Death of Nigoghos Tashjian (September 9, 1885)

Nigoghos Tashjian is not a familiar name when we speak of Armenian religious music, but we owe to him the use of modern notation to transcribe the ancient hymns and songs. In this way, those pieces were rescued from becoming undecipherable for modern musicians and musicologists.

Tashjian was born in Constantinople on June 17, 1841. He studied at the Nersesian School of Haskeuy, where he was a student of Kapriel Yeranian (author of the music for the song “Guiliguia”).

In the 1860s Tashjian was involved in the publication of several music journals. First, he published a semi-annual journal called Nvak osmanian (“Ottoman Melody”), with his brother Hagopig Tashjian, and then he joined his teacher Yeranian to publish another periodical, Knar Arevelian (“Oriental Lyre”). In 1863 Tashjian, Vartan Papazian, and composer Tigran Chuhajian (the author of the first Armenian opera, “Arshag II”) published together yet another music journal, Osmanian yerazhshdutiun (“Ottoman Music”). All three journals were printed in lithography (from a stone plate, hence the name) and included Armenian and Turkish songs.

Tashjian printed interesting articles in the Armenian press of Constantinople, and in 1871 he was invited to Holy Echmiadzin to teach music at the Kevorkian Seminary, where future composer Makar Yekmalian was his student. Three years later, he published his Textbook of Armenian Ecclesiastic Notation , where he first explained the notation system of his predecessor Hampartzum Limonjian, and he later presented the nature and a brief history of Armenian music.

His most important service to Armenian music would be, as we said, the use of modern notation to transcribe religious songs and hymns, trying to maintain the authentic meaning of the ancient Armenian khaz (neumes). By the second half of the nineteenth century, the key to the khaz was lost and there was nobody left to sing them accurately. This is why various authors, like Limonjian and Tashjian, tried to “translate” them into modern notation. Tashjian published four books of transcribed songs in Holy Echmiadzin: Songbook of the Divine Liturgy (1874); Songbook of Armenian Liturgical Hymns (1875); Songs with Notation of the Book of Hours of the Armenian Holy Church (1877), and Excerpts of Blessings with Notation (1882).

    

In 1879 he returned to Constantinople, where he taught music at various schools and was the choirmaster at the Armenian Cathedral of Constantinople. He was also the author of various patriotic songs, which Yekmalian and Gomidas Vartabed later arranged for polyphonic version.

Tashjian passed away in Constantinople on September 9, 1885, at the age of forty-four, but his legacy would outlive him and become a stepping stone for his successors in the field of Armenian religious music.

Death of Hampartzum Limonjian (June 29, 1839)

Hampartzum Limonjian, better known by the sobriquet Baba Hampartzum, was one of the most important figures of Armenian music. He opened a new era in Armenian songs, as he cleaned them from foreign influences, and became the creator of the Armenian new musical notation, which helped maintain the heritage of popular and spiritual songs.

Limonjian was born in Constantinople in 1768. His childhood was marked by poverty. As soon as he had learned how to write and to read, he became an apprentice in a tailor shop and, after learning the trade, became a tailor himself.

He had an innate love for singing and music, and in his free time he devoted himself to learning music, and this is how he advanced in musicology. He later became a student of Zenne Boghos and learned Armenian religious music. He met Turkish dervishes and in a short time learned the style of their classical singing. The mystic teachings of the dervishes made a great impact on him, as well as their introspective life and their prayers that were accompanied by songs, music, and ritual dances.

Afterwards, Hampartzum Limonjian, who was already known as Baba Hampartzum, studied also European musical theory. His acquaintance with Hovhannes Chelebi Duzian became crucial. Hovhannes Chelebi, who was also a music lover, noted the exceptional abilities of Baba Hampartzum and had him hired as a music teacher in the Mekhitarist School of Constantinople. Simultaneously, he also worked as a scribe for the Balians, who were the imperial architects.

Once he assured his living, Baba Hampartzum strove to improve his musical knowledge. He took lessons from Greek musicians and maintained his links with the dervishes. He also studied old Armenian religious songs and tried to transcribe them. The European notation was not appropriate and he invented an Armenian notation system that resembled the khaz (the Armenian notation used in the Armenian hymns or sharagan) and corresponded to the European musical scale. He worked on his invention until 1815. In 1837 he wrote his autobiography, in Turkish, where he wrote about the motives that had led him to create the Armenian notation.

Hampartzum Limonjian had a group of students who continued his work, among them his son Nezen Zenob (1810-1866), Tamburi Alexan, Apisoghom Utudjian, Aristakes Hovhannesian, Bedros Cheomlekian and Hovhannes Muhendisian.

He passed away on June 29, 1839, at the age of 71. Decades later, Kevork IV, Catholicos of All Armenians, took the initiative to organize the teaching and the promotion of the notation system invented by Baba Hampartzum, which was particularly important in the maintenance and the normalization of Armenian religious music.