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Komitas

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Komitas
Vardapet
Կոմիտաս
Komitas in 1901[1]or 1902[2]
Born
Soghomon Soghomonian

8 October [O.S.26 September] 1869
Kütahya,Ottoman Empire
Died22 October 1935(1935-10-22)(aged 66)
Paris,France
Resting placeKomitas Pantheon
NationalityArmenian
EducationGevorgian Seminary
Frederick William University
Occupation(s)Musicologist,composer,choirmaster
Years active1891–1915
Websitekomitasmuseum.am
Signature
Komitas singing Mokats Mirza.

Soghomon Soghomonian,[A]ordainedand commonly known asKomitas[B](Armenian:Կոմիտաս;8 October [O.S.26 September] 1869 – 22 October 1935), was anOttoman-Armenianpriest,musicologist,composer, arranger, singer, andchoirmaster,who is considered the founder of theArmenian national school of music.[4][7]He is recognized as one of the pioneers ofethnomusicology.[8][9]

Orphaned at a young age, Komitas was taken toEtchmiadzin,Armenia's religious center, where he received education at theGevorgian Seminary.Following his ordination asvardapet(celibate priest) in 1895, he studied music at theFrederick William Universityin Berlin. He thereafter "used his Western training to build a national tradition".[10]He collected and transcribed over 3,000 pieces of Armenian folk music, more than half of which were subsequently lost and only around 1,200 are now extant. Besides Armenian folk songs, he also showed interest in other cultures and in 1903 published the first-ever collection ofKurdish folk songstitledKurdish melodies.His choir presented Armenian music in many European cities, earning the praise ofClaude Debussy,among others. Komitas settled in Constantinople in 1910 to escape mistreatment by ultra-conservative clergymen at Etchmiadzin and to introduce Armenian folk music to wider audiences. He was widely embraced by Armenian communities, whileArshag Chobaniancalled him the "savior of Armenian music".[11]

During theArmenian genocide—along with hundreds of other Armenian intellectuals—Komitas wasarrested and deportedto aprison campin April 1915 by the Ottoman government. He was soon released under unclear circumstances and, having witnessed indiscriminate cruelty and relentless massacres of other Armenians by the Ottoman Turks, Komitas experienced a mental breakdown and developed a severe case ofpost-traumatic stress disorder(PTSD). The widespread hostile environment in Constantinople and reports of mass-scale Armenian death marches and massacres that reached him further worsened his fragile mental state. He was first placed in a Turkish military-operated hospital until 1919 and then transferred topsychiatric hospitalsin Paris, where he spent the last years of his life in agony. Komitas is widely seen as a martyr of the genocide and has been depicted as one of the main symbols of the Armenian Genocide in art.[12]Collection of Works of the Composer Komitas Vardapet is included to UNESCOMemory of the WorldRegister.

Biography

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Childhood (1869–81)

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Komitas was bornSoghomon SoghomonianinKütahya,Hüdavendigâr (Bursa) Vilayet,Ottoman Empire on 26 September (8 October inNew Style) 1869 to Armenian parents Kevork and Takuhi.[13][14]According to his autobiographical sketches, his parents' ancestors moved to westernAnatoliafrom theTsghnavillage inNakhichevan'sGoghtnprovince at the turn of the century. His family only spokeTurkishdue to restrictions by the Ottoman government. Soghomon was their only child. He was baptized three days after his birth. His mother was originally fromBursaand was sixteen at the time of his birth. People who knew her described her as melancholic, while his father was a cheerful person; but both were interested in music. She died in March 1870, just six months after giving birth to him. Her death left deep scars on him, whose earliest poems were devoted to her. Thereafter, according to different sources, either his father's sister-in-law or his paternal grandmother, Mariam, looked after him.[15]

In 1880, four years after he finished primary school in Kütahya, Soghomon was sent by his father toBursato continue his education. He possibly stayed with his maternal grandparents who lived in the city. He was sent back to Kütahya four months later, following the death of his father who had become an alcoholic. Although Soghomon was adopted by his paternal uncle Harutyun, his "familiar and social structure had collapsed." A childhood friend described him as "virtually homeless." He was completely deprived of paternal care and was "placed in circumstances that made him vulnerable to the mental illness he suffered later in life".[16]

Etchmiadzin (1881–95)

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Etchmiadzin Cathedral(1890s)
Gevorgian Seminary(1910)

