Century-old flute returns home

Umut Erdem

A flute played 88 years ago by Zahit Özsezen, a solo flutist in the early years of the Turkish Republic, has been found in the U.S.

The wooden flute, called Non-Boehm, which Özsezen used about a century ago, has recently returned to the Turkish capital from California.

Özsezen, who was a solo flutist in the Presidential Symphony Orchestra (CSO) for many years, was commemorated with a special concert last night at CSAO Ada Ankara for his 110th birthday.

His concert that he performed on May 3, 1936, in the Cebeci Music Teacher School Hall, which was revealed by musicologist Ersin Antep, was repeated exactly during the last night’s concert, with the same instrument group and repertoire. The concert, described by musicologists as the “Ronaldo of Music,” drew great interest in the capital 88 years ago.

The orchestra's current artists Melodi Eylül Kayış (violin), Murat Cangal (viola), Onur Şenler (cello), Hacer Özlü (double bass) and Ankara Music and Fine Arts University Faculty member Tayfun İlhan (piano) presented the same program to the Ankara at CSO Ada Ankara.

Özsezen, who played the flute in the concert, was replaced by CSO Director and flutist Sibel Ayhan Bayer.

The flute was entrusted for a while to be exhibited at the CSO Museum. Before the concert, jazz pianist Ülkem Özsezen, the grandson of Zahit Özsezen, who brought the flute to Türkiye, CSO Director and flutist Bayer, and musicologist Antep, who organized the concert, answered questions.

“My grandfather's older brother is the cellist Edip Özsezen, who was born in 1914. He was the cello teacher of then-President İsmet İnönü. He also contributed to my grandfather's education. Edip Özsezen's granddaughter Jenifer lives in California. A while ago, Jenifer called me and said that there was a wooden flute belonging to my grandfather, kept by the family and that she would send it to us. Due to some transportation problems, the flute went back several times before it reached us. With the persistent efforts of Jenifer and us, the flute eventually reached our family. It belongs to the flute family called Non-Boehm, similar flutes are called Nach-Meyer,” explained Ülkem Özsezen.

“For more than 20 years, I have been carrying out historical research on our country's polyphonic music of the Republic and pre-Republic period. Unfortunately, information and documents about CSO artists from a certain period cannot be accessed for various reasons. The great effort and success of Özsezen's grandson Ülkem Özsezen to get the flute back gave strength for this concert. We can also call the concert that took place 88 years ago the 'Ronaldo of Music,'” musicologist Antep said.

CSO Director Bayer said that she was honored to repeat a concert performed in 1936 by a master who worked in the orchestra five generations before her, adding, “To organize such a concert with the same repertoire in a period 88 years ago, when recordings were limited is to make something out of nothing.”