Death of Alexander Arutiunian (March 28, 2012)

Alexander Arutiunian was born in Yerevan, in the family of Grigor and Eleonora Arutiunian, on September 23, 1920. His father was a military serviceman. He entered the Yerevan State Conservatory’s children’s group in 1927 and was admitted in 1934 to the Conservatory, from which he graduated on the eve of World War II. He wrote his first work, “Impromptu,” for cello and piano, in 1941. After the war he moved to Moscow , where he participated in the workshops of the House of Armenian Culture from 1946-1948 and studied at the Moscow Conservatory, graduating in 1948.

In 1949 Arutiunian was awarded the Stalin Prize for his cantata “Motherland,” a graduation piece he wrote as a student at the Moscow Conservatory. In the same year, he composed the “Festive Overture.” In 1950 he coauthored “Armenian Rhapsody” with Arno Babajanian. He married Irina (Tamara) Odenova and had two children.



He returned to Yerevan and from 1954 to 1991 was the artistic director of the Armenian State Philarmonia. He continued to win acclaim for his works, many of which were inspired by the folk traditions of Armenian music, including the vocal symphonic poem “The Legend about the Armenian People” (1961). In the 1960s he tended towards classical forms and clearer tonality.

Arutiunian wrote a total of thirteen concerts for different instruments, of which the 1950 concert for trumpet made him known in the United States. He composed his concerto for violin and string orchestra “Armenia-88,” inspired by the Spitak earthquake, in 1988.

 He also wrote the opera “Sayat-Nova,” using some of the songs of the great troubadour (1968), the song-cantata “With My Fatherland,” based on the poems of Hovhannes Tumanian (1969), and the vocal series “Monument to My Mother,” based on the poems of Hovhannes Shiraz (1969). 

His prolific production included music for theater and cinema, with the films “The Heart Sings” (coauthored with Konstantin Orbelian, 1956) and “Nahapet” (1977), among others. 

In 1962 he was awarded the title of People’s Artist of Armenia and in 1970 he became People’s Artist of the USSR. Also in 1970 he started teaching at the Komitas Conservatory (Yerevan State Conservatory). He received the title of professor in 1977 and would continue working until 2008. After independence, he was decorated with several medals and orders. In 1987 he was awarded the title of honorary citizen of Yerevan.

He continued producing until his last years. His last work was the “Children’s Album” for piano (2004).

He passed away on March 28, 2012, in Yerevan, and was buried at the Komitas Pantheon.

Birth of Arno Babajanian (January 22, 1921)

Arno Babajanian was one of the most important composers of Soviet Armenia, but also was very well-known in the Soviet Union, especially as a brilliant pianist.

He was born in Yerevan on January 22, 1921. His childhood friend, composer Alexander Harutiunian, recalled that at the age of five or six, the future musician attempted to play the old piano of the kindergarten. Babajanian himself used to tell about his first meeting with Aram Khachatourian: “When I was a kindergartener, a man once visited us and asked us to sing to get to know who had music ear among us. I was singing and kicking the floor at the same time. Listening to me, that man said that I should be engaged in music. In the future, I would learn that he was Aram Khachatourian.”

Afterwards, in 1929 Babajanian entered the musical school attached to the Conservatory of Yerevan (now called after Gomidas). In 1930 he wrote his first composition, the “March of the Pioneers,” which poet Yeghishe Charents helped publish. In 1947 he graduated from the Gomidas State Conservatory and the next year he also graduated from the class of piano of the Tchaikovsky State Conservatory of Moscow. Meanwhile, from 1946-1948 he perfected his studies at the studio attached to the House of Culture of Armenia in Moscow. He became a remarkable pianist, who was famous for the interpretations of his own works. Returning to Armenia, Babajanian taught at the Gomidas State Conservatory from 1950 to 1956. Afterwards, he settled in Moscow, where he would live and work until the end of his life.

His natural talent and his vivid musical images turned him into a well-known representative of Soviet music. Babajanian’s style in his formative years was influenced by Aram Khachaturian and Sergei Rachmaninoff, as reflected in his early compositions, the concerts for piano (1944) and violin with orchestra (1949). His monumental “Heroic Ballad” for piano and orchestra (1950) earned him the State Prize of the Soviet Union in 1951, when he was just thirty, showing the main lines of his creative personality along his trio for piano (1952). In 1950 he composed with A. Harutiunian the widely popular “Armenian Rhapsody.” Dramatic contrasts and dynamic musical language characterized his sonata for violin and piano (1959) and the concerto for cello (1962). Many of his piano compositions, such as “Elegy” and “Dance of Vagharshapat,” are frequently chosen by Armenian pianists throughout the world. In 1960 Babajanian received the title of People’s Artist of Armenia and eleven years later he became People’s Artist of the USSR. He won the State Prize of Armenia in 1966 for his innovative composition “Six Images” (1965).



The composer was a very eclectic artist, as he worked in various genres: classical, pop, and jazz. He collaborated with some of the most celebrated Russian poets at the time, like Evgeny Yevdushenko, Andrei Voznesensky, and Robert Rozhdestvensky, but he also composed pop and jazz songs in Armenian, which were very popular at the time. He wrote the music for William Saroyan’s play “My Heart is in the Highlands,” as well as for many celebrated Armenian films: “By the Path of the Storm” (1956), “I Know You Personally” (1957), “The Song of the First Love” (1958, with Ghazaros Sarian as coauthor), “The Bride from the North” (1975), “The Mechanics of Happiness” (1982, State Prize of Armenia in 1983), and others.

Arno Babajanian passed away in Moscow on November 11, 1983. A street in the Armenian capital remembers him, and his statue has been placed near Swan Lake, in central Yerevan.