His life took a radical turn in the fall of 1881. In September, the twelve-year-old Soghomon was taken to Etchmiadzin by Kevork Vartabed Tertsagyan, the local Armenian bishop, who was asked by theHoly See of Etchmiadzinto find an orphan boy with good singing voice to be enrolled in the prestigiousGevorgian Seminary.On 1 October 1881, Komitas was introduced toCatholicosGevorg IV, who was disappointed with his lack of knowledge of Armenian, but was so impressed with his singing talent that he often asked Komitas to sing for visitors. After an unfortunate childhood, Komitas found "emotional and intellectual stability" in the seminary.[17]

Between 1881 and 1910, Komitas was mainly based in Etchmiadzin, although he did spend a significant time in Europe.[18]During his first year at the seminary, Komitas learned the Armenian music notation (khaz) system based on ancientneumesdeveloped earlier in the 19th century byHampartsoum Limondjianand his students. He gradually discovered a great passion for music and started writing down songs sung by Armenian villagers near Etchmiadzin, who affectionately called him "Notaji Vardapet", meaning "the note-taking priest".[19]

In the early 1890s, Komitas made his first attempts to write music for the poems ofKhachatur Abovian,Hovhannes Hovhannisyan,Avetik Isahakyan(his younger classmate) and others.[13]In 1891, theAraratmagazine (the Holy See's official newspaper) published his "National Anthem" (Ազգային Օրհներգ, lyrics by seminary student A. Tashjian) for polyphonic choirs. He finished the seminary in 1893, became a music teacher and was appointed the choirmaster of theEtchmiadzin Cathedral,Armenia's mother church.[13][20]

His earliest major influence wasKristapor Kara-Murza,who taught at the seminary only one year, in 1892. Kara-Murza composed and organized performances of European music for schoolchildren throughout Armenian-populated areas for educational purposes. And although Komitas criticized his works as not authentically Armenian, Kara-Murza was the person who taught Komitas the polyphonic choral structure around which he built his musical achievements.[21]

In 1894, Soghomon was ordainedhieromonk(կուսակրոն աբեղա) and given the name of the 7th-century poet and musicianCatholicosKomitas.[13]In February 1895,[22]he was ordainedvardapet(celibate priest) and became thereafter known as Komitas Vardapet.[20]In the same year, his first collection of transcribed folk music, "The Songs of Agn" (Շար Ակնա ժողովրդական երգերի), was completed, which included 25 pieces of love songs, wedding tunes, lullabies and dances. It was disapproved by a reactionary and ultraconservative faction of the Etchmiadzin clergy, who harassed and sarcastically referred to Komitas as "the love-singing priest". Rumors of alleged sexual misconduct were spread, leading Komitas into experiencing anidentity crisis.[23]

Tiflis and Berlin (1895–1899)

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Frederick William University,c. 1900

In October 1895, Komitas left Etchmiadzin forTiflisto studyharmonyunder composerMakar Yekmalyan,whose polyphonic rendering of Armenian liturgy is the most widely used and who became one of Komitas's most influential teachers.[13]At the time, Tiflis was the most suitable option for Komitas as it was both relatively close to the Armenian lands and had arectory,where he could stay. The six months Komitas spent with Yekmalyan deepened his understanding of European harmonic principles and laid the groundwork for his further education in European conservatories. As Komitas prepared for entrance exams, the wealthy Armenian oil explorerAlexander Mantashevagreed to pay 1,800rublesfor his three-year tuition at the request of CatholicosMkrtich Khrimian.[24]

Komitas arrived inBerlinin early June 1896 without having been accepted by any university. A group of Armenian friends helped him to find an apartment. He initially took private lessons with Richard Schmidt for a few months. Afterwards, he was accepted into the prestigiousFrederick William University.[25]With little left of Mantashev's money after paying for rent and supplies, Komitas cut on food, having one or no meal each day.[26]However, this did not distract him from education and he effectively absorbed the erudition of highly accomplished German teachers. Among them were 18th–19th century folk music specialistHeinrich Bellermann,Max Friedlaender,Oskar Fleischer.Fleischer in May 1899 established the Berlin chapter of the International Musical Society (German:Internationalen Musikgesellschaft), of which Komitas became an active member. He lectured there on Armenian folk music and suggested that it dated back to pre-Christian, pagan times. His studies at the university ended in July 1899.[27]

Main period of work (1899–1910)

