Musical Armenia

The features of Khachaturian's film music

Vova Arthur Arzumanyan — Sun, 09 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In recent decades, it has been almost impossible to imagine cinema without musical accompaniment. Often, music becomes a key element in solidifying certain scenes from films in memory and not only. A significant number of films gain their content value through music. Taking all of this into account, we have explored Aram Khachaturian's creative works as a film composer, highlighting the aesthetic and cinematographic features of his works. Through the example of specific compositions, we have attempted to encapsulate the importance and relevance of his legacy in film music. By analyzing Khachaturian's film music within the context of film history, we have sought to distinguish its logical and content interconnections according to the films, which contribute to the ideological completion of the films. Our goal is also to provide a comprehensive view of the history of Khachaturian's film music.

A Brief Overview of Aram Khachaturian’s Portraits

Artyom Gerasim Andreasyan — Sun, 09 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The present essay by Artyom Andreasyan, a graduate of the Department of Art History and Theory of the Faculty of History of YSU, summarizes the creative and personal image of Aram Khachaturian, as depicted in paintings and drawings by contemporary Armenian and Russian artists. The author describes the inseparability of the depicted character from various musical attributes, as well as the connection of his depicted image with his turbulent creative and social activity. This report was presented at the "Aram Khachaturian - 120" student scientific conference held at YSU on November 20, 2023.

Aram Khachaturian in Yuri Petrosyan's Art

Ellada Lyova Mathevosyan — Sun, 09 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The image of Aram Khachaturian has found its expression in the art of sculptor Yuri Petrosyan. As a result, the author concludes that Yuri Petrosyan, by deeply understanding and perceiving the essence of Aram Khachaturian, has conveyed this essence through the sculpture, recreating a highly realistic representation. Through this immortalized figure, viewers can grasp the complete essence of the great composer. It is important to note that Yuri Petrosyan carried out this challenging task with great care and dedication.

Arno Babajanyan as a Descendant of the Khachaturian School

Liana Armen Poghosyan — Sun, 09 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

The author of the article presents the encounters between Arno Babajanyan and Aram Khachaturian, and the guidelines in the life and creative sphere of Arno Babajanyan offered by the genius Aram Khachaturian. These include his advice during Babajanyan 's childhood, later in his youth, and subsequently during his study years in Moscow. Khachaturian 's influence on Babajanyan ’s creative process is analyzed in terms of genre, structure and stylistic aspects of his works.

Sharakan to the Holy Cross "This day has Appeared"

Astghik Albert Musheghyan, Нане Микаеловна Мисакян — Sun, 09 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Armenian Catholicos and poet-musician Sahak III Dzoraporetsi (T'-8h centuries) played a significant role in the development of Armenian sacred songwriting. Almost all the sharakans of the canons dedicated to the holidays of Shoghakat, the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the Varag Cross, and the Discoveiy of the Holy Cross, as well as other sharakans dedicated to the Holy Church feasts, are attributed to him. These works are primarily known through N. Tashchyan's recordings, made in the 19'՝ centwy song-writing in Armenian notation and ceiiified by the Armenian Church. However, the musical components of these sharakans were also recorded by H. Cherchyan in the 19h century. This article is a comprehensive study of these sharakans, uncovering their melodic styles, modal and rhythmic-intonation structures and other peculiarities. The results of our research demonstrate that the two recordings are closely related. Of particular interest to us are the sharakans in cantilena type, in view of N. Tahmizyan's statements that some of Tashchyan's recordings were enriched with new omamentic intonation patterns. From this point of view, the sharakan at the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, "This day the sign of the Lord God appeared in great radiance" glorifying the life-giving Cross as the victorious sign of the Lord, is indicative. Our comparative analysis of two recordings of the musical component of Dzoraporetsi's sharakan showed that inherent in N. Tashchyan's sample the extremely rich ornamented melody, rhythmic freedom, independent of the verbal text much-sounding chants, several times greater in metric units than the identical constructions of Cherchyan's recording, really confirms the theoiy of further changes in the musical component of the Dzoraporetsi's sharakan. Thus, our research reveals the more ancient and authentic origins of the Cherchyan's recording. At the same time, based on the intonation structure we discovered in the melody of the sharakan, known in Armenian sacred songwriting, we believe that its entire musical component was revised by Cilician musicians in the 13h-14’h centuries. Over the course of time, the literary and musical components of Sahak Dzoraporetsi's sharakan experienced several transfonnations. In the first of them, anonymous authors adapted a slightly different - varied musical material of the sharakan to the original literary text, renaming it to a different genre - meghedi, performed during Holy Patarag (Liturgy). In a later period, having remade the literary text (taking out the first few words) and combining it with a new modified version of the musical component, unknown musicians gave life to another independent work - the meghedi of the Holy Cross "The Sign of the Lord God", the earliest recording of which is preserved in "Tagharan" (Taghbook) by H. Cherchyan. In this way Sahak Dzoraporetsi's sharakan "This day the sign of the Lord God appeared in great radiance", representing one of the most significant works of Armenian sacred songwriting, underwent several transfonnations by musicians of later eras and turned into a meghedi of the Holy Cross, which is one of the prominent examples of Armenian tagh art.

