The Aesthetics of Music and Composition in the Pieces “Dashti” and “Bayat-e Esfahan”

The article aims to answer the claim that Iranian vocal music i.e., Iranian music connected to Persian poetry, is limited and sad. It employs aesthetic and pragmatic criticism to study several songs and compositions and proves that Iranian vocal music is the same as vocal music in other countries of the world, in that it can be sad or joyful and that it can be limited or expanded. Moreover, analyzing the samples, the article demonstrates that the sadness or happiness of the lyrics and the singing and, likewise, the type of rhythm and meter affect the gloominess or joyfulness of sheet music. Furthermore, it indicates that this effect is not specific to Iranian vocal music. Finally, even the most woeful pieces of Iranian music, for instance, “Dashti” and “Bayat-e Esfahan,” despite their similarity to minor scale western music, are of exceptional capacity so that they can accompany epic songs and the most joyful ballads.