is further interested in contrasting Ottoman and Prussian memories of the missions and understanding the experience of live abroad. Currently, she works on an article on the practical challenges of financing Ottoman diplomatic missions to Prussia in the eighteenth century.

Bent Holm

Bent Holm. Born 1946. MA, Phil.Doc. Doctoral dissertation 1991, Solkonge og Månekejser. Ikonografiske studier i Francois Fossards Cabinet (‘Sun King and Emperor of the Moon. Iconographic Studies in Francois Fossard’s Cabinet’), about La Comédie Italienne in an anthropological and iconographic perspective. Interdisciplinary studies on historical and dramaturgical issues published in Danish, English, Italian, French and Polish. Dramaturg; published Holberg på tværs. Fra forskning til forestilling (‘Provoking Holberg. From Study to Stage’) in 2013 about the interplay between scholarly research and artistic creativity. Translator of plays, among others by Dario Fo and Carlo Goldoni. Studies in the relations between the Ottoman Empire and the European countries, such as “The Turk Unbound. The aptivity/Release Motif in Danish Theatrical Turqueries”, in NorthWest Passage 8, Turin 2011, “The Staging of the Turk. The Turk in the Danish Theatre of the Eighteenth Century” in Ottoman Empire and European Theatre I, Vienna 2013, and The Taming of the Turk. Ottomans on the Danish Stage 1596–1896, Vienna 2014. Received the Holberg Medal 2000. Cavaliere della Stella della Solidarietà Italiana 2006.

Nedret Kuran Burçoğlu

Comparatist and Translation Scholar Nedret Kuran-Burçoğlu is Professor at Yeditepe University, in Istanbul. She studied English Language and Literature, Modern Turkish Literature, German Literature and Culture and Translation Studies. Her publications focus on Translation Studies and Comparative Cultural Studies, comprising Comparative Literature, Imagology and other transnational, intercultural themes. Until 2000 she was teaching in Boğaziçi University, Istanbul. During the 2000–2001 academic year she was a visiting scholar at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies of Harvard University, USA. Since 2001 she has been teaching in various programmes of the Faculty of Science and Arts of Yeditepe University. She has initiated the following research projects, in which experts from various disciplines have taken part: Multiculturalism: Identity and Otherness (1997), The Image of the Turk in Europe from the Declaration of the Republic in 1923 to 1990s (2000), Representations of the ‘Other/s’ in the Mediterranean World and Their Impact on the Region (2004), A New Mediterranean Policy in the Making: Towards a Multicultural Dialogue, Coherence and Accountability and Turks in Germany – Germans in Turkey in historical, literary and political context. The texts of the first three projects were published as anthologies. The projects were supported by The Council of Europe, European Cultural Foundation, UNESCO and the Press Council of the Prime Minister. Her PhD thesis the Reception of J.W. von Goethe in Turkey and an Analysis on Faust Translations (1984) and her Habilitation Translation as an Intercultural Communication Phenomenon on the Example of Turkish and English Translations of Ingeborg Bachmann’s The Thirtieth Year (1993) were published by Boğaziçi University Press. Her book the History of Printing in the Ottoman Empire that she translated from Franz Babinger (2004) was published by the Turkish History Foundation. Her book entitled Die Wandlungen des Türkenbildes in Europa (2005) was published by Spur Verlag, in Zürich. Kuran-Burçoğlu is the President of the Crossroads Interdisciplinary Research and Policy Platform that she founded together with thirteen other scholars of social sciences in Istanbul.

Martin Nedbal

Martin Nedbal is Assistant Professor of Musicology at the University of Arkansas. He received his Ph.D. from the Eastman School of Music in 2009. His research focuses on German opera in Vienna in the late eighteenth century and on late-nineteenth century Czech opera. His articles on the operas of Mozart, Beethoven, and Dvořák appeared in Acta Musicologica, The Musical Quarterly, and Opera Quarterly. His research trips to Viennese archives have been supported by an Austrian Scholarship Foundation Fellowship in 2011 and most recently also by the Holmes/D’Accone Award from the American Musicological Society. He is currently working on a monograph on didacticism and morality in Viennese singspiel in the late eighteenth century.

