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Aram Khachaturian
Арам Хачатурян Արամ Խաչատրյան
Khachaturian in 1971
Born	6 June [O.S. 24 May] 1903 Tiflis or Kojori, Tiflis Governorate, Russian Empire
Died	1 May 1978(1978-05-01) (aged 74) Moscow, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
Burial place	Komitas Pantheon, Yerevan, Armenia
Alma mater	Gnessin Musical Institute Moscow Conservatory
Years active	1926–1978
Works	List of compositions
Political party	CPSU (from 1943)
Spouse	Nina Makarova (m. 1933; died 1976)
Children	2
Awards	(see § Awards and honors)
Signature

Aram Ilyich Khachaturian (/ˈærəm ˌkɑːtʃəˈtʊəriən/; Russian: Арам Ильич Хачатурян, IPA: [ɐˈram ɨˈlʲjitɕ xətɕɪtʊˈrʲan] ; Armenian: Արամ Խաչատրյան, Aram Xačatryan; 6 June [O.S. 24 May] 1903 – 1 May 1978) was a Soviet Armenian composer and conductor. He is considered one of the leading Soviet composers.

Khachaturian was born and raised in Tbilisi (now the capital of Georgia). He moved to Moscow in 1921 following the Sovietization of the Caucasus. Without prior music training, he enrolled in the Gnessin Musical Institute, and subsequently studied at the Moscow Conservatory in the class of Nikolai Myaskovsky, among others. His first major work, the Piano Concerto (1936), popularized his name within and outside the Soviet Union. It was followed by the Violin Concerto (1940) and the Cello Concerto (1946). His other significant compositions include the Masquerade Suite (1941), the Anthem of the Armenian SSR (1944), three symphonies (1935, 1943, 1947), and around 25 film scores. Khachaturian is best known for his ballet music: Gayane (1942) and Spartacus (1954). His most popular piece, the "Sabre Dance" from Gayane, has been used extensively in popular culture and has been performed by a number of musicians worldwide. His style is "characterized by colorful harmonies, captivating rhythms, virtuosity, improvisations, and sensuous melodies".

During most of his career, Khachaturian was approved by the Soviet government and held several high posts in the Union of Soviet Composers from the late 1930s, although he joined the Communist Party only in 1943. Along with Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich, he was officially denounced as a "formalist" and his music dubbed "anti-people" in 1948 but was restored later that year. After 1950 he taught at the Gnessin Institute and the Moscow Conservatory and turned to conducting. He traveled to Europe, Latin America and the United States with concerts of his own works. In 1957 Khachaturian became the Secretary of the Union of Soviet Composers, a position he held until his death.

Khachaturian composed the first Armenian ballet music, symphony, concerto, and film score. He is considered the most renowned Armenian composer of the 20th century. While following the established musical traditions of Russia, he broadly incorporated Armenian and, to lesser extent, Caucasian, Eastern and Central European, and Middle Eastern peoples' folk music into his works. He is highly regarded in Armenia, where he is considered a "national treasure".

Biography

Background and early life (1903–1921)

Aram Khachaturian was born on 6 June (24 May in Old Style) 1903 in the city of Tiflis (present-day Tbilisi, Georgia) into an Armenian family. Some sources indicate Kojori, a village near Tiflis, as his birthplace. Khachaturian himself said he was born in Kojori. His father, Yeghia (Ilya), was born in the village of Upper Aza near Ordubad in Nakhichevan (present-day Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, Azerbaijan) and moved to Tiflis at the age of 13; he owned a bookbinding shop by the age of 25. His mother, Kumash Sarkisovna, was from Lower Aza, also a village near Ordubad. Khachaturian's parents were betrothed before knowing each other, when Kumash was 9 and Yeghia was 19. They had five children, one daughter and four sons, of whom Aram was the youngest. From 1906 to 1922 Khachaturian lived at 93 Uznadze Street in Tbilisi. Khachaturian received primary education at the commercial school of Tiflis, a school for merchants. He considered a career either in medicine or engineering.

In the 19th and early 20th centuries and throughout the early Soviet period, Tiflis (known as Tbilisi after 1936) was the largest city and the administrative center of the Caucasus. In Tiflis, which has historically been multicultural, Khachaturian was exposed to various cultures. The city had a large Armenian population and was a major Armenian cultural center until the Russian Revolution and the following years. In a 1952 article "My Idea of the Folk Element in Music", Khachaturian described the city environment and its influence on his career:

I grew up in an atmosphere rich in folk music: popular festivities, rites, joyous and sad events in the life of the people always accompanied by music, the vivid tunes of Armenian, Azerbaijani and Georgian songs and dances performed by folk bards and musicians — such were the impressions that became deeply engraved on my memory, that determined my musical thinking. They shaped my musical consciousness and lay at the foundations of my artistic personality... Whatever the changes and improvements that took place in my musical taste in later years, their original substance, formed in early childhood in close communion with the people, has always remained the natural soil nourishing all my work.

In 1917, the Bolsheviks rose to power in Russia in the October Revolution. After over two years of fragile independence, Armenia fell to Soviet rule in late 1920. Georgia was also Sovietized by the spring of 1921. Both countries formally became part of the Soviet Union in December 1922.

Education (1922–1936)

In 1921, the eighteen-year-old Khachaturian moved to Moscow to join his oldest brother, Suren, who had settled in Moscow earlier and was a stage director at the Moscow Art Theatre by the time of his arrival. He enrolled at the Gnessin Musical Institute in 1922, simultaneously studying biology at Moscow State University. He initially studied the cello under Sergei Bychkov and later under Andrey Borysyak. In 1925, Mikhail Gnessin started a composition class at the institute, which Khachaturian joined. In this period, he wrote his first works: the Dance Suite for violin and piano (1926) and the Poem in C Sharp Minor (1927). Beginning with his earliest works, Khachaturian extensively used Armenian folk music in his compositions.

In 1929, Khachaturian entered the Moscow Conservatory to study composition under Nikolai Myaskovsky and orchestration under Sergei Vasilenko. He finished the conservatory in 1934 and went on to complete his graduate work in 1936.

Early career (1936–1948)

His Armenian-influenced First Symphony, which Khachaturian composed as a graduation work from the Moscow Conservatory in 1935, "drew the attention of prominent conductors and was soon performed by the best Soviet orchestras" and was admired by Shostakovich. He began an active creative career upon completing his graduate studies at the conservatory in 1936. He wrote his first major work, the Piano Concerto, that year. It proved to be a success, establishing him as a respected composer in the Soviet Union. It was "played and acclaimed far beyond the borders of the Soviet Union", and "established his name abroad".

His Piano Concerto, along with the two later concertos—the Violin Concerto (1940), for which he won a Stalin Prize, second class and the Cello Concerto (1946)—are "often considered a kind of a grand cycle". The Violin Concerto "gained international recognition" and became part of the international repertory. It was first performed by David Oistrakh.

Khachaturian held important posts at the Composers' Union, becoming deputy chairman of the Moscow branch in 1937. He subsequently served as the Deputy Chairman of the Organizing Committee (Orgkom) of the Union between 1939 and 1948. He joined the Communist Party in 1943. "Throughout the early and mid-1940s, Khachaturian used that position to help shape Soviet music, always stressing but technically masterful composition. In fact, in his memoirs he reported pride about leading an institution that organized creative work in many musical genres and especially in all Soviet republics."

The years preceding and following World War II were very productive for Khachaturian. In 1939 he made a six-month trip to his native Armenia "to make a thorough study of Armenian musical folklore and to collect folk-song and dance tunes" for his first ballet, Happiness which he completed in the same year. "His communion with Armenia's national culture and musical practice proved for him as he put it himself, 'a second conservatoire'. He learned a lot, saw and heard many things anew, and at the same time he had an insight into the tastes and artistic requirements of the Armenian people." In 1942, at the height of the Second World War, he reworked it into the ballet Gayane. It was first performed by the Kirov Ballet (today known as Mariinsky Ballet) in Perm, while Leningrad was under siege. It was a great success that earned Khachaturian his second Stalin Prize, this time first-class. Khachaturian returned the prize money to the state with a request to use it for building a tank for the Red Army.

