Hicazkâr Makamı: The Double Harmonic Scale of Ottoman Classical Music

Where Hicaz stakes its identity on a single augmented second, Hicazkâr doubles it. Both its lower pentachord and its upper tetrachord contain the interval, producing the palindromic, intensely chromatic sound that Western theory knows as the "double harmonic" or "Byzantine" scale. The makam sits on rast rather than dügâh, and its seyir moves downward — a descending cascade through two augmented seconds bracketed by half-step boundaries. It is one of the most immediately striking modes in the Turkish repertoire and, paradoxically, one of the few that maps cleanly onto a 12-TET keyboard.

The doubled augmented second

Established Hicazkâr's defining quality is structural symmetry. Its interval pattern in Holdrian commas — 5-12-5-9-5-12-5 — is a palindrome: the same sequence read forward or backward. Each 12-comma augmented second (approximately 272 cents) sits inside a Hicaz çeşni, flanked by 5-comma küçük mücennep intervals. The result is a scale with two points of maximum tension rather than one.

Established This doubled structure creates the dramatic, taut quality that distinguishes Hicazkâr from plain Hicaz. Where Hicaz places its augmented second only in the lower tetrachord and relaxes into the neutral intervals of the Rast beşli above, Hicazkâr sustains chromatic intensity across the entire octave. There is no relief — the second augmented second in the upper register mirrors the first.

Çeşni construction

Established Hicazkâr is built from two Hicaz çeşni joined at nevâ:

• Hicaz beşli (rast to nevâ): S-A-S-T = 5+12+5+9 commas (31 total) — a Hicaz tetrachord extended by a whole tone to form a pentachord. The augmented second sits between the second and third degrees, flanked by the küçük mücennep intervals that give Hicaz its characteristic pinched-then-opened contour.

• Hicaz dörtlü (nevâ to gerdâniye): S-A-S = 5+12+5 commas (22 total) — the same Hicaz tetrachord heard in the lower register of plain Hicaz, now placed above nevâ.

Established The full scale sums to 53 commas (one octave), as Holdrian comma arithmetic requires. The construction is sometimes described as "Zirgüleli Hicaz on rast" — the same interval pattern as Zirgüleli Hicaz (which pairs Hicaz beşli with Hicaz dörtlü from dügâh), transposed down to rast.

Scale in Holdrian commas

Established The ascending scale, in commas above the karar (rast):

Established The ascending intervals in commas are: 5-12-5-9-5-12-5. The first four intervals (5-12-5-9) form the Hicaz beşli; the last three (5-12-5) form the Hicaz dörtlü. The two augmented seconds — between zirgüle and segâh in the lower register, and between hisar and eviç in the upper — are the widest steps in the scale.

Functional pitches

Attested Hicazkâr's functional pitch hierarchy reflects its descending character:

• Karar (resting tone): Rast (G) — where phrases and the piece conclude, always approached through Hicaz çeşni coloration.
• Güçlü (dominant): Nevâ (D) serves as the junction between the lower beşli and upper dörtlü. Özkan identifies gerdâniye as an additional güçlü supporting both Hicaz and Bûselik characteristics in the upper register.
• Yeden (leading tone): Irak — the perde below rast, pulling upward in cadential motion to resolve on the karar.

Seyir: the melodic path

Established Hicazkâr's seyir is classified as inici (descending): the melody characteristically begins in the upper register near gerdâniye and descends through both augmented seconds to rest on the karar.

Attested In taksim, a typical Hicazkâr seyir unfolds as:

1. Begin near gerdâniye or above, establishing the upper Hicaz dörtlü region.
2. Descend through the augmented second between eviç and hisar, passing through nevâ with a half-cadence.
3. Explore the lower Hicaz beşli, exposing the second augmented second between segâh and zirgüle.
4. Cadence on rast with Hicaz coloring, using irak as the yeden.

Practice The descending approach means performers encounter the upper augmented second first — from eviç down to hisar — before the lower one. This reversed order, compared to Hicaz's ascending-descending motion, gives Hicazkâr a different emotional trajectory: intensity that builds through accumulation rather than alternation with neutral intervals.

