A. Khachaturyan

In 1922, an amazing incident occurred at the Gnessin Music College. A nineteen-year-old young man appeared for the entrance exam, who, as he later recalled, had “only the most vague ideas about notes,” but, nevertheless, smartly played several dance pieces on the piano. He knew nothing about the history of music and musical literature, but when checking musical ear, sense of rhythm and musical memory, he easily coped with all the tasks.

It was clear to the examiners that this was a gifted person, but how to make him a professional musician and in what specialty? It’s too late to start piano lessons; he’s already nineteen years old. Still, we decided to accept it.

This young man, who was then admitted to the Gnessin Technical School for an unknown specialty, was Aram Khachaturian, a future talented composer.

Shortly before this extraordinary exam, he entered the biology department of Moscow University, but since music attracted him no less than biology, he decided to try his luck in this field.
Having entered the technical school, he chose cello as a specialty, fortunately there was a shortage in this class.

Young Khachaturian’s attraction to music was apparently more instinctive than completely conscious. The environment of his childhood and youth, neither in his family nor in his immediate environment, in any way prepared him for the profession of a musician.
Khachaturian family. Sitting: Suren, Kumash Sarkisovna, Aram, Egiya Voskanovich, Levon. Standing: Sara Dunaeva (Suren's wife), Vaginak and his wife Arusyak. 1913, Tiflis

Aram's father was a bookbinder, he independently mastered Armenian and Russian literacy, his mother was busy taking care of big family. But music constantly sounded in the house: mother, brothers, and sometimes visiting guests sang with pleasure folk songs.
Music sounded all around, which was best described by the composer himself, recalling early years held in old Tiflis (now Tbilisi):

“Old Tiflis is a sounding city, a musical city. It was enough to walk along the streets and alleys located away from the center to plunge into the musical atmosphere: here from open window you can hear the characteristic sound of a Georgian choral song, nearby someone is plucking the strings of an Azerbaijani tar, and if you walk further you will come across a street organ grinder playing a waltz that was fashionable at that time. The southern city is vibrant street life, greeting every morning with the musical cries of fruit, fish, and matsoni merchants and ending your day with a complex, polyphonic polyphony of Armenian, Georgian and Russian melodies rushing from all sides, snatches of Italian opera arias, cumbersome military marches coming from the city garden, where a brass band is playing... There are frequent meetings with the guardians of the ancient folk culture, singer-storytellers, augs, accompanying themselves on folk instruments - saz, tara, kemanche"

These colorful impressions entered the musical consciousness of the future composer. He used a rich supply of original melodies, rhythms, and timbre combinations all his life. When an old piano, bought for pennies, appeared in the house, the opportunity opened up to select favorite melodies by ear, vary them and even compose something of your own. And this became the source of my first creative joys. It’s just a pity that some of the keys on the piano were silent...

Called by the music

Student at the Commercial School

At the age of eighteen, Khachaturian moved to Moscow, not yet thinking about becoming a musician, and entered Moscow University.

In Moscow he found himself in a completely different environment than in Tbilisi. Living in the family of his older brother Suren, a director by profession, one of the leaders of a drama studio in Moscow, the future composer met daily with actors, musicians, writers, and artists. And, listening to his improvisations on the piano (and it was a good, sonorous instrument, no match for the Tbilisi veteran), new friends constantly repeated: “You must study music!”

Cellist or composer?

At the Gnessin Music College

And he began to study. Despite all the natural talent, it was not easy to have a lack (or rather, absence) of knowledge in musical theoretical subjects, and mastering the technique of playing the cello also had to start from scratch. But Khachaturian overcame all this with passion, with ecstasy, despite the fact that he had to work as a loader to earn money.

When it became clear that the true calling young musician not a cello, but composing music; its leader was an experienced teacher, composer M.F. Gnesin. Under his leadership, and later - during his studies at the Moscow Conservatory - under the leadership of N.Ya. Myaskovsky, a former self-taught man, became a real professional and, moreover, a master. He was lucky enough to find his own path in art, combining the intonation originality folk music Transcaucasia with forms developed by the classics of world art. And this turned out to be an unusually new and fresh word of musical creativity.