He composed the Second Symphony (1943) on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the October Revolution and incidental music to Masquerade (1944), "a symphonic suite in the tradition of lavish classical Russian music", on Mikhail Lermontov's play of the same title. Both the ballet Gayane and the Second Symphony were "successful and were warmly praised by Shostakovich". In 1944, Khachaturian composed the largely symbolic Anthem of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic.

Denunciation and restoration (1948)

In mid-December 1947, the Department for Agitation and Propaganda (better known as Agitprop) submitted to Andrei Zhdanov, the secretary of the Communist Party's Central Committee, a document on the "shortcomings" in the development of Soviet music. On 10–13 January 1948, a conference was held at the Kremlin in the presence of seventy musicians, composers, conductors and others who were confronted by Zhdanov:

We will consider that if these comrades Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Myaskovsky, Khachaturian, Kabalevsky and Shebalin namely who are the principal and leading figures of the formalist direction in music. And that direction is fundamentally incorrect.

During the course of the conference, the newly appointed head of the Union of Soviet Composers, Tikhon Khrennikov complained that Khachaturian's Symphonic Poem had its premier in a half empty hall and that "everyone thought that Khachaturian's Cello Concerto was rubbish". In response, Khachaturian – who admitted that speaking at such an event made him nervous – conceded that composers of more complex work might be guilty of ignoring popular taste, thinking that it would catch up with them in time. Zhdanov interrupted to say that such an attitude was "extreme individualism". Khachaturian and other leading composers were denounced by the Communist Party as followers of the alleged formalism (i.e. " music that was considered too advanced or difficult for the masses to enjoy") and their music was dubbed "anti-people". It was the Symphonic Poem (1947), later titled the Third Symphony, that officially earned Khachaturian the wrath of the Party. Ironically, he wrote the work as a tribute to the 30th anniversary of the October Revolution. He stated: "I wanted to write the kind of composition in which the public would feel my unwritten program without an announcement. I wanted this work to express the Soviet people's joy and pride in their great and mighty country."

Musicologist Blair Johnston believes that his "music contained few, if any, of the objectionable traits found in the music of some of his more adventuresome colleagues. In retrospect, it was most likely Khachaturian's administrative role in the Union , perceived by the government as a bastion of politically incorrect music, and not his music as such, which earned him a place on the black list of 1948." In March 1948, Khachaturian "made a very full and humble apology for his artistic 'errors' following the Zhdanov decree; his musical style, however, underwent no changes". He was sent to Armenia as a "punishment", and continued to be censured. Edward Rothstein argued that Khachaturian suffered less than Shostakovich and Prokofiev, "perhaps because of his folkloric and simple musical style."

By December 1948 (Zhdanov had died in August) he was restored to favor, receiving praise for his score for the film Vladimir Ilyich Lenin [ru], a film biography of the Soviet leader.

Later life (1950–1978)

In 1950, Khachaturian began conducting and started teaching composition at his alma maters—the Gnessin Institute (since 1950), and later at the Moscow Conservatory (since 1951). During his career as a university professor, Khachaturian emphasized the role of folk music to his students and instilled the idea that composers should master their nations' folk music heritage.

In 1950, he began working on his third and last ballet, Spartacus (1950–54), which later proved to be his last internationally acclaimed work. He revised Spartacus in 1968. He was named People's Artist of the Soviet Union in 1954. Under Georgy Malenkov's brief rule, in 1954, Khachaturian became a mouthpiece, along with Ilya Ehrenburg, to "assure Soviet intellectuals that the ideological controls imposed by the draconic Zhdanov decrees of 1946–48 would be at least temporarily lifted."

After completing Spartacus, since the late 1950s, Khachaturian focused less on composition, and more on conducting, teaching, bureaucracy and travel. He served as the President of the Soviet Association of Friendship and Cultural Cooperation with Latin American States from 1958 and was a member of the Soviet Peace Committee (since 1962). "He frequently appeared in world forums in the role of champion of an apologist for the Soviet idea of creative orthodoxy." Khachaturian toured with concerts of his own works in around 30 countries, including in all the Eastern Bloc states, Italy (1950), Britain (1955, 1977), Latin America (1957) and the United States (1960, 1968). His January 1968 visit to U.S. capital of Washington, D.C. was a significant one. He conducted the National Symphony Orchestra in a program of his own works. In a six-week tour he visited seven American cities.

Khachaturian went on to serve again as Secretary of the Composers Union, starting in 1957 until his death. He was also a deputy in the fifth Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union (1958–62). In the last two decades of his life, Khachaturian wrote three concert rhapsodies—for violin (1961–62), cello (1963) and piano (1965)—and solo sonatas for unaccompanied cello, violin, and viola (1970s), which are considered to be his second and third instrumental trilogies.

Music

"Sabre Dance"

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Khachaturian's works span a broad range of musical types, including ballets, symphonies, concertos, and film scores. Music critic Edward Greenfield expresses the opinion that Khachaturian "notably outshone other Soviet contemporaries in creating a sharply identifiable style, something which his successors have found impossible to emulate". He composed a great portion of his works in a ten-year span between 1936 and 1946, preceding and following the Second World War. Despite his formal restoration after the 1948 denunciation, Khachaturian only succeeded in composing one internationally acclaimed work in the last 30 years of his life, the ballet Spartacus.

According to James Bakst, what made Khachaturian unique among Soviet composers is "the blending of national Armenian vocal and instrumental intonations with contemporary orchestral techniques". Khachaturian's music is characterized by an active rhythmic development, which reaches either a mere repetition of the basic formula (ostinato) or "a game of emphasis within this formula".

Works

Ballet

Khachaturian is best known internationally for his ballet music. His second ballet, Gayane, was largely reworked from his first ballet, Happiness. Anna Kisselgoff called it "one of the staples of the Soviet and Eastern European ballet repertory." Spartacus became his most acclaimed work in the post-Stalin period. These two compositions "remain his most successful compositions". According to Jonathan McCollum and Andy Nercessian, his music for these two ballets "can safely be included among the best known pieces of classical music throughout the world, a fact that is vitalized by perception that these are perhaps the only works through that the world really knows Armenian music".

Spartacus was popularized when the "Adagio of Spartacus and Phrygia" was used as the theme for a popular BBC drama series The Onedin Line during the 1970s. The climax of Spartacus was also used in films such as Caligula (1979) and Ice Age: The Meltdown (2006). Joel Coen's The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) also prominently featured music from Spartacus and Gayane (the "Sabre Dance" included). Gayane's "Adagio" was used, among other films, in Stanley Kubrick's futuristic film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Orchestral music

Khachaturian wrote three symphonies: the First in 1934/5, the Second in 1943, and the Third in 1947. He also wrote three concertos: the Piano Concerto (1936), the Violin Concerto (1940), and the Cello Concerto (1946).

Other compositions

Khachaturian wrote incidental music for several plays, including Macbeth (1934, 1955), The Widow from Valencia (1940), Masquerade (1941), King Lear (1958).

Khachaturian was the first Soviet composer to write music for sound films. He produced around 25 film scores. Among them is Pepo (1935), the first Armenian sound film. In 1950 he was awarded the Stalin prize for the score of The Battle of Stalingrad (1949).

Influences

I do not see how modern composers could isolate themselves from life and not want to work among society. The more impressions that come from contact with life, the more and better the creative ideas.

—Khachaturian

Musicologist Marina Frolova-Walker describes Khachaturian as the only internationally renowned Soviet composer "who emerged from the nationalist project". James Bakst interpreted Khachaturian's views as follows: "Music is a language created by the people. The people create intonational music forms which reveal at once his national elements of an art work."

