This article examines one particular type of musical exoticism in Western music: representations of janissary music or mehter (Turkish military music). Representations of this music as exoticism—a way of recasting the relationship between self and other—are shaped by, among other things, the circumstances of their composition and prevailing conventions of musical representation. Some of the conventions for representing janissary music draw heavily upon elements of mehter itself, while others use different foreign sources or Western constructs. After reviewing briefly janissary music's role both in Turkish military campaigns and as symbol of Turkish culture for Westerners, the paper examines mehter in some detail for purposes of comparison. The study then proceeds chronologically, examining representations of janissary music by Lully, Rameau, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. The changes in the conventions for representing this music over the period in question (1670–1824) involve, among other things, the degree to which composers were familiar with janissary music and attempted to be faithful to it There is a discernable progression toward and then away from use of actual mehter elements in these musical representations. The article traces this progression and examines the circumstances surrounding the period in the second half of the eighteenth century during which the representations were more faithful to janissary music.
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