Matthias J. Pernerstorfer

Born in 1976, Eggenburg, Lower Austria. He studied theatre, film and media in Vienna and Munich, having completed a dissertation on the character of the parasite in Ancient Greek Comedy (2001). He received a fellowship (DOC) from the Austrian Academy of Sciences for a thesis on the “Colax” of Menander from 2003 to 2005. Afterwards he worked for the Viennese Da Ponte Institute for Libretto Studies, Don Juan Research und History of Collecting from 2005 to 2006. Since 2007 he is member of the Don Juan Archiv Wien, working on different projects on the popular theatre in Vienna in the 18th and 19th centuries. Since 2012 he is director of the Don Juan Archiv Wien.

Publications on Ancient Greek Comedy and Viennese Theatre, including “Karl von Marinellis Spaziergang in den Prater”, Nestroyana 2009, Heft 1–2 (2009), pp. 23–32; “Editions and Cultural Translations. Der 30-jährige ABC-Schütz in German Speaking Lands”, in: Federico Italiano and Michael Rössner (eds.), Translation. Narration, Media and the Staging of Differences, Bielefeld: Transcript 2012, pp. 121–142; “Ferdinand Raimund in Telč. Zu Schlosstheater und Theaterbibliothek der Grafen Podstatzky-Lichtenstein”, Nestroyana 32, Heft 1–2 (2012), pp. 33–46.

Menanders Kolax. Ein Beitrag zu Rekonstruktion und Interpretation der Komödie. Mit Edition und Übersetzung der Fragmente und Testimonien sowie einem dramaturgischen Kommentar, Berlin – New York: De Gruyter 2009 (Untersuchungen zur antiken Literatur und Geschichte 99); Matthias J. Pernerstorfer (ed.), Theater – Zettel – Sammlungen. Erschließung, Digitalisierung, Forschung, Wien: Hollitzer Wissenschaftsverlag, 2012 (Bibliographica 1); Alena Jakubcová and Matthias J. Pernerstorfer (eds.), Theater in Böhmen, Mähren und Schlesien. Von den Anfängen bis zum Ausgang des 18. Jahrhunderts. Ein Lexikon. Neu bearbeitete, deutschsprachige Ausgabe. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften 2013 (Theatergeschichte Österreichs X: Donaumonarchie/Heft 6).

John Plemmenos

Dr. John Plemmenos has studied Law in the University of Athens, and holds an MPhil and PhD in Ethnomusicology from the University of Cambridge, with a Scholarship from the British Academy. He has taught as lecturer in various Greek universities and in 2008 he was elected Research Fellow at the Hellenic Folklore Research Centre, Academy of Athens. He has published extensively, including a concise version of his thesis (2010), and has edited two volumes in the Academy of Athens (2010, 2011). He is a member of the Greek Folklore Society and the Advisory Board of the Journal of Interdisciplinary Music Studies, and has contributed to Grove Music Online.

Luca Scarlini

Luca Scarlini (Florence, 1966) is a playwright, essayist, translator, arts administrator and editorial consultant and teacher about relationships bertween literature and music, writing regularly for opera houses and concert hall in Italy and Belgium. He works since a long time in music iconography; has curated the exhibition Sylvano Bussotti Corpi da musica, Florence, Museo Marino Marini, 2010. He had worked extensively, about the relationship between eastern and western imagery in music, working about Turqueries by Karl Henrici (Bozen, 2006) and writing the book La paura preferita (2004), devoted to the presence of Muslim Imagery in Italy, studying the story of Belly Dance and the relationships between popular music and eastern influences.

Arno Strohmeyer

Arno Strohmeyer (Ph.D., University of Salzburg, Professor) studied history and cultural anthropology at the University of Vienna (1982–1991). His Ph.D. thesis “Theory of Interaction: The Balance of European power in Early Modern Time” was published in 1994. From 1992 to 1994 he was scientific assistant for exhibitions at the cultural department of the Lower Austrian state Government. From 1994 to 1996 he was research assistant at the Department of History at the University of Vienna. In 1996 he started as a research associate at the “Geisteswissenschaftliches Zentrum für Geschichte und Kultur Ostmitteleuropas” in Leipzig, Germany. From 2001 to 2004 he was assistant lecturer at the Department of History at the University of Bonn, Germany. He received postdoctoral lecture qualification in 2003. His professorial dissertation “Confessional conflict and system of rule. The right to resist for Austrian estates (1550–1650)” was published in 2006. From 2004 to 2007 he was associate professor at the University of Bonn. In 2006 he was guest lecturer at the History Department at the University of Vienna and in 2007 at the University of Salzburg. 2007 he became professor for Modern History at the University of Salzburg. Since 2013 he is corresponding member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences.