Composer Tigran Mansurian suggested that Khachaturian's music incorporates American characteristics and called the United States his "second homeland" in terms of musical influences, especially due to the sense of optimism in his works and lifestyle. Soviet musicologist Boris Yarustovsky argued that the influence from American culture was heard in some of the words of Khachaturian.

Armenian folk music

Khachaturian is widely known for his use of folk songs of various ethnic groups in his compositions, most notably those of Armenians. Rosenberg argued that despite not having been born in Armenia, Khachaturian was "essentially an Armenian composer whose music exhibits his Armenian roots". "any of his compositions evoke an Armenian melodic line. However, his works markedly differed from the conventional orchestrations of folk themes", writes Rouben Paul Adalian. He suggests that Khachaturian's works carry "the vibrant rhythms and stirring pace of Caucasian dance music", but at the same time are "original compositions that reworked that cultural material through new instrumentation and according to European musical canons, resulting in a sound unique to the composer". Richard Taruskin argued that "Khachaturian's 'Armenian' style was largely adapted from Gnesin's all-purpose Orientalist idiom."

Khachaturian was particularly influenced by the folk-song collector, musicologist Komitas, and composers Alexander Spendiaryan and Romanos Melikian. Khachaturian acknowledged that Komitas "singlehandedly laid the foundations for Armenia's classical tradition". In a 1969 article about Komitas, Khachaturian called him his "greatest teacher".

His plans to write an opera "on the destiny of the Armenian people, the tragic fate of Armenians scattered all over the world, their suffering and the struggle" never realized, and his "Armenian Rhapsody for mouth-organ and orchestra, intended for his close friend Larry Adler and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra" remained uncompleted. "Yet the intention, the spirit, was always there." Khachaturian emphasized his Armenian origin, stating:

No matter how I may waver between various musical languages, I remain an Armenian, but a European Armenian, not an Asian Armenian. Together with other , we will make all of Europe and the whole world listen to our music. And when they hear our music, people are certain to say, 'Tell us about that people, and show us the country that produces such art.'

Other folk music

During his university years, Khachaturian transcribed Armenian, Russian, Hungarian, Turkish and other folk songs. In his mature works, Khachaturian used elements from folk songs of Caucasian (including, but not limited to Georgians), Eastern European (Ukrainians, Poles) and Middle Eastern (Turks, Kurds) peoples. His first ballet, Happiness, incorporates a Ukrainian gopak, Georgian, Armenian and Russian dances and a Lezginka, an energetic dance of many Caucasian peoples. The Masquerade Suite includes a Mazurka, a Polish folk dance music. The ballet Gayane, like its predecessor, features a Lezginka. Act II of Gayane "is filled with Kurdish dances".

Russian classical music

Khachaturian is cited by musicologists as a follower of Russian classical traditions. According to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, he "carried forward into the twentieth century the colorful, folk-inspired style of such nineteenth-century Russian composers as Rimsky-Korsakov and Tchaikovsky". Like the members of The Five, especially Alexander Borodin and Rimsky-Korsakov, whose works to some extent served him as a model, Khachaturian drew heavily upon "Eastern" and "Oriental" material in creating compositions in various classical genres and styles of European origin. But Khachaturian's cultural identity and rigorous musical training within the Soviet establishment allowed him to penetrate more deeply to the essence of Eastern and Caucasian music and to incorporate it more fully in his mature work, including the ballets. "Never dissociating himself from the traditions of Russian music, he came to be regarded in Moscow as a mouthpiece of the entire Soviet Orient, gathering up all the diverse traditions into a grand generalization", concludes Marina Frolova-Walker.

Khachaturian's influence

Khachaturian's notable students at the Gnessin Institute and the Moscow Conservatory included foreign composers, such as Aziz El-Shawan from Egypt, Modesta Bor from Venezuela, Enrique Ubieta from Cuba, Stefan Remenkov from Bulgaria, and Anatol Vieru from Romania, and a number of Soviet composers: Tolib Shakhidi, Georgs Pelēcis, Mark Minkov, Alexey Rybnikov, Andrei Eshpai, Albert Markov, Nodar Gabunia [ru], Edgar Hovhannisyan, Mikael Tariverdiev, Eduard Khagagortyan [ru]. Critic Levon Hakobian described Khachaturian as a "conservative and self-absorbed teacher".

He inspired young Armenian composers and had a great influence on the development of Armenian music. Khachaturian's influence can be traced on chamber and symphonic music traditions of Armenia, including on the works of Arno Babajanian, Edvard Mirzoyan, and Konstantin Orbelyan, among others. Early compositions of Loris Tjeknavorian evoke the work of Khachaturian.

Khachaturian also influenced composers of Azerbaijan (such as Kara Karayev) and Central Asia. Critic Louis Biancolli noted in 1947 that Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have "borrowed" Khachaturian "on occasion for special research in national music."

Khachaturian was a close friend of the Bulgarian composer of Pancho Vladigerov and Khachaturian admired his music. Vladigerov's third piano concerto (1937), his most popular work, shows the influence of Khachaturian and Rachmaninoff. Eckhardt van den Hoogen called Vladigerov a sort of missing link between George Gershwin and Khachaturian.

East Asia

Harold C. Schonberg argued that Soviet-trained Chinese composers, such as Li Delun, were part of a "school of music strongly indebted" to socialist-realist composers like Khachaturian. He suggested that they "came back full of the approved Soviet ideology of Socialist Realism and, much worse, full of the technique of such composers as Khachaturian." Schonberg wrote that the Chinese ballet Red Detachment of Women (1964) incorporates elements of Russian academism and Oriental exoticism, resulting in a sound that is reminiscent of socialist-realist ballets like Khachaturian's Spartacus. Schonberg further suggested that Yellow River Piano Concerto (1970), created by Yin Chengzong and others under the guidance of Mao's wife Jiang Qing, is a "rehash of Rachmaninoff, Khachaturian, late Romanticism, bastardized Chinese music and Warner Bros climaxes." Chunya Chang suggested that it "carries many connections" with the works of Khachaturian, including "imitations of national instruments and applications of folk music." The most popular piano concerto in China, it "helped introduce Western-style orchestral music to millions of Chinese".

The music of the Japanese composer Roh Ogura had the influence of Khachaturian in "its rhythms and scoring." So did the works of Yasushi Akutagawa. Donald Richie and Joseph Anderson noted in 1982 that composers of scores of "independently" produced Japanese films are "ordered to turn out music" that "strongly echo" Khachaturian and other Soviet composers.

Personal life and personality

Khachaturian was described as a "stocky bushy haired Armenian." In 1968 New York Post music critic Harriett Johnson characterized him as "sturdy, stocky and youthful." Dmitri Shostakovich described his outlook as "a basically optimistic, life-asserting view of our reality." In Testimony, attributed by Solomon Volkov to Shostakovich, the author wrote: "Meeting Khachaturian means, first of all, eating a good, filling meal, drinking with pleasure, and chatting about this and that. That's why, if I have the time, I never turn down a meeting with him." The German conductor Kurt Masur, who met him several times, said Khachaturian was "sometimes an uncomfortable person."

Family

In 1933 Khachaturian married the composer Nina Makarova, a fellow student from Myaskovsky's class at the Moscow Conservatory. Charlotte Curtis described her as "a bulky Russian woman with naturally pink cheeks, black hair" who is "widely known as one of the Soviet Union's most popular women composers." Makarova said of their differences: "He is Armenian — temperamental, strong and a bit Oriental. I am Russian and lyric." They had two children, a daughter, Nune, and a son, Karen. Nune became a pianist, while Karen—an art critic. His nephew, Karen Khachaturian, was also a composer.

Health and death

In early October 1965, Khachaturian was briefly admitted into a hospital in Geneva after a heart attack. He died in Moscow on 1 May 1978, after a long illness, just short of his 75th birthday. He was buried at the Komitas Pantheon in Yerevan on 6 May, next to other distinguished Armenians.

