Aram Khachaturian

Aram Ilich Khachaturian (Armenian: Արամ Խաչատրյան, Aram Xačatryan; Russian: Аpaм Ильич Xaчaтypян, Aram Il'ič Hačaturjan) (June 6, 1903 – May 1, 1978) was a composer of modern music.

Life

Aram Ilyich Khachaturian was born in Tbilisi, Georgia (then a part of Imperial Russia) to a poor Armenian family (the influence of Armenian folk music is prominent in his work). In his youth, he was fascinated by the music he heard around him, but at first he did not study music or learn to read it. In 1921, he traveled to Moscow to join his brother, unable to speak a word of Russian. Although he had almost no musical education, Khachaturian showed such great talent that he was admitted to the Gnessin Institute where he studied cello under Mikhail Gnessin and entered a composition class (1925). In 1929, he transferred to the Moscow Conservatory where he studied under Nikolai Myaskovsky. In the 1930s, he married the composer Nina Makarova, a fellow student from Myaskovsky's class. In 1951, he became professor at the Gnessin State Musical and Pedagogical Institute (Moscow) and the Moscow Conservatory. He also held important posts at the Composers Union, which would later severely denounce some of his works as being "formalistic" music, along with those of Prokofiev and Shostakovich. However these three composers became the so called "titans" of Soviet music, enjoying world-wide reputation as the leading composers of the 20th century.

Works

Khachaturian's works include concertos for violin, cello and piano (the latter originally including an early part for the flexatone), concerto-rhapsodies for the same instruments, three symphonies – the third containing parts for fifteen trumpets and organ, and the ballets Spartak (aka Spartacus) and Gayane (music of which was used in Stanley Kubrick's film A Space Odyssey (film)). The latter ballet features in its final act what is probably his most famous movement, the "Sabre Dance". He also composed some film music and incidental music for plays such as the 1941 production of Lermontov's Masquerade. The cinematic quality of his music for Spartacus was clearly seen when it was used as the theme for a popular BBC drama series, The Onedin Line, during the 1970s. Since then, it has become one of the most popular of all classical pieces for UK audiences.

Khachaturian and Communism

Khachaturian was enthusiastic about communism. In 1920, when Armenia was declared a Soviet republic, Khachaturian joined a propoganda train touring Armenia comprised of Georgian-Armenian artists. The composer joined the Communist Party in 1943. His communist ideals, along with his Armenian nationalism, are apparent in his works, especially Gayane (which takes place on a collective farm) and the Second Symphony. It was the Symphonic Poem, later titled the Third Symphony, that earned Khachaturian the wrath of the Party. Ironically, Khachaturian wrote the work as a tribute to communism: “I wanted to write the kind of composition in which the public would feel my unwritten program without an announcement. I wanted this work to express the Soviet people’s joy and pride in their great and mighty country” (Yuzefovich, 191). Perhaps because Khachaturian did not include a dedication or program notes, his intentions backfired. Andrei Zhdanov, secretary of the Communist Party's Central Committee, delivered the so-called Zhdanov decree in 1948. The decree condemned Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Khachaturian, and other Soviet composers as "formalist" and "antipopular." All three accused composers were forced to apologize publicly. The decree affected Khachaturian profoundly: “Those were tragic days for me… I was clouted on the head so unjustly. My repenting speech at the First Congress was insincere. I was crushed, destroyed. I seriously considered changing professions” (Yuzefovich, 190).

He died in Moscow on May 1, 1978, just short of his 75th birthday. He was buried in Yerevan, Armenia, along with other distinguished Armenians who made Armenian art accessible for the whole world. In 1998, he was honored by appearing on Armenian paper money (50 dram).

Selected List of Works

Symphonies

Symphony No. 1
Symphony No. 2
Symphony No. 3

Works for solo instrument(s) and orchestra

Piano Concerto
Violin Concerto
Cello Concerto
Concerto-Rhapsody for Piano and Orchestra
Concerto-Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra
Concerto-Rhapsody for Cello and Orchestra
Masquerade Suite
Lermontov Suite

Ballets

Spartacus
Gayane, which includes the famous Sabre Dance

Chamber works

Trio in G minor for Clarinet, Violin and Piano (1932)

Works for solo piano

Adventures of Ivan (teaching pieces)
Toccata
Etudie
Piano Sonata (1976)

External links

Sources

Ehrenburg, I, Khachaturian, A., & Pomerantsev, V. (1953). Three Soviet artists on the present needs of Soviet art. Soviet Studies, 5(4), 427-434.

Yuzefovich, V. (1985). Aram Khachaturyan (N. Kournokoff & V. Bobrov, Trans.). New York: Sphinx Press.

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