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Upon his return to Etchmiadzin in September 1899, Komitas resumed teaching and composing. He assembled and trained a large polyphonic choir based on his acquired knowledge. Until 1906, he directed the Gevorgian Seminary choir.[28]It was in this period when he completed "most of the theoretical and research papers that earned him his place among the pioneers of ethnomusicology." Komitas spent summers in Armenian countryside, developing a unique relationship with villagers. He thus took the scholarly task of transcribing and preserving rural Armenian songs. In the fall of 1903 after three years of collection and transcription, Komitas published a collection of 50 folks songs titled "One Thousand and One Songs" (Հազար ու մի խաղ). LyricistManuk Abeghianhelped him to compile the folk pieces. The same collection was reprinted in 1904, while in 1905 a further 50 songs were published.[29]

Constantinople (1910–15)

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Komitas's "Gusan" choir in 1910

"Seeking to bring appreciation of Armenian music to a wider audience",[20]Komitas moved to Constantinople (modern-day Istanbul), the Ottoman imperial capital in 1910.[13]"There he trained a group of students in Armenian melody and formed a choir that toured Armenian communities and gave performances of the folk compositions that Komitas had arranged for four-part choir."[20]He founded theGusanchoir (Hay gusansince 1912), made up of tens of musicians.[13]With the aim to produce professional musicians, he taught musicology toBarsegh Kanachyan,Mihran Tumacan, Vagharshak Srvandztian and others.[13]

Deportation and final years (1915–35)

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On 24 April 1915, thedaywhen theArmenian genocideofficially began, he was arrested and put on a train the next day together with 180 other Armenian notables and sent to the city ofÇankırıin northern Central Anatolia, at a distance of some 480 kilometres (300 mi). The Turkish nationalist poetMehmet Emin Yurdakul,the writerHalide Edipand U.S.ambassadorHenry Morgenthauintervened with the government, and by special orders fromTalat Pasha,Komitas was dispatched back to the capital alongside eight other Armenians who had been deported.[30]Grigoris Balakian'sArmenian Golgothaoffers details of his deportation, during which Komitas suffered tremendously and was afflicted with traumatic neurosis. In one passage Balakian recounts how:

The more we moved away from civilization, the more agitated were our souls and the more our minds were racked with fear. We thought we saw bandits behind every boulder; the hammocks or cradles hanging from every tree seemed like gallows ropes. The expert on Armenian songs, the peerless archimandrite Father Komitas, who was in our carriage, seemed mentally unstable. He thought the trees were bandits on the attack and continually hid his head under the hem of my overcoat, like a fearful partridge. He begged me to say a blessing for him [ "The Savior" ] in the hope that it would calm him.[31]

In the autumn of 1916, he was taken to a hospital in Constantinople, Hôpital de la paix, and then moved to Paris in 1919, where he died in apsychiatric clinicinVillejuifin 1935. Next year, his ashes were transferred toYerevanand buried in thePantheonthat was named after him.[32]

Legacy

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Statue of Komitas inYerevan
Komitas on a 1969Soviet Unionpostage stamp
Statue of Komitas inVagharshapat

In the 1950s, his manuscripts were also transferred from Paris toYerevan.

Badarak was first printed in 1933 in Paris and first recorded onto a digital media in 1988 inYerevan.In collecting and publishing so many folk songs, he saved the cultural heritage ofWestern Armeniathat otherwise would have disappeared because of the genocide. His works have been published inArmeniain a thoroughly annotated edition byRobert Atayan.Lately, nine songs on German poetry, written during his stay in Berlin, have been excavated from the archives in Yerevan and interpreted by sopranoHasmik Papian.

TheYerevan State Musical Conservatoryis named after Komitas. There also exists a world-renownedstring quartet named after Komitas.

On 6 July 2008, on the occasion of Quebec City's 400th anniversary celebration, a bronze bust of Komitas was unveiled near the Quebec National Assembly (provincial legislature, Auteuil street) in recognition of his great input to music in general and to Armenian popular and liturgical music in particular. Previously, a granite and bronze statue of Komitas was erected in Detroit in 1981 in honor of the great composer and as a reminder of the tragedy of the Armenian Genocide.

Komitas' tombstone in Yerevan's Komitas Pantheon

In September 2008, the CDGomidas Songs,sung byIsabel Bayrakdarianand accompanied by the Chamber Players of the Armenian Philharmonic and pianistSerouj Kradjian,was released on theNonesuchlabel. This CD was nominated for aGrammy Awardin the Best Vocal Recording category.[33]A major North American tour by Ms. Bayrakdarian in October 2008 featured the music of Komitas, with concerts in Toronto, San Francisco, Orange County, Los Angeles, Vancouver, Boston and New York'sCarnegie Hall.She was accompanied by the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra conducted by Anne Manson, and pianistSerouj Kradjian.TheRemembrance Tour[34]was dedicated to victims of all genocides and sponsored by the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (a division of theZoryan Institute).