Views

Khachaturian was an atheist, and always remained enthusiastic about communism. Jeffrey Adams argues that he was a "loyal Communist ideologue" who was "devoted to making art relevant to the common worker." Khachaturian wrote: "the October Revolution fundamentally changed my whole life and, if I have really grown into a serious artist, then I am indebted only to the people and the Soviet Government."

Khachaturian denied any censorship of his music in the Soviet Union and when asked about 1948 purges, he said: "Well, they thought my music was too loud, I did write for 15 trumpets and even Stokowski decided against our doing that music when he found out the instrumentation. But I wouldn't change it. The composer must stick to his conception."

In January 1971, Khachaturian, along with Shostakovich, Igor Moiseyev, Maya Plisetskaya called on President Richard Nixon to free Angela Davis. In 1973 he joined eleven Soviet composers in condemning the nuclear physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov after he met with Western correspondents.

Recognition and reputation

From left to right: Khachaturian depicted on Soviet (1983), Russian (2003) and Armenian (2003) postage stamps

Khachaturian is generally considered one of the leading composers of the Soviet Union. Alongside Dmitri Shostakovich and Sergei Prokofiev, he has been generally cited as one of the three greatest composers of the Soviet era. Ronald Crichton wrote on his death that, in his lifetime, Khachaturian "ranked as the third most celebrated Soviet composer after Shostakovich and Prokofiev."

According to the Los Angeles Philharmonic, "his works do not enjoy the international reputation that those of" Shostakovich and Prokofiev do. With these two and Dmitry Kabalevsky, Khachaturian "was one of the few Soviet composers to have become known to the wider international public". According to music historian Harlow Robinson, "his proletariat origins, non-Russian ethnic origins and Soviet training a powerful symbol within the Soviet musical establishment of the ideal of a multinational Soviet cultural identity, an identity which the composer enthusiastically embraced and exploited both at home and abroad". Unlike Prokofiev and Shostakovich, Khachaturian was "entirely a creation of the Soviet musical and dance establishment".

Reputation

The Age wrote that he was the "last survivor among such household names as Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Rachmaninov" and his death marked the "end of an era of the great Soviet composers." At the same time, his obituary argued that "on the whole Khachaturian was a writer of popular classics rather than intellectual music." Gramophone critic Ivan March noted in 1985 that Khachaturian's "reputation has sagged". He approved of the Violin Concerto and Gayane, but opined that "much of his music is disappointing." Richard Taruskin argued in 1996 that Khachaturian has not been "certified as great artist by the promoters of classical music." Taruskin opined in 2003 that during his lifetime Khachaturian was "more popular than Shostakovich and rivaled only by Prokofiev — but these days it’s different." He argued that musicians never "thought much of Khachaturian" as he was "always a composer for the crowds."

Josef Woodard, writing for the Los Angeles Times, suggests that Khachaturian has long been considered a "lighter-weight participant among 20th-century composers", while classic music broadcaster Norman Gilliland describes him as a "major" composer of the 20th century. Tim Ashley wrote in The Guardian in 2009 that Khachaturian's popularity fell in the West, because of his image as one of Soviet music's "yes-men". He argued, "Such a view is simplistic, given that he had a major brush with the authorities in 1948." In 2003 conductor Marin Alsop opined that Khachaturian is "very underperformed" and "somewhat underrated․"

Anne Midgette opined that Khachaturian is "remembered for Technicolor music, film-score-like in scale and sensibility." David Nice wrote in BBC Music Magazine that Khachaturian did best in dance and incidental music. Bernard Holland described Spartacus as "Socialist-Realism schlock", but argued that "Khachaturian writes inventive schlock—comfortably entertaining yet not without surprises." New York Times critic Harold C. Schonberg was often critical of Khachaturian. In 1968 he wrote that "Even at his best he was a minor figure, and his music these days has little to offer. Not because it is conventional, but because its materials and ideas are second-rate." Although describing him as an important and highly popular composer and a "man of pronounced gifts", Schonberg argued on his death in 1978 that Khachaturian "frankly composed popular music" and that after being exposed to his work it becomes evident that it is mostly "formula writing". While praising his work as exotic and colorful, he described Khachaturian as a "bureaucratic composer, turning out well-crafted pieces of no particular personality, and certainly nothing that would rock the boat". In 1968 New York Post music critic Harriett Johnson argued that while some may describe Khachaturian's style as "pop," she praised "the individuality of his melodies, infiltrated as they are with Oriental flavor of his Armenian heritage" and "the elemental surge of his rhythm which easily grows wild." She described him as an "immense musician who believes in the peasant heart and who has said so unabashedly in his music."

Recognition in Armenia

One of the "modern icons of Armenian pride", Khachaturian is considered a national treasure, and is celebrated by the Armenian people "as a famous son who earned world-wide recognition". Khachaturian was the most renowned Armenian composer of the 20th century, and the most famous representative of Soviet Armenian culture. He has been described as "by far the most important Armenian composer", the "Armenian Tchaikovsky", and deemed a key figure in 20th-century Armenian culture. He remains the only Armenian composer to rise to international significance. Khachaturian is credited for bringing Armenian music worldwide recognition. Şahan Arzruni has described him as "the musical ambassador of Armenian culture".

Posthumous honors and tribute

The philharmonic hall of the Yerevan Opera Theater has been officially called the Aram Khachaturian Grand Concert Hall since 1978. The House-Museum of Aram Khachaturian in Yerevan was inaugurated in 1982.

Two younger Armenian composers dedicated pieces to Khachaturian's memory. Arno Babajanyan composed an elegy inspired by Sayat-Nova upon his death, while Edvard Mirzoyan composed Poem Epitaph In Memory of Aram Khachaturian, for string orchestra in 1988, on the 10th anniversary of his death.

In 1998, the Central Bank of Armenia issued 50-dram banknotes depicting Khachaturian's portrait and the Yerevan Opera Theater on the obverse and an episode from the ballet Gayane and Mount Ararat on the reverse. It remained in use until 2004 when it was replaced by a coin. He is one of the two composers depicted on the Armenian currency (the other is Komitas, who is depicted on the 10,000 dram banknote since 2018).

In 2013, the UNESCO inscribed a collection of Khachaturian's handwritten notes and film music in the Memory of the World Register.

Music schools are named after Khachaturian in Tbilisi, Moscow (established in 1967, named after him in 1996), Yerevan, Martuni, Nagorno-Karabakh, and Watertown, Massachusetts, U.S. (run by the Hamazkayin). Streets in Yerevan, Tbilisi, Moscow and elsewhere are named after Khachaturian.

The Aram Khachaturian International Competition has been held annually in Yerevan since 2003.

Statues

On 31 July 1999 a three-and-a-half meter high statue of Khachaturian in 19th-century realist style by Yuri Petrosyan was unveiled before the Khachaturian Hall of the Yerevan Opera Theater in attendance of President Robert Kocharyan, Speaker Karen Demirchyan and leading poet Silva Kaputikyan. On 30 April 2013, a bust of Khachaturian erected by sculptor Gevorg Gevorgyan was opened in the street named after him in Yerevan's Arabkir district by Yerevan Mayor Taron Margaryan on his 110th anniversary.

A statue of Khachaturian by Georgiy Frangulyan was unveiled in Moscow on 31 October 2006. Notable attendees included Armenian President Kocharyan, Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov and Russia's First Lady Lyudmila Putina. Busts of Khachaturian by the Armenian sculptor Mikael Soghoyan were erected at the Moscow Conservatory in 2017 and in front of an arts school named after him in Nizhny Novgorod in August 2021.