Suna Suner

Suna Suner (Dr. phil., M.A.) is a theatre scholar and a stage performer. Born in Ankara, Suner received her B.A. degree in Conference Translation & Interpretation (Turkish & English) from Hacettepe University. She taught at Istanbul Bilgi University (1996–2002), and received in 2004 her M.A. degree in Performing Arts from the Middlesex University in London. She worked as stage performer (1997–2003) at the Istanbul-based Kumpanya Theatre; and sang in numerous Turkish festivals and venues. Stage projects include: Farewell Blues (Istanbul, 1997/2001), The Trouble of Margaret Walker (Istanbul, 1999/2001), In the Heat of Our Own Pictures (Vienna, 2005), Poem for Family/De Rien (1st International Sinop Biennial Sinopale, 2006). Latest performance work in the performance-action Österreicher Integriert Euch!, a production within Wiener Festwochen (2012). Since 2007 she is a member of Don Juan Archiv Wien’s team and has been conducting research in theatre and diplomatic history in Ottoman-European context. Since 2008 she has co-directed and organized Don Juan Archiv Wien’s international symposia series “Ottoman Empire & European Theatre”. She received in 2013 her doctoral degree from the Institute of Theatre, Film & Media Studies at the University of Vienna. Other projects conducted at Don Juan Archiv Wien include Theatre and Diplomacy, Ottoman Empire & European Theatre, Sefâretnâmes – Ottoman Embassy Reports Edition.

Nevin Zeynep Yelçe

Nevin Zeynep Yelçe is a post-doctoral fellow at Sabancı University. Her MA thesis has been published with the title Ideal kingship in the late medieval world: The Ottoman case (Saarbrücken/ Germany: LAP Lambert Academic Publishing, 2010). In 2009 she has defended her dissertation “The Making of Sultan Süleyman: A Study of Processes of Image-Making and Reputation Management” at Sabancı University. Her project as a TCF Turkish Cultural Foundation Post-Doctoral Fellow in 2012 was titled “A Glance at the Ottoman Envoys in Venice in the Diarii of Marino Sanuto”. The results of the project were shared partially in two conferences: “Persons Worthy of Trust: Venetian Informants at the End of the Fifteenth Century”, Third Biennial Conference of the Society for the Medieval Mediterranean: Trade, Travel and Transmission in the Medieval Mediterranean, Churchill College, University of Cambridge, 8–10 July 2013, Cambridge, UK; and “A Glance at the Ottoman Envoys in Venice in the Diarii of Marino Sanuto”, 14th Mediterranean Research Meeting, Mediterranean Programme, European University Institute, March 20–23, Mersin.

Dirk Van Waelderen

Dirk Van Waelderen is employed at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU Leuven) as coordinator for the exchange programmes of the integrated faculties (Arts, Law, Economics and Business) at campus Brussels. At the KU Leuven (campus Leuven) he’s working on his Phd Research in Early Modern History on the portrayal of the Ottomans in the Spanish and Austrian Netherlands. He previously studied at the Katholieke Hogeschool Brussel and KU Leuven. He graduated in Leuven on the topic of the Ottomans and the siege of Vienna. During his studies at the latter university he also participated in an exchange at the “Institut Orientalistique” de l’Université Catholique de Louvain.

Luca Zuccolo

Dr. Luca Zuccolo an Italian researcher. In 2008 he achieved his master’s degree in Contemporary History at Bologna University, in 2012 he completed his PhD studies in Contemporary History at the Italian Institute of Human Sciences (SUM) in Naples with a dissertation on the formation of a patriotic speech in the late Ottoman Empire analyzing several francophone newspapers edited in Istanbul. During the last four years he has worked as co-editor in Diacronie, an on-line review (www.diacronie.it), and in March 2014 he finished his second degree in Oriental Languages at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice. Recently he has published in Diacronie a monograph and an article on the role of monarchy during the national period, and works on a project about the political exile and innovation with the Université de Paris Est-Creteil (UPEC), directed by Catherine Brice.

