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LIFE AND CREATIVE WORK.
CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH
 Aram
Khatchadourian is a talented composer, whose
compositions became part of the music classics
of the 20-th century. His name is recognized
throughout the world, and the compositions are
performed worldwide, on the best theater stages,
concert platforms, as well as the most distant
places. Today, the music of Khatchadourian is
played on the radio, TV and cinema. The UNESCO
places the name of Khatchadourian among the most
renowned composers of the 20-th century, and his
“Sabre Dance” of the well-known ballet “Gayaneh”
takes one of the first places in the list of the
most popular compositions of our age.
Aram Khatchadourian was born in Kodzhori (now
Tbilisi), suburb of Tiflis, on June 6, 1903, in
the Armenian family of a bookbinder. He wrote
later: “Old Tiflis is a city of sounds, a city
of music. It took a stroll along the streets and
lanes away from the center, to plunge into the
musical atmosphere which was created by all the
various sources…”
It is also important, that at the time, there
was a division of RMC (Russian Musical Society)
in Tbilisi, as well as a musical school and an
Italian Opera Theatre. This place was visited by
famous cultural representatives, among which
were: Fyodor Shalyapin, Sergei Rakhmaninov,
Konstantin Igumnov. Ultimately, there lived
famous musicians, who played an important role
in the formation of Georgian and Armenian
composer schools.
All of this constituted the basis for the early
musical impressions of Aram Khatchadourian. The
original multi-national “alloy” of the
intonation was an integral part of his
acoustical experience. Years later, this very
“alloy” became the pledge of Khatchadourian’s
music, so that it was never limited by the
frames of nationality, and was always appealing
to a wide-range of audiences. It is worth
mentioning that Khatchadourian was always devoid
of any demonstration of national hidebound. He
had a profound respect and a live interest in
the music of various nations. Internationalism
is one of the characteristic features and
peculiarities of the world perception, and is
part of the creative work of Khatchadourian.
Despite his early demonstrated musical
abilities, Aram Khatchadourian became acquainted
with the music literacy for the first time at
the age of 19 in 1922, when he arrived in Moscow
and got enrolled in a cello class at Gnesin
Music School. Simultaneously, the composer got a
degree in biology from the Department of Physics
and Mathematics at Moscow State University.
The musical development of Khatchadourian
proceeded at a fast pace. Within a short period,
not only did he catch up on his classwork, but
he also became one of the best students,
obtaining the right to perform at students’
concerts in the Small and Grand Halls of Moscow
Conservatory.
FORMATION OF THE COMPOSER
 Khatchadourian’s
fate as a composer was eventually defined in
1925, when they opened a composition class at
the school. After obtaining initial skills of
composition there, in 1929, he was admitted to
Moscow National Conservatory, where lead by
Nikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky he was formed as
a composer.
Aram Khatchadourian was indelibly impressed by the
visit of Myaskovsky’s class by Sergey Prokofiev
in 1933. The creative work of a genius composer
captured the young musician more and more. In
its turn, Khatchadourian’s compositions amazed
Prokofiev so greatly, that he took them with him
to Paris, where they were immediately performed.
The first published composition of
Khatchadourian,
“Dance” for violin and piano, already embraces
some of the characteristic features of the
composer’s stylistics: improvisation, diversity
of variation techniques, as well as imitation of
timbre effects widely spread in Eastern
instrumental music, in particular the famous
“Khatchadourian’s seconds”, rhythmic ostinato. The
composer himself noted: “These seconds come from
the numerous sounds of folk instruments which I
heard as a child: sazandartar, qyamancha and
drum. My organ-point predilection comes from the
Eastern music.”
Gradually, Khatchadourian switched from little
forms to more expanded ones, from the
“arrangement” of folk songs and dances up to its
“development”. In 1932, the Suite for piano was
created; its first piece “Toccata” was widely
recognized and included in the repertoire of
many pianists. It has stood the test of time.
Created by Khatchadourian in his youth, “Toccata”
has preserved its fascination and power of
influence up till now. Rodion Shedrin wrote:
“Many years have passed since the day of
appearance of that dynamic wonderful play, but
even now, its performance whets enthusiasm of
the public. There is no professional, who would
not but have it memorized, and who would not
cherish it with heated enthusiasm.”
In 1933, a new composition “Dance Suite” for
symphonic orchestra was performed. The composer
Dmitriy Kobalevskiy wrote: “The first
performance of this composition, which emitted
sunlight, joy of life and spiritual power, was a
great success to the young composer, still a
student, and he was immediately ranked among the
top positions of Soviet composers”.
Here many new things came to happen. The young
composer showed his outstanding orchestral
skills and affinity for symphonic thinking. In a
festive and elegant score of the “Dance Suite”
the contours of bright individual orchestral
style of Khatchadourian stood out clearly.
In 1935, in the Hall of Moscow Conservatorium,
the orchestra directed by E. Senkara performed
the First Symphony introduced by
composer-graduate as the final project for
graduation from the conservatory. It finalized
the most productive period of studying and, at
the same time, started a new period of life and
creative work of the composer, who entered
maturity stage. The audience, press, colleagues
and friends noted the high artistic value of the
new composition, the originality and public
importance of its content, the richness of
melodies, the generosity of harmonic and
orchestra colors, and in particular, the bright
national coloring of music.