The complete piano works of Komitas are recorded byŞahan ArzrunionKalan Müziklabel in 2010 and remain the definitive interpretation of these compositions. Among the other performers of his music areEvgeny KissinandGrigory Sokolov.

Since 2018 Komitas appears on the 10000Armenian drambanknote.

Komitas on the 2018 10000 Dram banknote

In 2019, theGurdjief Ensembledebuted in New York City performing Komitas's folk songs on traditional instruments.[35]

Modern performers, likeRewşan ÇelikerandPervin Chakar,reinterpret and promote his collected works, ensuring their continued relevance.[36][37]

Landmarks

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The following landmarks in Armenia have been named after him:

Selected works, editions and recordings

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  • The Music of Komitas– double LP released on the centenary of Komitas's birth. KCC, 1970.
  • The Voice of Komitas Vardapet,Komitas Vardapet – archival performances recorded in 1908–1912, featuring Komitas on vocals and piano, andArmenak Shahmuradyanon vocals. Traditional Crossroads, 1995.[38]
  • Gomidas – Songs,Isabel Bayrakdarian,Serouj Kradjian(arrangements and piano), chamber players of theArmenian Philharmonic Orchestra,conducted byEduard Topchjan.Nonesuch, 2005[39]
  • Komitas – Complete Works for Piano,Şahan Arzruni.Kalan,2012[40]
  • Hommage à Komitas– audio CD containing 9 songs on German poetry (world premiere, first recording) and 26 songs in Armenian,Hasmik Papian(soprano) andVardan Mamikonian(piano). Recorded at Bavaria Studio, Munich, in July 2005. Audite (Germany) in cooperation with Bayerischer Rundfunk, 2006.
  • Music by Komitas– audio CD featuring instrumental arrangements performed by the Gurdjieff Ensemble, directed and arranged by Levon Eskenian (with notes).ECM Records,2015.
  • My Armenia– audio CD dedicated to the 100th Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide,My Armeniaoffers a very personal, touching and brilliant tribute to Armenian music bySergey Khachatryanand Lusine Khachatryan.Naïve Records,2015.
  • Komitas Vardapet – Six Dances,Keiko Shichijo (piano). Makkum Records, 2016.
  • Komitas: Songs(arranged for piano by Villy Sargsyan), CD by Yulia Ayrapetyan [piano] under the label Grand Piano (GP895)

Works on Komitas

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  • Kuyumjian, Rita Soulahian (2001).Archaeology of Madness: Komitas, Portrait of an Armenian Icon.Princeton, NJ: Gomidas Institute.ISBN9781903656105.
  • Tahmizian, Nikoġos Kirakosi(1994).Komitasẹ ev hay žoġovowrdi eražštakan žaṙangowt'iwnẹ[Komitas and the Musical Legacy of the Armenian Nation] (in Armenian). Pasadena, California: Drazark Hrat.

Films

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References

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Notes

  1. ^Սողոմոն Սողոմոնեան inclassical orthographyand Սողոմոն Սողոմոնյան inreformed orthography.SometimesanglicizedasSolomon Solomonian.[3][4]
  2. ^He is widely known assimplyKomitas (transliterated asGomidasfromWestern Armenian). His church rank,Vardapet,is sometimes used alongside:Komitas Vardapet(Կոմիտաս Վարդապետ),Gomidas Vartabedin Western Armenian. In the early 1900s, and as late as 1908, he signed his name as Soghomon Gevorgian (Kevorkian or Keworkian),[5]after theGevorgian Seminary.[6]