Treasury of Eastern Music

Of course, Khachaturian had predecessors. Treasures musical East attracted Russian composers - starting from , - and classics of Armenian and Georgian music: A. Spendiarov, Z. Paliashvili. But the sphere of application of their efforts was either opera or program genres, where the appeal to oriental musical themes was dictated by one or another plot and was subordinate to it. And Khachaturian was the first to carry out a synthesis of East and West in his concerts and symphonies, updating these classical, stable genres with the melodies and rhythms of Transcaucasian music.

Creativity of the genius of Armenian culture

Aram Ilyich Khachaturyan – conductor

Khachaturian's wide popularity began with the performance of his piano concerto by the famous pianist Lev Oborin in 1936 and with the production of the ballet “Happiness” at the Armenian Spendiarov Theater, shown in 1939 in Moscow during the decade of Armenian art.

In these works young composer what became his permanent characteristic manifested itself: the generosity of melodies, the brightness of contrasts, the power of dynamics, the colorfulness of the orchestra, often recreating original sounds folk instruments, - in a word, everything that allowed B.B. Asafiev applied to Khachaturian's music apt words“the power of flowering” and compare it with “the art of the High Renaissance”.

The genre of the concert turned out to be especially close to Khachaturian. The joy of expressing oneself in creativity, the joy of free mastery of an instrument and the opportunity to show both it and the performer in all its splendor - all this in highest degree characteristic of Khachaturian.

Stars of Khachaturian's ballets

The ballet “Happiness”, which captivated audiences with the freshness of national color and variety of rhythms, still had a not very successful stage fate. And in 1942 it received a second edition, called “Gayane”, named after main character. The famous “Sabre Dance” was written for this edition.

“Honestly,” Khachaturian later said, “if I had known that he would gain such popularity and begin to push aside my other works with his elbows, I would never have written it!”

Another of Khachaturian’s ballets, “Spartacus,” was written at a time of complete creative maturity. By that time, the composer was the author of two symphonies, three concerts, and music for a number of films and theatrical productions. Ballet “Spartacus” Ballet “Spartacus”

We know about this man as one of the most talented composers, whose works are musical classics of the twentieth century. His name is known to almost everyone, even those who do not come into close contact with music, and his masterpieces are performed in concert halls. And although almost 40 years have passed since his death, his music is still heard today in films, on television and in radio broadcasts. So, the hero of this publication is Aram, who is a shining example how an ordinary boy from the outskirts of Tiflis could become such a famous person.

The childhood years of the great composer

On June 6, 1903, a fourth son was born into a large Armenian family, who was named Aram. This happened in the village of Kojory, now Gardabani district, a suburb of Tiflis (Tbilisi) in Georgia. His parents were Kumash Sarkisovna (mother) and Ilya (Egiya) Khachaturyan (father), who worked as a bookbinder.

From the first years of his life, little Aram Khachaturian extolled music, whose biography is studied with interest by people who listen with trepidation to every note from his scores. In the school choir, he played the tuba, bugle and piano with great pleasure. Often the boy received praise. He later recalled that being born on the outskirts of old Tiflis - a musical, amazing-sounding city - it was simply impossible not to let the magic of music into oneself.

But his parents believed that their children should do something serious, so his hobby was not taken seriously. He was able to make music on the scale he imagined only at the age of 19.

Impressions of young Khachaturian

For the future composer, it was very important that the Italian opera choir, the music school and the Russian musical society. Sergei Rachmaninov and Fyodor Chaliapin came to this city. Very gifted musicians lived here, who at one time managed to make a huge contribution to the formation of composition schools in Georgia and Armenia.

All this enriched the young man's early musical impressions.

Khachaturian, whose biography enjoys well-deserved attention, absorbed this multinational intonation “bouquet”, which very quickly became firmly entrenched in his auditory experience. It was this “bouquet” that made it possible, and after many decades, was never limited by nationality. Music has always been played to a huge audience. And Aram Khachaturian himself never showed national narrow-mindedness. The biography, leading the way from a small village, now began to shine with more and more new colors. The future great composer was interested in music different nations, treating her with great respect. It was internationalism that was the main distinctive feature in the worldview and creativity of Aram Khachaturian.

Native walls of "Gnesinka"

Now it's hard to believe that genius composer, who created so many rhapsodies, concertos, symphonies and other works, learned only at the age of 19. At this time in his life, he and several of his fellow countrymen came to Moscow and entered the Music College named after the Gnesins for cello class. At the same time, he received a biologist education (at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics) at Moscow University.