Films

In 1977, a year before his death, Studio Ekran made a documentary on Khachaturian. In 1985, the Yerevan Studio produced another TV documentary on him. In 2003, an 83-minute-long documentary about Khachaturian with unique footage was directed by Peter Rosen and narrated by Eric Bogosian. The film won the Best Documentary at the 2003 Hollywood Film Festival. In 2004, TV Kultura, Russia's government-owned art channel, made a documentary on Khachaturian entitled Century of Aram Khachaturian (Век Арама Хачатуряна).

Awards and honors

Soviet Union

Hero of Socialist Labour (1973)
Order of Lenin (1939, 1963, 1973)
People's Artist of the USSR (1954), Russian SFSR (1947), Armenian SSR (1955), Georgian SSR (1963), Azerbaijan SSR (1973)
Honored Art Worker of the Armenian SSR (1938), Russian SFSR (1944), Uzbek SSR (1967)
Order of the Red Banner of Labour (1945, 1966)
Order of the October Revolution (1971)
Lenin Prize (1959) for the ballet Spartacus
Stalin Prize (1941 for Violin Concerto, 1943 for ballet Gayane, 1946 for the Second Symphony, 1950 for the film The Battle of Stalingrad)
USSR State Prize (1971 for the Triad of Concerto-Rhapsodies: for violin and orchestra; for cello and orchestra; for piano and orchestra)

Other states

Order of the Science of Art of the United Arab Republic (1961, "for outstanding musical achievements")
Medal of Pope John XXIII (1963)
Medal of the Iranian Shah (1965)
Honored Art Worker of Polish People's Republic (1972, "for contribution to the Polish culture")
Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France) and title of Commandeur (1974)

Academic titles

Professor of Music — 1950
Honorary Member of the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, Rome, Italy — 1960
Corresponding Member of the Academy of Arts of the German Democratic Republic — 1961
Honorary Professor of the Conservatorio Nacional de Música, Mexico — 1960
Full Member (Academician) of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR — 1963
Doctor of Arts (Доктор искусствоведения), Academy of Sciences of the USSR — 1965

References

Notes

IPA: [ɑˈɾɑm χɑtʃʰɑt(ə)ˈɾjɑn], Xačatryan is the standard transliteration of his last name. It is sometimes spelled Khachatryan by official Armenian sources.
"Նա ազգային առաջին բալետի, սիմֆոնիայի, գործիքային կոնցերտների հեղինակն է, հայկ. կինոերաժշտության հիմնադիրը:" He is the author of the first national ballet, symphony, concerto, first Arm. film score.
"В 1939 году Арам Хачатурян сочинил музыку к первому армянскому балету «Счастье»." In 1939 Aram Khachaturian wrote the music to the first Armenian ballet Happiness.
At 5:15: "Это селение Коджори, под Тбилиси, км 20. Я в Коджорах родился."
"Khachaturian's world renown ... was due to his two Romantic ballets Gayaneh and Spartacus, and his attractively melodious concertos."
"Khachaturian is principally known for his ballet music..."
"...it is for his ballet music that he was and remains best known both in the Soviet Union and in the West".
"...his fame in the West rests chiefly on two ballets, Gayane (1942) and Spartacus (1954)...
"Khachaturian's characteristic musical style draws on the melodic and rhythmic vitality of Armenian folk music."
"...Armenian folk ... can be heard in nearly all Khachaturian's works."
"In these Khachaturian displays a characteristic vitality of rhythm, a penchant for rich orchestration and an effulgent melodic style, frequently owing much to the inflections of the folk music of his native Armenia."
"The exotic lyrical patterns and improvisatory characteristics of Khachaturyan's music are the result of national Armenian intonations."
"The influence of Armenian folk music can be seen in the frequent hectic ostinatos, in chords based on fourths and fifths (inspired by the open strings of the Armenian saz), and a rhapsodic improvisational form of melody."
"Նրա արվեստը սերտորեն առնչվում է Կոմիտասի, Ա. Սպենիարյանի, Ռ. Մելիքյանի ստեղծագործություններին, հատկապես հայ ժող. երաժշտությանը:"
"... he repeatedly acknowledged his Armenian predecessors (Komitas, for instance), he evolved his musical language from ethnic models, and he took as his creed the words of the Armenian pioneer Spendarian, who advised him to "study the music of your own people and drink in the sound of life".
"...music which not only makes use of the folklore of Armenia, but also draws upon the national characteristics of Georgia, the Ukraine, Turkey, etc."
"At the same time, Khachaturyan is closely associated with Russian music as an outstanding school of artistic craftsmanship, and with its humane lyricism."
"Khachaturian's own musical style reflected his background. He was highly skilled and well trained in the Russian classical tradition, and he frequently utilize the rich folk music traditions of the Caucasus in his original compositions, especially the ballet."
"Khachaturian became a manifestation of one of the cornerstones of Soviet arts policy – the combination of the folk heritage of the various Socialist Republics with Russia's artistic traditions, embodied in music by composers such as Tchaikovsky and Rimsky-Korsakov."
"Aram Khachaturian was the first, and so far the only, Armenian composer to achieve world renown."