Michael Hüttler

Dr.phil., studied theatre, film and media studies as well as journalism and communication studies at Vienna University; worked in a bank for several years prior to studying. Has taught at Yeditepe University Istanbul (2001–2003) and at Vienna University, Department for Theatre-, Film- and Media Studies (2003–2010). He has been conducting research for Don Juan Archiv Wien since 2001.

2007–2011 he was director of Don Juan Archiv Wien, since 2011 he is director of the Hollitzer Wissenschaftsverlag. Current research focuses on forms of music and popular theatre in the eighteenth century and the “turkish-oriental sujet” in European theatre. Publications on Mozart, Theatre-Ethnology, Business-Theatre, and Experimental Theatre in Austria, including (ed.) Aufbruch zu neuen Welten: Theatralität an der Jahrtausendwende (Frankfurt/Main 2000); (ed.) Theater. Begegnung. Integration? (Frankfurt/Main 2003); Unternehmenstheater. Vom Theater der Unterdrückten zum Theater der Unternehmer? (Stuttgart 2005); (ed.) Hermann Nitsch. Wiener Vorlesungen (Vienna 2005), (ed.) Lorenzo Da Ponte (Vienna 2007), (ed.) Il Corpo del Teatro (Vienna, 2010), TheMA – Open Access Journal for Theatre, Music, Arts www.thema-journal.eu (2012 ff), Ottoman Empire and European Theatre Vol. I – The Age of Mozart and Selim III (1756–1808) (Vienna, 2013), Ottoman Empire and European Theatre Vol. II – The Time of Joseph Haydn (Vienna, 2014).

Markus Köhbach

Prof. Dr. Markus Köhbach studied between 1968–1976 at the University of Vienna (Turkish, Arabian, Byzantine and Jewish Studies, Eastern European History), making repeated study trips to Turkey and in 1975 conducting library and archive research in Istanbul. In 1976 he received his Ph.D. degree in Turkish Studies from the University of Vienna. In the 1975–76 academic year he became an assistant at the Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Vienna; between the years 1976–1991 he worked as Assistant Professor at the same institute, where he received in 1991 tenure and rank of Associate Professor after his Habilitation. In the 1991–92 academic year he was visiting professor at the Department of Turkish Philology at the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest. Since 1992 he has been Full-Professor, Chair of Turkish and Islamic Studies at the Department of Near Eastern Studies of the University of Vienna. He also held administrative positions at the University of Vienna; between 1993–1999 as Head of Department of Near Eastern Studies; between 2000–2004 as Vice Dean for Studies of the Faculty of Humanities; and between 2004–2008 as Director of Diploma Programmes, responsible for regular Diploma Programmes in African Studies, Ancient Semitic Studies and Oriental Archeology, Arabian Studies, Indology, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies, Turkish Studies, and the individual International Development Diploma Programme.

Gisela Procházka-Eisl

Dr. Gisela Procházka-Eisl, Prof. at the Institute of Oriental Studies in Vienna. Specialized on Ottoman literature and cultural history, teaching modern and Ottoman Turkish, courses on aspects of literature and Ottoman culture.Currently busy with a large-scale edition-project on Ottoman popular learning in the 16^th and 17^th century; in the course of this research an edition of a number of Ottoman personal miscellanies and an Ottoman encyclopaedia which are preserved in the Austrian National Library is prepared. One of the results is an open-source digital edition which sheds light on several hitherto unknown texts and poems.

Claudia Römer

Born 4 July 1956 in Vienna, Claudia Römer studied at Vienna University (Turkish Studies/Arabic Studies), and graduated with a PhD degree in 1980. Between 1979 and 1984 she took scholarships in editing Ottoman documents from the Haus-, Hof- und Staatsarchiv (Austrian State Archives) in Vienna. She started teaching in 1984 as lecturer at the Oriental Institute of Vienna University; in 1985 she became Assistant Professor at the institute and since 1992 she is Associate Professor (Faculty of Humanities of Vienna University).

Membership of the following associations include: Balkankommission der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften (until 2011), Wiener Archäographisches Forum, Deutsche Morgenländische Gesellschaft, Executive Committee and Executive Board of the International Association of Ottoman Social and Economic History, General Secretary of CIEPO (Comité international des études pré-ottomanes et ottomanes; president: Michael Ursinus, Heidelberg), Membre associé du CETOBAC (Centre d’études turques, ottomanes, balkaniques et centrasiatiques).

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