For record short terms Aram Ilyich Khachaturyan, whose biography began to be replenished with new facts, was able to make up for everything that he missed in his musical development. He not only began his studies, but also became one of the best students. In addition, he was awarded the right to perform at some student concerts in the Big and Small Halls of the Moscow Conservatory.

How to become a composer?

Aram Khachaturian, whose biography at that time resembled an unfinished story, realized that he would become a composer back in 1925, when a composition class appeared at his favorite school. It was there that he received his very first writing skills. Four years later, in 1929, he became a student at the Moscow State Conservatory, where, under the strict guidance of Nikolai Myaskovsky, his formation as a composer took place.

In 1933, Sergei Prokofiev visited Myaskovsky's class. From this meeting, young Khachaturian had unforgettable experience. He was more and more captivated by the works the most talented composer. But the opposite interest was also present: Prokofiev liked Aram’s works so much that he took them with him to Paris. It was there, in this city, which millions of people are so eager to see, that they were fulfilled.

Khachaturian's first "Dance"

“Dance” for violin and piano was the first work of Aram Ilyich to be published. It clearly shows some features and characteristic features creativity of a talented composer: you can hear imitations of some timbre effects that have become widespread in instrumental music East; the work contains multiple techniques of variation and improvisation; rhythmic ostinatos and the well-known “Khachaturian seconds” can be heard. The composer said that his seconds came from repeatedly listening to folk instruments in childhood - the tambourine, kemancha and sazandar-tar.

So little by little, slowly, Khachaturian, whose biography is an example of how an intelligent and talented person created himself, stepped from processing folk song material to developing it. It was 1932, when the Piano Suite was born. It was its first part called “Tokatta” that became known to the whole world. Many pianists still include it in their repertoire. It still has the power to influence the public and a certain charm.

In 1933 they began performing the “Dance Suite” for symphony orchestra. Thanks to this work, which radiates sincere joy of life, light and strength, young Khachaturian was included in the team of the best Soviet composers. Two years later, the chords of the First Symphony, which was a graduation work on the occasion of graduating from the conservatory, were heard in the hall of the Moscow Conservatory. This was the completion of the previous and the beginning of the next stage in the composer’s life. The biography of Aram Khachaturian is a kind of history of music, because each of his scores is a separate period of time, telling about the impressions, experiences and hopes of the author himself.

Composer-teacher

A huge part of Aram Ilyich’s work is occupied by his compositions for dramatic performances. The most famous are the music for Lermontov’s “Masquerade” and Lopedeweg’s “The Valencian Widow.” Despite the fact that the works were intended for performances, they received an absolutely independent life.

Khachaturian, whose brief biography can only very schematically describe life path a talented composer, showed great interest in cinema. He showed how important music is in revealing the essence and intention of the director. And yet his genius received enormous recognition in his symphonic works. The audience received his concerts for violin and orchestra and piano with orchestra with a bang. The ideas that arose in the First Symphony and the “Dance Suite” have found new life. In addition, Khachaturian developed a concert quality, which later became a feature of his style. In 1942, he completed the score for the ballet “Gayane”, where he synthesized classical ballet And choreographic art. Before the end of the war, the Second and Third Symphonies appeared. 9 years after the end of the war, the composer wrote the heroic-tragic ballet “Spartacus”.

What is it, the biography of Aram Khachaturian? It can be briefly described in three words: work, work and again work. In the sixties, Khachaturian wrote three concert-rhapsodies, which were awarded the State Prize in 1971.

Khachaturian devoted a lot of effort to pedagogical work. For many years in a row he was the head of the composition class at the Moscow Conservatory named after P. I. Tchaikovsky and music Creative activity the composer's life lasted almost until his last day. His life ended in Moscow on May 1, 1978.

Funny incidents from the life of a composer

The biography of Aram Khachaturian includes various interesting facts. One of them is about his dog. The composer treated animals with special reverence. One day in Germany they brought him a gift - a royal poodle. Aram Ilyich named it Lyado (according to the names of two notes). He walked with him, fed him, played with him. Khachaturian became so attached to his pet that he once dedicated a play to him called “Lyado is seriously ill.”

Another fact is practically historical significance. In 1944, a competition for the Armenian anthem was announced. Khachaturian, who came to Yerevan, had his own version of music. One evening he sat down at the piano, surrounded by members of his family, and touched the keys. It was a hot summer, people's balconies were wide open. People gathered under the windows of the great composer and, inspired by the melody they heard, they simultaneously sang Khachaturian’s anthem.