Citations

"Khachaturian". Collins English Dictionary Complete & Unabridged 10th ed. 2009.
"Khatchatourian, Aram (1903–1978)". Bibliothèque nationale de France. Xačatryan, Aram (1903–1978) forme internationale translit.-ISO arménien.
"Aram Khachatryan 110-Anniversary Celebrations Committee Holds Meeting". Government of Armenia. 27 March 2013.
"110th anniversary of Aram Khachatryan celebrated in Yerevan". No. 6 June 2013. Armenpress.
Peter Rollberg (2009). Historical Dictionary of Russian and Soviet Cinema. US: Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 334–336. ISBN 978-0-8108-6072-8.
^ Huang, Hao, ed. (1999). Music in the 20th century: Volume 2. M. E. Sharpe. p. 341. ISBN 9780765680129. Aram Khachaturian was a leading Soviet composer...
^ Encyclopedia of Music in the 20th Century 2013
^ New York Times obituary 1978.
^ Huizenga, NPR 2003
Bakst 1977, p. 339.
^ Geodakyan 1979, p. 19.
"Гаянэ" [Gayane] (in Russian). Mariinsky Theatre. 22 July 2014. Archived from the original on 17 August 2014.
^ Frolova-Walker 1998, p. 371.
^ Geodakyan 1979, p. 18.
Promeet, Dutta (18 November 2013). "Aram Khachaturian". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014.
^ Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music 1996, p. 445
^ Geodakyan 1981
^ "Хачатурян Арам Ильич [Khachaturian Aram Ilyich]" (in Russian). Moscow Conservatory. Archived from the original on 15 August 2014.
Cramer, Alfred W., ed. (2009). Musicians and Composers of the 20th Century-Volume 3. Salem Press. p. 766. ISBN 9781587655159. The Life Aram Ilich Khachaturian was born on June 6, 1903, in Kodjori, a suburb of Tbilisi.
^ "Арам Хачатурян (1977)" (in Russian). Gosteleradiofond. 19 May 2020. Archived from the original on 24 February 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
^ "Family tree". Virtual Museum of Aram Khachaturian. Archived from the original on 12 March 2014.
"Ովքեր են ապրում Թբիլիսիի այն տանը, որտեղ ապրել է Արամ Խաչատրյանը, ինչ են պատմում նրանք. մանրամասներ (լուսանկարներ)". The Armenian Times (in Armenian). 22 September 2020. Archived from the original on 29 January 2023.
"Khachaturian Memorial Plaque Put Up in Tbilisi – Asbarez.com". Asbarez. (via Noyan Tapan). 11 June 1999. Archived from the original on 4 October 2022.
"A memorial plaque of the famous composer Aram Khachaturian was opened in Tbilisi". tbsakrebulo.gov.ge. Tbilisi City Assembly. Archived from the original on 9 January 2024.
"Arayik Harutyunyan attends the opening ceremony of the memorial plaque dedicated to Aram Khachatryan in Tbilisi". gov.am. Government of Armenia. 27 November 2023. Archived from the original on 9 January 2024.
^ Tomoff 2006, p. 34.
^ Encyclopedia of World Biography 2004
^ Pritsker 2003
^ Orga 1997
Minahan, James (2004). The Former Soviet Union's Diverse Peoples: A Reference Sourcebook. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. p. 160. ISBN 9781576078235.
^ "Биография Арама Хачатуряна [Aram Khachaturian's biography]" (in Russian). RIA Novosti. 6 June 2013. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014.
Shneerson 1959, p. 24.
Shneerson 1959, p. 25.
Shneerson 1959, p. 29.
Frolova-Walker, Marina (2016). Stalin's Music Prize: Soviet Culture and Politics. Yale University Press. pp. 149–150. ISBN 9780300208849.
Schwarz, Boris (1980). "Khachaturian, Aram". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London: Oxford University Press.
Tomoff 2006, pp. 34–35.
Steyn 2009, p. 11.
Yuzefovich 1985, p. 127.
Frolova-Walker 2016, p. 150.
Slonimsky, Nicolas (1944). "Soviet Music and Musicians". The Slavonic and East European Review. 3 (4): 15. doi:10.2307/3020186. JSTOR 3020186.
^ Fay, Laurel E. (2005). Shostakovich: A Life. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 155–157, 160. ISBN 9780195182514.
McSmith, Andy (2015). Fear and the Muse Kept Watch, The Russian Masters – from Akhmatova and Pasternak to Shostakovich and Eisenstein – Under Stalin. New York: New Press. p. 267. ISBN 978-1-59558-056-6.
Mazullo, Mark (2010). Shostakovich's Preludes and Fugues: Contexts, Style, Performance. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. p. 14. ISBN 9780300149432.
^ Greene's Biographical Encyclopedia of Composers 1985
^ The Musical Times 1978
Yuzefovich 1985, p. 191.
^ Johnston, AllMusic 2005
^ Current Biography Yearbook 1949
Rothstein, Edward (23 August 1981). "Music Freedom and Why Dictators Fear It". The New York Times.
Fainsod, Merle (March–April 1954). "The Soviet Union Since Stalin". Problems of Communism. 3 (2): 10.
^ "Soviet Union's 'Mr. Sabre Dance' dies at 74". The Montreal Gazette. (via UPI-AP). 3 May 1978. Archived from the original on 15 July 2023.
^ "Khachaturian Aram". Yerevan State University Institute for Armenian Studies. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014.
Lebrecht 1996, p. 431.
^ Bakst 1977, p. 336.
"Хачатурян, Арам Ильич [Khachaturian, Aram Ilyich]" (in Russian). Krugosvet. Archived from the original on 21 August 2014. Характернейшим качеством музыки Хачатуряна является активное ритмическое развитие, достигающееся часто простым повторением основной формулы (остинато) или игрой акцентов внутри этой формулы.
^ Complete Classical Music Guide 2012, p. 301
^ Rosenberg 1987, p. 112.
^ "Sabre Dance from "Gayane"". Los Angeles Philharmonic Association. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2013.
Kisselgoff, Anna (28 November 1979). "Film: Khachaturian's Ballet 'Gayane': The Cast". The New York Times.
^ Adalian, Rouben Paul (2010). Historical Dictionary of Armenia. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. p. 381. ISBN 978-0-8108-7450-3.
^ McCollum & Nercessian 2004, pp. 95–96.
Spencer, Kristopher (2008). Film and Television Scores, 1950–1979: A Critical Survey by Genre. McFarland. p. 125. ISBN 9780786452286.
^ "Aram Khachaturyan". Internet Movie Database.
"Why I love: the music in 2001: A Space Odyssey". The Daily Telegraph. 4 June 2010. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
^ "Aram Ilich Khachaturian". Merriam Webster's Biographical Dictionary. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster. 1995.
Poole, Steven (12 June 2003). "Cinematic for the people". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 11 September 2014.
"Aram Khachaturian". Boosey & Hawkes. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014.
^ Frolova-Walker 1998, p. 362.
Bakst 1977, p. 337.
In the documentary Khachaturian (2003, directed by Peter Rosen), Tigran Mansurian states: "Every artist has a second homeland. When I think of Shostakovich Russia is his first homeland. But I can't help but think of Austro-Germanic music, which is his foundation. Prokofiev's second homeland is, of course, France. Khachaturian's second homeland, in my opinion, is America. That happiness, that health, that love of life, that way of saying 'No' to death, that strength that America has in its music." The film is available online here Archived 6 October 2014 at the Wayback Machine. Mansurian appears at around 33:50—34:30.
Abrams, Emily (2005). "Aaron Copland Meets the Soviet Composers: A Television Special". In Oja, Carol J.; Tick, Judith (eds.). Aaron Copland and His World. Princeton University Press. p. 384. ISBN 9780691124704. BY : "...our influence from (and impressions from) American culture became deeper and better. It is my impression ... it is possible—perhaps controversial—that this influence was heard in the words of Aram Khachaturian, some of the works."
^ Soulahian Kuyumjian, Rita (2001). Archeology of Madness: Komitas, Portrait of an Armenian Icon. Princeton, New Jersey: Gomidas Institute. p. 26. ISBN 1-903656-10-9. In the following decades served as a fertile source of raw material for future Armenian composers, among them Aram Khachadourian, whose ballets Kayane and Symphony No.2 contain important elements of folk melodies.
Taruskin, Richard (21 September 1997). "RECORDINGS VIEW; 'Jewish' Songs By Anti-Semites". The New York Times.
^ Geodakyan 1979, pp. 18–19.
Church, Michael (21 April 2011). "Komitas Vardapet, forgotten folk hero". The Guardian.
"none". Kultura (in Russian). No. 10. Moscow. 1969. pp. 1–2.
Robinson 2013, p. 25.
^ Manning, Lucy (2013). Orchestral "Pops" Music: A Handbook (2nd ed.). Scarecrow Press. p. 140. ISBN 9780810884236.
Robinson 2013, p. 26.
"Khachaturian: Waltz from Masquerade". Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Archived from the original on 10 March 2014.
Robinson 2013, p. 24.
