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Music of the elite corps of soldiers known as Janissaries that formed the personal guard of Turkish sultans from the 14th century until 1826, or music of similar character performed on similar instruments. The typical Turkish ensemble included fifes, shawms, triangle, cymbals, kettledrums, Turkish crescent, and bass drum and was widely imitated in Europe beginning in the early 18th century. Its influence on European military music lasted well into the 19th [century]. Among works to draw on this idiom are ... Beethoven's Ruins of Athens, Wellington's Victory, and the finale to the Ninth Symphony. Around 1800, pianos were sometimes fitted with Janissary stops, which imitated the percussive effects of such music (New Harvard Dictionary of Music)