Family relationships

This is how Khachaturian knew how to create. Brief biography this most talented composer of our time suggests that he, like no one else, understood not only music, but also its value to the public. His personal life was not boring either. In her first marriage, a daughter, Nune, was born, who became a pianist. A little later, after the dissolution of the first union, the composer married a second time. His chosen one was a student from his teacher Myaskovsky’s class, Nina Makarova. It was this woman who became Khachaturian’s great love, comrade-in-arms and faithful life partner. Aram and Nina gave birth to their son Karen (a famous art critic).

This is how Aram Khachaturian lived his life, whose short biography has long been supplemented with one more important fact: the string quartet was also named after the great composer; his name also bears annual competition, which presents composers and pianists.

For centuries there have been legends about the musicality of the peoples of the Caucasus. This is probably why a boy from an Armenian family living on the outskirts of old Tiflis had no other way but to become one of the most outstanding composers and teachers of the 20th century.

Brief biography

On May 24, 1903, a fourth son was born into the family of bookbinder Ilya Vaskanovich Khachaturian. According to the mother’s recollections, the baby was born wearing a “shirt.” He was named Aram, which means “merciful” in Armenian. As a child, he was restless and playful. From the age of eight, the boy is sent to study at the nearby S.V. boarding school. Arbutinskaya-Dolgorukaya. A child from a simple family ended up among the children of aristocrats and bourgeois only because Ilya Vaskanovich worked a lot with the library of the hostess of the boarding house. It was there that Aram learned to play the piano and sing. As a teenager, at the insistence of his father, he studied at the Tbilisi Commercial School, and in 1921 he came to Moscow to continue his education at the university, where he entered the biology department.

In the capital, he lives with his brother, the famous Moscow Art Theater director Suren Khachaturyan, attends theaters and concerts, and communicates with the creative elite. E.F. Gnesina was the first to see him musical abilities. And now, after a year at the university, Aram successfully passes the entrance exams to the Music College named after. Gnessins, to the cello class. He studied at both institutions for several years, but three years later he left biology for music. At the same time, he was transferred from the cello class to the composition class, where, under the guidance of M. Gnessin, he composed his first works.

At the end of the 20s, Aram marries and his daughter Nune is born. Since 1929 he has been a student at the Moscow Conservatory. He completed his graduate studies with N.Ya. Myaskovsky, about whom he retained warm memories for the rest of his life. In Myaskovsky's class, he met Nina Makarova and decided to end his first marriage. In 1933, the young composers got married, and seven years later they had a son.

Khachaturian's works were performed in the largest Soviet and foreign concert halls, he was absorbed social activities And large number work, and the first award in 1939 was the Order of Lenin. From the same year, Khachaturian became deputy chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Union of Composers of the USSR. During the war he was part of creative group was evacuated to Perm, where he worked a lot, acutely aware of the separation from his family. After the Victory, the joy of reuniting with loved ones and friends, the inspired creative upsurge was destroyed overnight on February 10, 1948. Khachaturian was mentioned in the notorious resolution “On the opera “The Great Friendship” by V. Muradeli.” In one fell swoop, the work of many Soviet composers was erased; Aram Ilyich was no longer published and, at one time, almost no longer performed. This unfair criticism also hit him hard because it split the composer’s camp into two parts – the “formalists” and the “correct” authors. Among the first were Khachaturian, Muradeli, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Myaskovsky. Among the second to receive positions and fame are Khrennikov, Asafiev, Zakharov. Aram Ilyich perceived these events as a betrayal of those with whom he worked for many years. His first desire was to finish writing music, but this turned out to be beyond his control. He began teaching at the conservatory and stood at the conductor's stand.

Despite the fact that the “composer’s” decree was canceled only in 1958, the official authorities could not help but recognize Khachaturian’s merits all these years. This is evidenced by the Stalin Prize in 1950 and the title of People's Artist of the USSR in 1954. Recent years Throughout his life, Aram Ilyich struggled with cancer and underwent several operations. In 1976, he was widowed and was grieving the loss of his wife, to whom he was incredibly attached. He drew up the plan for his funeral himself, choosing his historical homeland, Armenia, as his final resting place. On May 1, 1978, he died in a Moscow hospital.

