Most Honored Musical Son

I have to admit that until I arrived in Armenia, I am not sure I could have answered a Trivial Pursuit question requiring me to name a famous Armenian composer. It's not that I haven't heard his music--we all know The Saber Dance (from his ballet Gayane), if nothing else--but the name did not stick.  As we got into the International Music Festival here we began seeing a lot of music by Khachaturian on the programs. It's definitely 20th C. and it is filled with emotion, played with loving attention by the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra.  This is their guy.

Armine Tumanyan (center)

Our good friend and Yerevan's unofficial Ambassador to the World, Armine Tumanyan, organized another Walking Tour this past weekend. She made arrangements with her friend Arpie, the curator at the Aram Khachaturian House Museum, to open up just for IWAY members and their guests and to give us a guided tour. The house was given to Khachaturian by the Republic of Armenia as a way of thanking and honoring his life's work, most of which took place outside Armenia.He did not live here except for short periods on visits but his mother lived here in her later years.

Bust of Khachaturian

Khachaturian was born to Armenian parents in Tbilisi, Georgia in 1903. His mother kept house and his father was a bookbinder. Despite their poor economic status they found a way to get an old piano for their youngest son to play. Throughout his school years, including attendance at a commercial college, Aram Khachaturian had no formal music training but played by ear and composed music using the themes of the Armenian folk songs his mother sang to him.

Khachaturian's Blutner piano from Leipzig

At age 21 he expressed interest in instruction on the piano and was told he was too old. So he chose "the big violin," and was told it was a cello. After a couple of years of training on the cello he went back to piano, training in Moscow first in composition and then in conducting. He was part of a large group of artists who went to Moscow in the 1920s from throughout the new Soviet Union.

In the 1930s, he married Nina Makarova, a Russian woman and fellow composition student of Nikolai Myaskovsky. Her picture is on the wall above his German grand piano. His mother's photo in traditional Armenian dress sits in a frame on the left. 

This "late bloomer" went on to become one of the greatest composers and conductors of the 20th century, his conducting career starting when he was in his 40s. Though less known in the United States, he in fact toured the world to great acclaim and is considered one of the three titans of Soviet music, along with Prokofiev and Shostakovitch.He earned all the Soviet medals he could, up to and including the greatest honor of all, the Lenin Prize. Despite a brief and humiliating fall from political grace over his Third Symphony. In fact he, Prokofiev, and Shostakovitch were politically chastised for being formalistic and anti-popular. This seems very ironic given that Khactaturian music often relies on folk melodies and that he was a man for all people.  Photos of him with miners and other workers attest to his interest in the people.

Prokofiev, Shostakovitch & Khachaturian

Khachaturian's musical breadth was extensive. His works including not only symphonies and concertos, but ballets (Spartacus and Gayane) and even soundtracks for movies, including the first "talkie" made in Armenia.The adagio from Gayane was used in "A Space Odyssey" and "Patriot Games."

Curator Arpie with one of four pianos in the house.

The inside of the house itself is comfortable and filled with artifacts of the composer and photographs of him at the UN Security Council and with Gina Lollobrigida, among others. An extensive collection of LP covers is in one case. A walking cane and coats--including a marvelous fur of wife Nina's--hang in the front hall. A photo of Khachaturian with his only grandson sits on Nina's dressing table, along with her pearls.

Beautiful gobelin tapestry with map of Armenia

An interior courtyard provides a second wall of light to the house. Upstairs, now mostly display rooms, there are two splendid example of gobelin tapestry, one in the shape of the map of Armenia.

The parquet floor of the concert hall where we saw excerpts from the ballet Gayanne

Costumes from his ballets and huge movie posters are on the walls, along with enlarged photos of Khachaturian with famous Russian musicians at various ages. A separate and large concert hall with beautiful parquet floors is on the second floor. There we saw excerpts from his ballet Gayane, including a very vigorous saber dance. The room is available these days for receptions and other public events. I was thinking how marvelous it would be to hear a piano recital there.

Khachaturian died in Moscow in 1978, just shy of his 75th birthday. He is buried in Yerevan. His only son is a music critic in Moscow. One of his nephews, Karen Khachaturian, also became a composer.

Denise, Peter and Rilla after a hard afternoon of shopping

Our tour took place late on a beautiful Sunday morning. Denise and I spent the afternoon with Peter at The Vernissage--the famous Yerevan flea market about ten minutes from our apartment. Unlike our first visit, this time we decided to buy some things to take home as reminders of our time here. It was hard work, deserving of a cold one and a rest afterwards.