Citations

  1. ^Soulahian Kuyumjian 2001,p. 46.
  2. ^"Etchmiadzin. 1902".Virtual Museum of Komitas.Retrieved21 February2014.
  3. ^Lang, David Marshall(1980).Armenia: Cradle of Civilization.London:Allen & Unwin.p. 256.ISBN9780049560079.
  4. ^ab"Komitas".Encyclopædia Britannica.Retrieved26 January2014.Komitas [...] created the basis for a distinctive national musical style in Armenia.
  5. ^"The Monthly Musical Record".The Monthly Musical Record.30.London: Augener:15.1900.
  6. ^Soulahian Kuyumjian 2001,pp. 45–46.
  7. ^Editorial Board (1969)."Հայ ազգային երաժշտության հիմնադիրը [The Founder of Armenian National Music]".Lraber Hasarakakan Gitutyunneri(in Armenian) (11). Yerevan:Armenian Academy of Sciences:3–6. Archived fromthe originalon 21 May 2017.Retrieved29 November2014.
  8. ^Poladian 1972:"He was among the pioneers in ethnomusicology, a younger contemporary of Carl Stumpf (1848–1936)."
  9. ^McCollum, Jonathan Ray (2004)."Music, Ritual, And Diasporic Identity: A Case Study Of The Armenian Apostolic Church"(PDF).University of Maryland.p. 11.Retrieved4 February2014.Komitas Vardapet, considered a pioneer in ethnomusicology, turned his attention to the anthropological, sociological, and historical aspects of comparative musicology.
  10. ^Crutchfield, Will(5 October 1987)."Music Noted in Brief; Choir From Armenia at Avery Fisher Hall".The New York Times.Retrieved26 January2014.
  11. ^Soulahian Kuyumjian 2001,p. 51.
  12. ^Soulahian Kuyumjian, Rita.Archeology of Madness: Komitas, Portrait of an Armenian Icon.Edition: 2, Reading, England: Taderon Press; Princeton, NJ: Gomidas Institute, 2001, p. 3.
  13. ^abcdefghAtayan 1979,p. 539.
  14. ^Nersessian, Vrej,ed. (1978).Essays on Armenian music.Kahn & Averill. p. 13.ISBN0-900707-49-6.
  15. ^Soulahian Kuyumjian 2001,p. 10–12.
  16. ^Soulahian Kuyumjian 2001,pp. 15–16.
  17. ^Soulahian Kuyumjian 2001,pp. 21–24.
  18. ^Mooradian 1969,p. 61.
  19. ^Soulahian Kuyumjian 2001,p. 28.
  20. ^abcdAdalian, Rouben Paul(2010).Historical Dictionary of Armenia.Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 391.ISBN978-0-8108-7450-3.
  21. ^Soulahian Kuyumjian 2001,pp. 29–30.
  22. ^Soulahian Kuyumjian 2001,p. 32.
  23. ^Soulahian Kuyumjian 2001,p. 33.
  24. ^Soulahian Kuyumjian 2001,pp. 33–34.
  25. ^Soulahian Kuyumjian 2001,pp. 39–40.
  26. ^Soulahian Kuyumjian 2001,p. 41.
  27. ^Soulahian Kuyumjian 2001,pp. 43–44.
  28. ^Soulahian Kuyumjian 2001,pp. 44, 46.
  29. ^Soulahian Kuyumjian 2001,p. 47–49.
  30. ^"Kastamonu Vilâyeti'ne"(PDF).Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2 November 2006.Retrieved20 April2006.
  31. ^Balakian, Grigoris.Armenian Golgotha.Trans.Peter Balakianand Aris Sevag. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2009, p. 66.ISBN0-307-26288-X.
  32. ^"The memorial of Soghomonyan Komitas Soghomon (Կոմիտաս Սողոմոն Սողոմոնյան Գևորգի) buried at Yerevan's Komitas Pantheon cemetery".hush.am.Retrieved17 July2019.
  33. ^"Bayrakdarian's 'Gomidas Songs' Nominated for Grammy,"Loussapatz Weekly(Canada), No. 772, 2009, p. 41.
  34. ^"Songs of the homeland".Archived fromthe originalon 7 January 2016.
  35. ^"The Gurdjieff Ensemble Celebrates Komitas at 150".Symphony Space.27 September 2019.Retrieved24 November2020.
  36. ^Rewşan | Destmala Min,retrieved19 March2024
  37. ^"Turkey's Kurdish opera singer inspires Kurds by singing in native tongue".Arab News.13 October 2020.Retrieved14 April2024.
  38. ^"The Voice of Komitas Vardapet – Komitas | AllMusic".AllMusic.
  39. ^Booklet includes sung texts in Armenian transliteration and English translation
  40. ^Booklet includes a historical discussion of the music in Armenian, Turkish and English
  41. ^FilmsbyDon AskarianArchived11 February 2015 at theWayback Machine
  42. ^Harvard Film Archive.Hieroglyphs of Armenia: Films by Don AskarianArchived7 March 2015 at theWayback Machine
  43. ^"Don Askarian".007-berlin.de.Retrieved16 November2017.
  44. ^McNary, Dave (15 December 2020)."Armenia'sSongs of Solomonto Compete for International Feature Film Oscar ".Variety.Retrieved16 December2020.

Sources

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Further reading

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