Interesting facts

• The composer's parents, Ilya (Egiya) Vaskanovich and Kumash Sarkisovna, were from neighboring villages in Armenia. At the age of 13, Ilya went to work in Tiflis. They were engaged to a bride who was 10 years younger than him in absentia, and they got married when she was barely 16.
• Aram was the youngest, fifth child in the family. The Khachaturyans' first daughter died at a young age; the composer had three brothers, the age difference with the eldest of whom, Suren, was 14 years.
• The famous “Sabre Dance” appeared at the request of the ballet directors “ Gayane " Khachaturian recalled that he wrote it in just 11 hours. Ironically, it was thanks to this melody that the composer's name became known to the general public outside the Soviet Union. In the West they even called him “Mr. Saber Dance.”

• Khachaturian collected materials for his first ballet “Happiness” for several months in Armenia, getting acquainted with folk art, motifs and traditional musical instruments.
• Igor Moiseev staged " Spartak "at the Bolshoi Theater a year and a half after the Leningrad premiere. In 1968, another version of the ballet was born - choreographed by Yu. Grigorovich.
• Yakobson's Leningrad "Spartacus" and Grigorovich's Moscow are completely different productions - both in choreography and in spirit. Jacobson's performance, scenes from Roman life, was innovative in both form and content. For example, the part of the antagonist of the main character, Crassus, was created for an older dancer and was performed pantomimically. Leonid Yakobson built memorable gladiator fights, epic crowd scenes. Yuri Grigorovich's theme is a choreographic duel between Spartacus and Crassus, and in fact, two worlds: the world of gladiators and slaves, the world of the Roman nobility and warriors. Grigorovich created a heroic male ballet, female images in it are secondary, while in Jacobson's version Phrygia and Aegina play a significant role in the development of the plot.
• A remade version of Jacobson's Spartacus was also shown at the Bolshoi Theater for some time.
• The Kirov-Mariinsky Theater has always staged only one “Spartacus” - by L. Yakobson. The performance was revived in 1976, 1985 and 2010. The performance is also included in the current repertoire.
• In 2008, the St. Petersburg Mikhailovsky Theater presented its version of “Spartacus” with a libretto and choreography by Georgy Kovtun. The production was distinguished by its pomp and scale: several hundred extras, four-story sets, the presence of live horses and even a tiger.

• The libretto of “Gayane” was redone for almost every production. The Kirov Theater presented the ballet on its historical stage in 1945. New characters appeared in it, were edited storylines, prologue removed, set design changed. In 1952 the ballet was revised for new production. Bolshoi Theater turned to the work in 1957. And again the script was significantly redone.
• Started with “Gayane” creative path one of the most outstanding choreographers of our time, Boris Eifman. In 1972, he chose this ballet for his graduation work. In agreement with Khachaturian, the plot was changed again. The performance was performed on the stage of the Maly Opera and Ballet Theater in Leningrad and ran for more than 170 performances.
• Today “Gayane” is a rare guest on the Russian stage. You can get acquainted with the work in its entirety only during the infrequent tours of the Armenian academic theater Opera and Ballet named after. A. Spendiaryan, business card which this ballet is.
• Even while sick, after two serious operations, Aram Ilyich personally traveled around the country to participate in productions of his ballets.
• Aram Khachaturian created his own composer school, his most famous students were A. Eshpai, M. Tariverdiev, V. Dashkevich, A. Rybnikov, M. Minkov.

Publications in the Music section

Aram Khachaturyan: “I combine different musical languages»

And Ram Khachaturian began to study music late - only at the age of 19. Before that, he improvised, picking out different melodies by ear. However, by the age of 30, the composer became known throughout the Soviet Union, and a little later - throughout the world. In 2014, Aram Khachaturian's manuscripts were included by UNESCO in the International Register of World Documentary Heritage "Memory of the World".

"Old Tiflis - a resounding city"

Aram Khachaturian was born in 1903 in the suburbs of Tiflis into an Armenian family. The first impressions of his childhood were the folk songs performed by his parents. From early childhood, Aram Khachaturian tried to reproduce the tunes that he heard at home and on the streets. “Old Tiflis is a sounding city,” Khachaturian later wrote, “a musical city. ...Now from the open window you can hear the characteristic sound of a Georgian choral song, nearby someone is plucking the strings of an Azerbaijani tar, and if you walk further, you will come across a street organ grinder playing a waltz that was fashionable at that time.”