Hicazkâr and Hicaz

Established Despite the shared name and the shared Hicaz çeşni, Hicazkâr and Hicaz differ in every structural dimension:

Practice The critical distinction is not merely the doubled interval but the karar: Hicaz rests on dügâh with a Rast-flavored upper register, while Hicazkâr rests on rast with unrelenting Hicaz coloring throughout. The neutral intervals of Hicaz's Rast beşli — the 8-comma büyük mücennep and adjacent küçük mücennep that make Hicaz only approximately playable in 12-TET — are entirely absent from Hicazkâr.

The double harmonic scale

Established In Western and comparative music theory, Hicazkâr's interval pattern is known as the double harmonic major scale (also called the Byzantine scale, Arabic scale, or Gypsy major). The name "double harmonic" refers to the two augmented seconds — the same interval called "harmonic" in the Western harmonic minor scale, occurring here twice.

Attested The scale appears across a wide range of traditions:

• Arabic: Maqam Hijazkar, built from multiple Hijaz ajnas.
• Indian classical: Raga Bhairav (Hindustani) / Mayamalavagowla (Carnatic) — enharmonically equivalent structures.
• Byzantine chant: A foundational scale of Orthodox liturgical music, giving rise to the name "Byzantine scale."
• Western popular music: "Misirlou" (Nikolas Roubanis) and the "Bacchanale" from Saint-Saens's Samson and Delilah both employ this scale.

Practice The 12-TET rendering maps cleanly to Hicazkâr because every interval in the scale falls close to a semitone boundary — the half steps are approximately 1 semitone (5 commas = 113 cents), the augmented seconds approximately 3 semitones (12 commas = 272 cents), and the whole tone approximately 2 semitones (9 commas = 204 cents). This contrasts with plain Hicaz, whose Rast beşli contains the 8-comma büyük mücennep (~181 cents) that sits badly between 12-TET cracks. Hicazkâr can be played on a piano; it cannot be played correctly on one — the 272-cent augmented second and the 113-cent half steps are audibly distinct from their 12-TET equivalents.

Kürdîlihicazkâr

Established Far more common in the Ottoman and modern Turkish repertoire than Hicazkâr itself is its compound derivative, Kürdîlihicazkâr. Created by the composer Hacı Arif Bey (1831--1885) in the 1850s, it replaces Hicazkâr's Hicaz-based çeşni with entirely different building blocks: a Kürdî dörtlü (B-T-T = 4+9+9 commas) in the lower register and a Bûselik beşli (T-B-T-T = 9+4+9+9 commas) above.

Established The result eliminates both augmented seconds entirely, producing a scale that approximates the Western Phrygian mode — dramatically different in color from Hicazkâr despite sharing its karar on rast and its descending seyir. The güçlü sits at gerdâniye, and the yeden is acem aşîrân.

Attested The name literally means "Kürdî-flavored Hicazkâr" — Hacı Arif Bey himself called it Hicazkâr-ı Kürdî. The connection to Hicazkâr is not structural (the scales share no çeşni) but cadential: Kürdîlihicazkâr performances frequently modulate into Hicazkâr coloring at cadence points, and the two makams inhabit the same tonal territory around rast.

Attested Kürdîlihicazkâr became one of the most beloved makams in Turkish classical music, particularly for şarkı (vocal art song). Its emotional quality is described as şuh ve parlak (witty and brilliant) — a sharp contrast to Hicazkâr's brooding intensity. Major works include compositions by Hacı Arif Bey himself, Münir Nurettin Selçuk, and Tanburi Cemil Bey, whose Kürdîlihicazkâr Peşrev remains a staple of the instrumental repertoire.

Practice guidance

Practice Hicazkâr rewards players who already have Hicaz in their ears. The lower Hicaz beşli is the same çeşni expanded by a whole tone, and the upper Hicaz dörtlü is the same tetrachord in a new register. The challenge is sustaining correct intonation of two augmented seconds while navigating the descending seyir — the upper augmented second (hisar to eviç) arrives before the lower one (zirgüle to segâh) in the characteristic downward path, and each must retain its 12-comma width.

Practice Drone work on rast is essential. Practice the lower beşli and upper dörtlü separately before connecting them at nevâ, and listen for the palindromic symmetry of the full scale — the identical interval sequence ascending and descending is a useful self-check for intonation accuracy.