Mavi Boncuk | See also: Rail History on a Cigarette paper
The Ottoman Government gave a concession to build a railway from İzmir to Cassaba on July 4, 1863. The concession was awarded to an English company "The Smyrna Cassaba[1] Railway". The railway choose to have their terminus closer to İzmir's city center. Construction began ın 1864. The rail line opened to Manisa on October 10, 1865 and to Cassaba on January 10, 1866. The SCR then built a line to Bornova (splitting from the main line at Halkapınar), which opened on October 25, 1866. They were going to extend the line to Cassaba, but the SCR went bankrupt during the stock market crash in 1866. The SCR recovered after a second concession to Alaşehir. SCR completed the line to Alaşehir in 1875, however the construction was funded by the Ottoman Government.
A third concession was awarded to the SCR in 1887 to build a branch to Soma from Manisa. This was completed in 1890 but the Ottoman Government once again financed the construction. The Ottoman Government always in need of finance decided to rationalize the structure of the Smyrna Cassaba Railway. It exercised its right to purchase the concession and the part of the line it not already owned.
The concession was then sold to Georges Nagelmackers[2], the founder the International Sleeping Car Company on February 17, 1893. The railway operation was transferred on 12 July 1893 to a new French company, the "Société Ottomane du Chemin de fer de Smyrne-Cassaba et Prolongements" (SCP), which was founded on July 16, 1893. The SCP received a concession to build from Alaşehir to Afyon.
The SCP made an agreement with the Central Railway of Anatolia (CFOA) to connect the SCP's line with theirs at Afyon. The line to Afyon was completed in 1899. The SCP continued the line from Soma to Bandırma, which was completed in 1912. This became the shortest route between İzmir and İstanbul via ferry connection at Bandırma. After the Republic of Turkey was formed in 1923, Turkey has nationalized all railways in the country, thus the SCP was taken over by the Turkish State Railways in 1934.The Jewish Expositor, and Friend of Israel: Containing Monthly Communications Respecting the Jews, and the Proceedings of the London Society, Volume 10 Front Cover Printed at the London Society's Office., 1825 - English periodicals
In 1913, at the insistence of the director of the Alliance Israélite Universelle, Hemsi moved to Italy after receiving a scholarship to study at the Conservatorio Royal di Milano. At the conservatorio, Hemsi was taught by internationally acclaimed professors such as Bossi Pirinello (composition, harmony, and counterpoint), Galli (orchestration), Pozzoli Delochi (theory and solfeggio), and Giusto Zampieri (music history). During his studies, Alberto Hemsi asked his music history professor about Jewish music. The response given was that although Jewish music is important, he could not recall any melodies because few existed. Perplexed and sceptical of this response, largely due to his exposure to many Jewish melodies in childhood, Hemsi proceeded to ask the cantor of his synagogue back in Cassaba / Turgutlu for more information about traditional Jewish melodies.
After returning from Italy to his homeland, Hemsi followed in the folkloric footsteps of Bartók and Constantin Brăiloiu. He focuses on the Hispano-Judeaic traditional music of his ancestors. The traditional Hispano-Judeaic melodies were transmitted orally for generations by the women of the communities and infused with the medieval Spanish literature. Hemsi proceeded to dedicate more than 17 years of his life to collect traditional chants throughout the former Ottoman Empire, particularly in Smyrne, Salonica or Thessaloniki, Rhodes, Istanbul, and Alexandria. At the end of these travels, Hemsi wrote out harmonizations for piano of sixty traditional melodies. This work was the first of the ten books known as "Coplas Sefardies." Harmonization of the traditional Sephardic chants proved to be a challenge since the harmonization of monodic modal chants is not possible in a tonal sense. Hemsi did not wish to alter the traditional melodies nor utilise modern harmonic techniques of the epoch. In addition to the Coplas Sefardies, Hemsi composed numerous other works for a variety of ensembles including orchestra, string quintets, choir, cello, and piano. He drew inspiration equally from liturgical music of the synagogue as well as music from Egypt, Turkey, and Greece.
[2] Georges Lambert Casimir Nagelmackers (born 24 June 1845 in Liège, Belgium; deceased 10 August 1905 in Villepreux, France) was the founder of the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits, the company known for the Orient Express trains.
STOCK
NummernHerstellerAnzahlBaujahr(e)BauartBemerkungBild
1–4, 7–13Beyer-Peacock111864-74B1 n2Fünf Stück (SCR 9–13) ab 1891 in C-Kuppler umgebaut
7–8, 14Beyer-Peacock31865–741B n2t
15Beyer-Peacock11889B n2t
16–21Beyer-Peacock618891'C n2
61–69Sigl, Maffei91900–19112'C n4vBaugleich mit CFO VIII der Orientbahn, alle Exemplare als Reihe 35.001–009 an die TCDD, vor 1956 ausgemustert
31–35Maffei51911–1912C n2tAlle Exemplare als Reihe 33.51–55 an die TCDD, Lokomotive 3355 als Museumslokomotive in Çamlik erhalten
101–112Humboldt1219121'D h2Alle Exemplare als Reihe 45.121–132 an die TCDD, weitgehend baugleich mit CFO 241–262
1–6 (Zweitbesetzung)Corpet-Louvet619231'C1' n2tAlle Exemplare als Reihe 35.11–16 an die TCDD, nach 1955 ausgemustert
51–60Linke-Hofmann101924D h2Preußische G 8, alle Exemplare als Reihe 44.047–056 an die TCDD
81–88Corpet-Louvet819261'E h2Alle Exemplare als Reihe 56.011–018 an die TCDD, ab 1940 als 56.911–918 bezeichnet, 56911 als Denkmallokomotive in Nazilli aufgestellt, 56914 als Museumslokomotive in Çamlik erhalten