Aram Khachaturian took part in school amateur performances, but did not study music: his parents did not support their son’s hobbies. The family believed that professional musicians and actors were people without a serious education.

Yielding to his father’s desire to see him as an engineer or a doctor, Khachaturian went to Moscow to enroll in the biological department of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow State University. But soon he entered the Gnessin Music School. Without any special training, he performed the romance “Break a Glass” at the entrance exam and played several piano pieces. He was accepted despite great competition. “...I easily coped with all the tests of hearing, sense of rhythm and musical memory, despite the fact that I had to perform all these tasks for the first time in my life,” Khachaturian recalled.

The difficult years of study began. Khachaturian had to fill the gaps in theoretical knowledge, while simultaneously mastering the cello and piano, study at the university (which he did not drop out immediately) and earn a living. At first he worked as a loader in a liquor store, and later as a tutor and member of a church choir. The future composer tried to find time to follow the cultural life of the capital: he attended symphony concerts, performances and poetry evenings.

"One disobedient and noisy child"

Already in the first works of Aram Khachaturian, folk motifs could be traced. He wrote that his musical tastes changed with age, but the music that he absorbed in early childhood, has always been the “natural soil” of his work.

“You can’t just be dependent on folk music and “photograph” it,” wrote Khachaturian. - This is tantamount to marking time. You cannot “pray” to folklore and be afraid to touch it: folk melodies should excite the composer’s imagination and serve as a reason for creating original works.”

After graduating from music school, Khachaturian entered the Moscow Conservatory. There he first studied under the guidance of Mikhail Gnesin, and then became a student of the Soviet composer Nikolai Myaskovsky. While still studying at the conservatory, Khachaturian began writing symphonic and chamber works. The first published composition was “Dance for Violin and Piano”. In 1932, Toccata for Piano appeared.

"Toccata for Piano"

“Many years have passed since the creation of this dynamic, brilliant play, but its performance still arouses the enthusiasm of the public. There is no professional who does not know her by heart and who does not treat her with a feeling of ardent sympathy.”

Rodion Shchedrin

In total, during his years of study at the conservatory, Khachaturian wrote more than 50 works. But his professionalism had to be confirmed in his thesis, and the composer created the First Symphony, in which, according to the author, he sought to embody “the grief, sadness of the past, bright images of the present and faith in a wonderful future.”

In December 1942, the premiere of the ballet “Gayane” took place. It came from the first Armenian ballet “Happiness”, which Khachaturian decided to rewrite. Many critics consider Gayane to be the best achievement of modern symphonic music, and the most famous fragment is the Saber Dance. Khachaturian composed it at the request of the choreographer almost within a day and gave it to him with the inscription: “Damn it, for the sake of the ballet.” As I said about the composition Armenian composer Tigran Mansuryan, this is “a counterpoint to the Armenian wedding dance from Gyumri and a real American saxophone, leading to a very interesting and organic synthesis.” Thanks to the work, in many countries around the world Khachaturian began to be called “Mr. Saber Dance.”

In “The Valencian Widow” based on the play by Lope de Vega, Khachaturian used Spanish motifs. He received records of Spanish folk songs as a gift and was pleasantly surprised by how similar they were to the Armenian ones. “I even thought: if these recordings were broadcast on the radio and it was announced that folk songs of, say, the Etchmiadzin region were being performed, then many probably would not doubt it,” wrote Aram Khachaturian.

"Masquerade" is considered best job Khachaturian in drama theater. Some musicologists argue: even if Khachaturian had written nothing but a waltz for “Masquerade,” he would still have become a worldwide famous composer. Nowadays it is no longer possible to imagine the ballroom scene of Lermontov’s work without the emotional intensity of the waltz music, its depth and, at the same time, absolute lightness.

Waltz to the drama “Masquerade”

“I must admit, it was the waltz that gave me the most trouble when composing the music for Masquerade. I endlessly repeated Lermontov’s words and could not find a theme that, in my own opinion, was both “new” and “good”, in other words, worthy... I literally lost my peace, almost delirious about the waltz. At that time, I posed for a portrait of the artist Evgenia Vladimirovna Pasternak. And then in one of the sessions I unexpectedly “heard” a theme that became the second theme of my future waltz.”

During World War II, Aram Khachaturian worked on the radio, writing patriotic songs and marches. In 1944, he wrote the National Anthem of the Armenian SSR.