AT THE SUMMIT OF FAME
 As
maturity approached, Khachaturyan started to
give more priority to composing the music for
drama plays in his creative work. The most
significant compositions of this genre are:
music to Lope de Vega’s “The Valencian Widow”
(1940), Lermontov’s “Masquerade” (1941).
Symphonic suites, created on the basis of music
to plays, gained their independent concert life.
Khatchadourian also paid a duly attention to
cinematography, by showing excellent feeling of
its specific rules, understanding efficient role
of music in discovering the essence of the
synthetic whole. Among various films, in which
his music sounds, “Pepo” and “Zangezour” occupy
special place.
The brightest talent of Aram Khatchadourian was
revealed in his symphonic compositions. Both the
Piano Concerto (1936) and Violin Concerto and
orchestra (1940) were a great success, and very
soon gained the sympathy of listeners.
In these compositions, the tendencies, which
first surfaced in “Dance Suite” and “First
Symphony”, found further development, but they
also added quite a few new elements. First of
all, this was a sign of the composer’s
acquisition of concerto style, which later
became one of the characteristic features of his
own style. The composer turned to the concerto
genre several times, and made a number of
interesting and bold discoveries in it.
Just as the composer was recognized one of the
most famous and talented musicians, the Great
Patriotic War began in 1941. However, even
during those hard times, many of Khatchadourian’s
compositions were performed, which motivated him
to in the pursue of
In 1942, the score of the ballet “Gayaneh”
featuring the libretto of K. Derzhavin was
finished. In this composition, the composer
skillfully synthesized the tradition of the
classic ballet with the folklore national music
and choreographic art. The ballet “Gayaneh” was
included as a solid part of the repertoire of
native and foreign theaters. Three symphonic
suites, composed by Khatchadourian from the music
to “Gayaneh”, also gained widespread fame.
In 1943, the Second symphony of Khatchadourian was
completed. New, extraordinary sides of his
creative works were revealed in this composition
of the war years, in which the music was
enriched with new colors of heroics and tragedy.
Dmitriy Shostakovich wrote: “The Second Symphony
is perhaps Khatchadourian’s first composition, in
which the tragic start reaches these new
heights; but, despite its tragic essence, this
composition is full of profound optimism and
belief in victory. A combination of the tragedy
and life-assertion here is acquiring great
power.”
In 1944, Khatchadourian composed the national hymn
of Armenia. One year later the war was over, and
soon the “victorious” Third symphony appeared.
Really, Third symphony is an excited, full of
pathetic elements ode, original hymn to victors.
In connection with Third symphony of
Khatchadourian, it should be recalled the words of
academician B. V. Asafiev: “The art of
Khatchadourian appeals: “May it be light! And may
it be joy!”…
 In the summer of 1946, the composer created his
Cello Concerto, which was performed in Moscow by
S. Knushevitsky with a great success. At the
same time, the vocal cycle to verses of Armenian
poets was created. If the instrumental concert
has long ago become one of the favorite genres
for the composer, the vocal cycle was applied
for the first time.
In 1954, the most significant composition of
Aram Khatchadourian, heroic and tragic ballet
“Spartacus” was created. It occupied a deserving
place among the best ballets of the 20th century
for the profoundness of its idea, the brightness
of artistic implementation, the scale of
dramatic art and form, and finally, for the
boldness of resolution of actual creative
problems related to contemporary musical and
choreographic art.
The 60-s were marked by another concert “splash”
in the creative work of Khatchadourian – three
Concerto-Rhapsodies appeared one after another:
Concerto-Rhapsody for violin and orchestra
(1961), Concerto-Rhapsody for cello and
orchestra (1963), and Concerto-Rhapsody for
piano and orchestra (1968). The composer has
several times shared his thoughts about the
willingness to compose the Forth
Concerto-Rhapsody featuring all of the three
concert instruments joining together at the end
of composition… In 1971, the State Prize was
awarded for the triad of Concerto-Rhapsodies.
Khatchadourian spent much effort to pedagogical
work. For quite a long period of time he
directed the composition class at Moscow
Conservatory after P. I. Chaykovsky and at
Gnesin Music Institute. Developing the
pedagogical principles of his teacher Myaskovsky,
and based on own life and creative experience,
Khatchadourian created his private composers’
school.
The private life of the composer was also rich
in events. Khatchadourian had a daughter Nuneh
from the first marriage; she was a pianist. In
1933, Khatchadourian got married for the second
time to Nina Makarova, a student from
Myaskovsky’s class, who’d become a faithful
helpmate of the composer. Together they had a
son, Karen Khatchadourian (at the present he is a
known art critic).
A myriad of prizes witness a universal
recognition of creative work of Aram
Khatchadourian. In 1963, Khatchadourian was elected
a full member of Armenian Soviet Republic’s
Academy of Sciences, honorary academician of
Italian Music Academy “Santa Cecilia” (1960),
honorary professor of Mexican Conservatory
(1960), corresponding member of the Academy of
Arts of GDR (1960). Aram Khatchadourian had the
titles of Professor and Doctor of Art Criticism
(1965).
The Big Philharmonic Hall in Yerevan, a
string quartet and an annual competition of
pianists and composers are named after A.Khatchadourian.
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Courtesy of Madenataran. Armenian
national Museum.
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