Castelo‑Branco, Salwa El‑Shawan (2019). "Aziz El‑Shawan: A Cosmopolitan and Nationalist Composer in Twentieth Century Egypt". Annales islamologiques (53): 95–112. doi:10.4000/anisl.5611. S2CID 242520370. For El‑Shawan, their music, alongside that of Khachaturian, represented a model of molding what he referred to as "an oriental expression into a scientific style".
Sednaoui, Selim (1998). "Western Classical Music in Umm Kulthum's Country". In Zuhur, Sherifa (ed.). Images of Enchantment: Visual and Performing Arts of the Middle East. American University in Cairo Press. p. 132. ISBN 9789774244674. El-Shawan (1916-1993) studied in Moscow with Aram Khachaturian, whose influence is apparent in El-Shawan's music through the colorful orchestration and use of the melodic line.
"Modesta Bor". Sphinx Organization. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Bor studied with Khachaturian at the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow
"Enrique Ubieta". ctda.library.miami.edu. Cuban Theater Digital Archive, University of Miami. Archived from the original on 28 September 2023. After studying in the Soviet Union at the Moscow Conservatory with Aram Khachaturian in 1960
Pedigo, Alan (1995). International Encyclopedia of Violin-Keyboard Sonatas and Composer Biographies (2nd ed.). Booneville, Ark: Arriaga Publ. p. 254. ISBN 978-0960635627.
Европейскую классическую музыку лучше всех теперь пишут сыны Востока. pravda.ru (in Russian). 10 May 2006. Archived from the original on 7 April 2019.
McLellan, Joseph (2 June 1996). "Rautavaara's modern tradition". Washington Post. Archived from the original on 21 July 2023. ...Latvian composer Georgs Pelecis, a student of Aram Khachaturian who shares his teacher's penchant for structural clarity, rhythmic vitality and tonally oriented melodic charm.
"Арам Ильич Хачатурян и его ученики [Aram Ilyich Khachaturian and his students]" (in Russian). Moscow Conservatory. 16 June 2013. Archived from the original on 14 August 2021.
Музыку Люблю Даже Больше, Чем Себя. Novaya Gazeta (in Russian). 17 March 2003. Archived from the original on 7 September 2014.
Ryback, Timothy W. (7 January 1990). "MUSIC; East Woos West in a Romantic Soviet Rock Opera". The New York Times. Composed by Aleksei Ribnikov, a protege of Aram Khachaturian...
Hughes, Allen (26 October 1979). "Emigré Violinist at Carnegie Hall". The New York Times. "I studied composition with Aram Khachaturian," he says...
Jaffé, Daniel (2022). Historical Dictionary of Russian Music (2nd ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. p. 216. ISBN 9781538130087.
Hakobian 2016, p. 287.
^ "Хачатрян Арам Ильич [Khachaturian Aram Ilyich]" (in Russian). Krugosvet. Archived from the original on 6 October 2021. Сделавший очень много для развития армянской композиторской школы, Хачатурян оказал также значительное влияние на музыкантов Азербайджана, Туркмении и других стран Средней Азии.
Музыкальная энциклопедия. Том 1. А А – Гонг [Musical Encyclopedia. Volume 1. A A – Gong] (in Russian). Soviet Encyclopedia. 1973. p. 267. На формирование стиля Б. раннем этапе оказали влияние творчество С. В. Рахманинова и музыка А. И. Хачатуряна с её романтич. приподнятостью.
Բաբաջանյան Առնո [Babajanyan Arno] (in Armenian). Yerevan State University Armenian Studies Institute. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014. ...նկատելի է Ա.Ե. Խաչատրյանի և Մ. Ռախմանինովի ոճերի ազդեցությունը:
Rukhkian, Margarita (2003). "Идея формы или миф армянского симфонизма (к 100-летию со дня рождения Арама Ильича Хачатуряна) [The idea of form or the myth of Armenian symphonism (to Aram Khachatrian's 100th birth anniversary)]". Lraber Hasarakakan Gitutyunneri (in Russian). 3 (3). Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences: 149. ISSN 0320-8117.
Sarkisyan, Svetlana (2001). "Tjeknavorian, Loris Haykasi". Grove Music Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.43437. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. Retrieved 29 July 2021. (subscription or UK public library membership required) "In his early works (Dances fantastiques, the early concertos) and chamber music (Armenian Bagatelles, Ararat Suite) he handles elements of traditional dance music in styles reminiscent of Aram Khachaturian."
Gutman, David (2017). "KARAYEV Seven Beauties suite. Don Quixote". Gramophone. Archived from the original on 1 December 2023. Karayev's confections more usually resemble those of his Armenian-born neighbour Aram Khachaturian.
"Kirill Karabits conducts orchestral work by Karayev". BBC Music Magazine. 15 August 2019. Archived from the original on 18 July 2023. The Seven Beauties promises the Khachaturian touch, but retreats into insipidity (and there's a rip-off of Gayaneh's block-chord wind writing in the final Procession).
Bagar & Biancolli 1947, p. 370.
Sotirova, Nadia, ed. (2007). Vladigerov: Photos from the Study. Gutenberg. p. 43. ISBN 9789546170255. Aram Khachaturian, Vladigerov's close personal and professional friend.
Shneerson 1959, p. 79: "Khachaturyan met and made friends with the outstanding Bulgarian composer Pancho Vladigerov whose work he has always greatly admired."
""Златен фонд": 120 години от рождението на Панчо Владигеров ["Gold Fund": 120 years since the birth of Pancho Vladigerov]". bnt.bg (in Bulgarian). Bulgarian National Television. Archived from the original on 1 July 2023. Retrieved 1 July 2023. Панчо Владигеров прави интервю с арменския си колега Арам Хачатурян, 1969 година
American Record Guide (1992), Volume 55, Issues 1–3, page 160.
Tuttle, Raymond (2007). "Pancho Vladigerov – Orchestral Works". Classical Net. Archived from the original on 1 July 2017.
Schonberg, Harold C. (11 May 1978). "China Asks Ozawa To Conduct, Teach". The New York Times.
^ Schonberg, Harold C. (14 October 1973). "Yin Spoke Only Chinese, Ormandy Only English". The New York Times.
Schonberg, Harold C. (23 February 1972). "The Music: Movie-Like". The New York Times.
^ Melvin, Sheila; Cai, Jindong (2004). Rhapsody in Red: How Western Classical Music Became Chinese. New York: Algora Publishers. p. 263. ISBN 9780875861791.
^ Chang, Chunya (2017). "The Yellow River Piano Concerto: a pioneer of western classical music in modern China and its socio-political context". University of Alabama Libraries. Archived from the original (Electronic Thesis or Dissertation) on 10 January 2024.
Hughes, Allen (24 February 1983). "Concert: Schuller Conducts New Japanese Music". The New York Times.
"Japanese Orchestral Favourites". Gramophone. 2002. Archived from the original on 10 January 2024. Yasushi Akutagawa's Music for Symphony Orchestra‚ which seasons orientalism with syncopation and touches of Prokofiev and Khachaturian
Anderson, Joseph L.; Richie, Donald (1982). The Japanese Film: Art and Industry (expanded ed.). Princeton University Press. p. 342. ISBN 9780691007922.
^ Johnson, Harriett (29 January 1968). "Khachaturian Debuts as Conductor". New York Post. Archived from the original on 12 February 2022.
Schweitzer, Vivien (13 November 2008). "Energy From a Composer Can Fuel a Player's Flight". The New York Times.
"Improvising Under Stalin's Baton". The New York Times. 7 October 1979. p. 31.
Mermelstein, David (23 September 2001). "MUSIC; A Big Hit In Need Of Revival". The New York Times.
^ Curtis, Charlotte (27 August 1967). "Even in Russia, A Wife Has to Cook". The New York Times.
"Khachaturian Has Attack". The New York Times. 4 October 1965.
"Khachaturian Improving". The New York Times. 5 October 1965.
Khachaturian's memorial tombstone at Komitas Pantheon
Volkov, Solomon. Они сократили целых 4 такта моей музыки!. Novoye Vremya (in Russian). Yerevan. Archived from the original on 22 August 2014. По поводу поездки в Рим композитор отметил: "Я — атеист, но являюсь сыном народа, первым в истории официально принявшим христианство, и потому посещение Ватикана было моим долгом".
Arakelov, Sergey (April 2006). "Воспоминания о маэстро". Noev Kovcheg Magazine (in Russian). Archived from the original on 27 December 2014.
Steyn 2009, p. 13.
Adams, Jeffrey (2015). The Cinema of the Coen Brothers: Hard-Boiled Entertainments. New York: Wallflower Press. p. 98. ISBN 978-0-231-17460-2.
"Top Russian Musicians, Actors Ask Nixon To Free Angela Davis". Jet: 60. 28 January 1971.
"Aram Khachaturian Raps Dissident". The California Courier. 13 September 1973. Archived from the original on 21 February 2022.