For many years, Khachaturian led composition classes at the Moscow Conservatory and the Gnessin School. He created his own school of composition. His students were Andrey Eshpai, Mikael Tariverdiev, Alexey Rybnikov, Edgar Oganesyan and other famous authors.

Aram Ilyich Khachaturian died on May 1, 1978. People's Artist four republics and the USSR is buried in the pantheon of Yerevan Park named after Komitas. The name of Aram Khachaturian is included on the marble plaque of the best graduates of the Moscow Conservatory.

Name: Aram Khachaturian

Age: 74 years old

Activity: composer, conductor, teacher

Marital status: widower

Aram Khachaturian: biography

Aram Khachaturian is a Soviet composer of Armenian origin, author of the ballets “Spartacus”, “Gayane”, and the musical suite “Masquerade”.

Aram was born on June 6, 1903 in the village of Kojori near the capital of Georgia. Soon the family moved to Tiflis. Father Yegiya (Ilya) Khachaturian was a craftsman, the owner of a bookbinding workshop. Having married a fellow villager, to whom he had been engaged since childhood, Ilya moved from his native village of Upper Aza, on the border with Iran, to central Georgia.

Mother Kumash Sarkisovna was 10 years younger than her husband and took care of the housework. Five children were born in the family - daughter Ashkhen and sons Vaginak, Suren, Levon, Aram, but the girl died in infancy.

Mother loved to sing Armenian songs, and youngest son At this time, Aram played along with her on everything that came to hand: pots or copper basins. Zeal for music was not welcomed in the family; the father tried to give all his sons good education, so Aram was soon assigned to the private gymnasium of Princess Argutinskaya-Dolgorukova. As a child, the boy easily mastered, in addition to his native language, Georgian and Russian.

The atmosphere of the streets and alleys of the cosmopolitan city was rich musical sounds, which poured from everywhere. The Branch of the Russian Musical Society regularly hosted Konstantin Igumnov. Italian acted in Tiflis opera house. The boy unwittingly absorbed the melodies and rhythms of different peoples living in the capital of Georgia. When his father bought an old piano, Aram learned to select songs.

In 1921, Aram’s older brother Suren, who at that time was already living in Moscow, came to Tiflis for the summer. After studying as a historian at Moscow University, the young man got a job at the Moscow Art Theater. Suren communicated closely with the founders of the Russian theater: Nemirovich-Danchenko, Sulerzhitsky, Vakhtangov and Mikhail Chekhov. Inspired by the idea of ​​creating a national Armenian theater, Suren came to his homeland to look for talented compatriots to study in Moscow. Suren’s brothers Levon and Aram also went to the capital of Russia with the theatergoers.

In Moscow, young men plunged into cultural life cities with their heads: attended opera, ballet, performances of symphony orchestras, dramatic performances. The poet made a great impression on Aram. A year later, Khachaturian entered the biological faculty of the university, but his love for music took its toll: the young man also began attending music school Gnessins, in which the composition department was just being created. Khachaturian’s first teacher was Mikhail Fabianovich Gnessin, a meeting with whom determined creative biography young man.

Music

Khachaturian, who began to study music theory and musical notation It’s too late, it was very difficult at first. At the school, Aram, in addition to the piano, mastered playing the cello. The first attempts at writing music turned out to be successful: “Dance for Violin and Piano” is still included in the violin repertoire. After graduating from college, in 1926 Aram went to his homeland, where he headed the music department of the Moscow House of Culture.

In 1929, Khachaturian returned to Moscow, where he entered the Moscow Conservatory in the class of composer Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky. Khachaturian was taught instrumentation by Reinhold Gliere and Sergei Vasilenko. During these years, Aram created a suite for viola and piano, the piano Toccata, and Seven Fugues for Piano. The trio for piano, violin and clarinet was highly appreciated, which arranged the premiere of this work in Paris. In 1933, the “Dance Suite” was performed on the stage of the Moscow Conservatory, performed by a symphony orchestra.

Thesis work The composer became the First Symphony. After graduating from graduate school in 1936, Khachaturian created the First Piano Concerto, which immediately entered the repertoire of Soviet pianist Lev Oborin. In his works, Aram combines the oriental flavor of harmony and melody with Western European musical traditions. The works of Aram Khachaturian were performed by Soviet musicians D. Oistrakh, L. Kogan, M. Polyakin, Y. Flier, foreign performers W. Kapell, A. Rubinstein.

