Abstract
This study examines the life of Navy Band Lieutenant Colonel Halit Recep Arman, who marked a period in Turkish military music history with his 85 marches, 32 orchestral works and 80 orchestral arrangements including Turkish folk music, Turkish art music as well as music history book and instrument methods, and his contributions to Turkish military music. He also worked as a music teacher in various bands and schools within the Navy, Army and Air Forces. He established the first military band and music school in Afghanistan, where he went twice between 1933-1937 and 1938-1942. He founded the fifth of the Navy military band school on September 1, 1955, that one of the important institutions in the history of Turkish military music and trained many bandmaster for the Turkish Navy bands. Arman, influenced the Turkish marches composers who came after him with his understanding of melody, countermelody, harmony and orchestration that he used in his compositions. In this study in the field of historical musicology, critical biography was used as a method. In critical biography writing, not only the life of the person, but also the society, period and environmental conditions in which he lives are discussed. The life of Halit Recep Arman is discussed from a critical perspective which is supported by different data such as interviews and musical analyses as well as various documents with related with him. In the study, it has also been determined that Arman is among the pioneering composers who contributed to the repertoire of 20th century band literature consisting of large forms with operettas, fantasies and overtures he composed for bands. The study, in which documents on Halit Recep Arman’s life were published for the first time, is also a first in this respect.