Following My Copyright

Lilit Karlen Yepremyan — Sat, 08 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

This article addresses issues of copyright concerning several articles by Lilit Yepremyan, published in the Yerevan newspaper "Novoye Vremya" with the author's signature, but subsequently distributed online without indicating her name. Whether the fact that the interviewer's direct questions are excluded from the printed text in the interview can be a reason for the absence of the latter's copyright - this is the main issue of the publication. The answer is no, because due to the current Copyright Law in Armenia, the interview has two authors.

Romanos Melikyan and the Development Paths of Armenian Romance

Zhanna Pyotr Zurabyan — Sat, 08 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Romanos Melikyan was among the first in Armenian compositional art to contribute to the development of the singing and romance genres. His early romances were somewhat aligned with the domestic romance genre, expressing lyrical melancholy and personal, romantic emotions, particularly in connection with nature. Later, the pinnacle of Melikyan's romance style was expressed in the vocal series "Zar-Var" and "Zmrukhti", created between 1916 and the 1920s. In these works, the composer closely approached the roots of folk music, successfully laying the foundation for the development of Armenian romance on genuinely national grounds.

“The First of the First”

Astghik Leonid Harutyunyan — Sat, 08 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Music public figure and powerful otganizer Romanos Melikyan lived a very vibrant life, leaving an invaluable legacy for future generations. Even in his youth, he engaged in intense musical activity in his birthplace, New Nakhichevan, and later as a musician, he improved and continued his education in Moscow and St. Petersburg. It was there that he first met his older friend, Alexander Spendiatyan. Initially, the young and rebellious Romanos had a biased attitude toward Spendiaiyan's music, which changed over time. Later, deeply appreciating Spendiatyan’s talent, his unique musical style, his innovative ideas in the musical life of the time, and especially the significance of the opera ՛Almost" in the histoiy of Armenian music, as well as the close friendship between these two great figures, Romanos reevaluated Spendiatyan ՝s role in Armenian music. It was through Romanes's mediation that Spendiatyan met the great Armenian poet Hovhannes Tumanyan and began composing his Swan Song, the opera "Almost". During the debut concert of the conseiyatoiy’s orchestra in their homeland on December 10, 1924, Romanos Melikyan’s wife, Arus Babalyan, performed Spendiaiyan’s romances with the composer accompanying her. Spendiaiyan's arrival in the homeland and the otganization of concerts boosted the activity and revival of musical life, while Romanes’s inquisitive and enthusiastic nature pushed him to establish a new musical institution, the Stepanakert Music School (1925). Some time later, the old friends met again in Yerevan, and Spendiatyan invited Romanos to live in his apartment at the current address of Nalbandyan 21, where the Spendiatyan
House Museum is now located. Romanos played a significant role in immortalizing Spendiaiyan’s memory, realizing the composer’s unfinished works and unrealized dreams, particularly in bringing to life the premieres of the opera "Almast" in Tbilisi, Odessa, and Yerevan. Alexander Spendiaiyan, Romanos Melikyan, Martiros Satyan, Alexander Tamanian, and others were not just names; they were dedicated individuals committed to the mission and belief in creating the new, revitalizing culture of their homeland with their tireless and devoted efforts.