In the pre-war years, Aram Khachaturian was appointed deputy chairman of the Union of Composers of the USSR. He writes the ballet “Happiness”, the First Violin Concerto, music for the drama “Masquerade” and the comedy “The Valencian Widow”. Waltz from the suite "Masquerade" was included in the number best works symphonic music of the 20th century.

During the war, Aram Khachaturian was evacuated to Perm, where he composed the ballet “Gayane”, the most striking numbers of which were “Lullaby” and “Sabre Dance”. The musician composes “Symphony with Bells,” patriotic works “Song about Captain Gastello” and the march “To the Heroes of the Patriotic War.” The composer's music is broadcast on All-Union Radio. Khachaturian’s work was rightfully appreciated by the Soviet government, awarding the composer the Stalin Prize of the 1st degree. At the end of the war, the score of the “Hymn of Armenia” appears from the master’s pen. In 1946, Aram Khachaturian completed the First Cello Concerto, and a year later – the Third Symphony.

In 1948, Aram Khachaturian experienced a shock after the release of a Politburo resolution, in which his work, as well as music and Prokofiev, were called formalism. After the party’s attacks, the master’s first major work, the ballet “Spartacus,” appeared only in 1954. Since the mid-50s, ballet has firmly entered the repertoire of many theater groups in the USSR and abroad. Performances were staged to Khachaturian's music by Soviet choreographers L. Yakobson, I. Moiseev, Yu. Grigorovich.

Since the beginning of the 50s, Aram Khachaturian has been taking his first year of composition at the Moscow Conservatory and at the Gnesin Institute. Aram Ilyich trained venerable Soviet composers, Rostislav Boyko, Mark Minkov, Vladimir Dashkevich. Alexander Harutyunyan and Edward Mirzoyan enjoyed his support.

Aram Khachaturian conducted and toured major centers with performances. Soviet Union, Europe and America. The composer wrote music for the films “Admiral Ushakov”, “Giordano Bruno”, “Othello”, “ Battle of Stalingrad" In the 60s, rhapsodie concerts for violin, cello, and piano appeared in a row; in the 70s, the composer created a series of sonatas for string instruments.

Personal life

Aram Ilyich Khachaturian was married twice. From his first marriage he left a daughter, Nune, who received music education and devoted her life to pianism. The first union did not last long. In 1933, Aram Khachaturian, being divorced, married his classmate Nina Vladimirovna Makarova for the second time.

In his second marriage, the only son of the composer, Karen, was born, who later became a famous art critic. A television film from the series “More Than Love” is dedicated to the relationship between Aram Khachaturian and Nina Makarova, in the creation of which testimonies from relatives and photos from the family archive were used.

Death

The last years of Aram Ilyich’s life were darkened by constant illness. The composer spent a lot of time in the hospital.

In 1976, Nina Vladimirovna died, after which the musician finally wilted. On May 1, 1978, Aram Khachaturian’s heart stopped. The composer's grave is located in Yerevan, in the Komitas Park.

Some interesting facts from the composer’s life:

• Aram Ilyich wrote the last number of the ballet “Gayane” in less than half a day. As a result, “The Saber Dance” became the most beloved work.
• Aram Khachaturian composed “The Anthem of Armenia” on a summer evening, sitting in his office in a Yerevan apartment. Having begun to hum the melody, the composer discovered that lights came on in the windows of neighboring houses and people appeared who took up the singing.
• Aram Khachaturian loved dogs and in honor of the donated puppy Lyado (by the name of two notes), when he fell ill, he wrote the play “Lyado is seriously ill.”
• There is a story about how once, while in Spain, Khachaturian visited. According to legend, the meeting ended with the curious appearance of the naked artist to the sound of “Sabre Dance” in front of the composer. The authorship of the joke is attributed to Mikhail Weller.

Works

• Dance for violin and piano – 1926
• Toccata for piano – 1932
• Dance Suite – 1933
• Symphony No. 1 – 1934
• First concert for piano and orchestra – 1936
• First concert for violin and orchestra – 1940
• Ballet “Gayane” – 1942
• Symphony No. 2 “Symphony with a Bell” – 1943
• Suite from music for the play “Masquerade” – 1944
• First concert for cello and orchestra. – 1946
• Ballet “Spartacus” – 1954