Steyn 2009, p. 9: "Along with Sergei Prokofiev and Dmitri Shostakovich, Aram Khachaturyan is one of the great masters of the Soviet school of composition."
"Remembering Aram Khachaturian, A 'Titan' Of Soviet Music". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 5 June 2013.
"Арам Хачатурян [Aram Khachaturian]" (in Russian). Moscow State Academic Philharmonic Society. Archived from the original on 21 August 2014. Один из самых известных композиторов ХХ века, А. И. Хачатурян вместе с С. С. Прокофьевым и Д. Д. Шостаковичем вошел в блистательную триаду композиторов, ставших гордостью отечественной музыки ХХ века и определивших на многие годы ее облик.
"Music: Moscow Music Congress". Time. 15 April 1957. Zhdanov in effect put all Russian composers on trial, including the three modern giants—Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitry Shostakovich and Aram Khachaturian.
"Aram Ilyich Khachaturian". Tempo (125): 46. June 1978. doi:10.1017/S004029820003028X. S2CID 172143931.
Robinson 2013, p. 23.
"Death ends generation of Soviet composers". The Age. 4 May 1978. Archived from the original on 10 July 2023.
^ March, Ivan (1985). "Khachaturian/Tchaikovsky Orchestral Works". Gramophone. Archived from the original on 26 July 2023.
March, Ivan (2011). "Khachaturian Gayaneh; Spartacus". Gramophone. Archived from the original on 26 July 2023.
Taruskin, Richard (25 August 1996). "Stalin Lives On in the Concert Hall, but Why?". The New York Times. By the same token, I doubt that anyone would propose Khachaturian's stirring Poem About Stalin for performance at Lincoln Center. Why? Because Stravinsky and Prokofiev, not Holst and Khachaturian, have been certified as great artists by the promoters of classical music.
Taylor, James C. (14 September 2003). "Back, with flash". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 22 July 2023.
Woodard, Josef (23 August 2008). "Khachaturian a la Thibaudet". Los Angeles Times.
Gilliland, Norman (2009). Scores to Settle: Stories of the Struggle to Create Great Music (1st ed.). Madison, Wisconsin: NEMO Productions. ISBN 9780971509337. He would go on to become a teacher there on his way to becoming a major composer of the twentieth century.
Ashley, Tim (11 June 2009). "Khachaturian: Violin Concerto; Concerto-Rhapsody for Violin and Orchestra". The Guardian.
Midgette, Anne (1 November 2018). "Forget greatness, enjoy the music: NSO revels in lyrical excess". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020.
Nice, David (2 November 2022). "Khachaturian: Piano Concerto; Concerto Rhapsody etc". BBC Music Magazine. Archived from the original on 28 March 2023.
Holland, Bernard (10 December 1989). "Review/Music; Armenian Orchestra in Mini-Tour". The New York Times.
Schonberg, Harold C. (29 January 1968). "Music: Khachaturian Leads the Washington National Symphony". The New York Times.
Schonberg, Harold C. (3 May 1978). "Exemplar of Socialist Realism". The New York Times. (archived)
Հայ մեծերի դիմանկարները՝ Երևան քաղաքի պատերին (in Armenian). Yerkir Media. 25 July 2015. Archived from the original on 13 March 2016.
Derluguian, Georgi; Hovhannisyan, Ruben (Fall 2018). "The Armenian Anomaly: Toward an Interdisciplinary Interpretation". Demokratizatsiya. 26 (4): 454. ...a small Soviet republic that was linked to a parade of world luminaries and modern icons of Armenian pride: the composer Aram Khachaturian, the painter Martiros Sarian, the astrophysicist Victor Ambartsumian, the mathematician Sergei Mergelian, and the chess champion Tigran Petrosian, among others.
Steyn 2009, pp. 21–22.
Ricci, James (10 August 2006). "Bustling Outpost of Armenian Culture". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. ...Aram Khachaturian, the most famous Armenian composer of the 20th century.
Suny, Ronald G. (2005). "Soviet Armenia, 1921–91". In Herzig, Edmund; Kurkchiyan, Marina (eds.). The Armenians: Past and Present in the Making of National Identity. Routledge. p. 120. ISBN 978-0700706396. The achievements of Soviet Armenian culture were respected both within the USSR and throughout the world. Most famous was the composer Aram Khachaturian...
Ginell, Richard S. (1 October 2003). "Making sure Khachaturian gets his due". Los Angeles Times.
"Aram Khatchaturian". Hye Sharzhoom. 25. California State University, Fresno. October 2003. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014.
Ziflioğlu, Vercihan (12 October 2012). "Virtuosos to sing works by Armenian musicians". Hürriyet Daily News. Archived from the original on 14 November 2012.
^ "Banknotes out of circulation – 50 drams". Central Bank of Armenia. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014.
"House-Museum of Aram Khachaturian". Virtual Museum of Aram Khachaturian.
"Arno Babajanian: Elegy". Aram Khachaturian Museum. 21 January 2023. Archived from the original on 21 November 2023. Retrieved 22 November 2023.
Stevenson, Joseph. "Edvard Mirzoyan: Poem Epitaph In Memory of Aram Khachaturian, for string orchestra". AllMusic. Archived from the original on 21 November 2023.
"Էդվարդ Միրզոյան. Պոեմ – էպիտաֆիա / Edward Mirzoyan. Poem - Epitaph (1988)". Aram Khachaturian Museum. 24 September 2021. Archived from the original on 21 November 2023.
"Collection of note manuscripts and film music of Composer Aram Khachaturian". UNESCO.
"Aram Khachaturian's works included in UNESCO's Memory of the World International Register". Public Radio of Armenia. 19 June 2013.
"A. Khachaturiani Musical School #10 in Tbilisi". Georgia Yellow Pages. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014.
"История школы [School's history]" (in Russian). Moscow City Department of Culture. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014.
Balayan, Emma (26 November 2013). Մարտունու երաժշտական դրպոցը ապահովում է կայուն մակարդակ. Azat Artsakh (in Armenian). Archived from the original on 13 March 2014.
"Aram Khachaturian School of Music". Hamazkayin USA. Archived from the original on 30 December 2014.
"Aram Khachatrian St Erevan, Armenia". Google Maps.
"Aram Khachaturiani St T'bilisi, Georgia". Google Maps.
"Yerevan - Aram Khachaturian International Competition". World Federation of International Music Competitions. Archived from the original on 22 August 2023.
"Aram Khachaturian International Competition: About us". Archived from the original on 13 April 2014.
Steyn 2009, p. 19.
Khanjyan, Artyush (2004). Մայրաքաղաքի քարե վկաները. Արամ Խաչատրյան [The Capital's Stone Witnesses. Aram Khachaturian]. Երևանի արձանները [Statues of Yerevan] (in Armenian). Yerevan: VMV Print. ISBN 99941-920-1-9. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
Արաբկիր վարչական շրջանում բացվեց Արամ Խաչատրյանի կիսանդրին [Aram Khachatryan's bust erected in Arabkir district] (in Armenian). PanARMENIAN.Net. 30 April 2013.
"В Москве открыт памятник композитору Араму Хачатуряну [Statue of Aram Khachaturian unveiled in Moscow]" (in Russian). RIA Novosti. 31 October 2006. Archived from the original on 3 April 2019.
"Бюст композитора Арама Хачатуряна открыли в Московской консерватории". m24.ru (in Russian). 2 February 2017. Archived from the original on 25 August 2021.
"Monument to composer Khachaturian unveiled in Nizhny Novgorod near the School of arts, which bears his name". admgor.nnov.ru. Official website of the Nizhny Novgorod City Administration. 5 August 2021. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021.
Արամ Խաչատրյան. Արվեստագետ քաղաքացին [Aram Khachaturian. The Artist-Citizen] (in Armenian). Public Television of Armenia Archives. Archived from the original on 24 February 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
Kehr, Dave (17 October 2003). "A Composer's Life, Beyond Vaudeville and Stalin". New York Times.
The film is available online: "Khachaturian: The virtuous Soviet Armenian composer (2003)". EuroArtsChannel on YouTube. 29 July 2017. Archived from the original on 27 March 2022. Retrieved 24 February 2022.
"Khachaturian". University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. 2003. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
"Век Арама Хачатуряна [Century of Aram Khachaturian]" (in Russian). TV Kultura. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014.
^ "Titles, prizes, awards". Virtual Museum of Aram Khachaturian. Archived from the original on 13 March 2014.

A commemorative plaque in Georgian only was placed in 1999. It was replaced with a trilingual one (Georgian, Armenian, English) in 2023.
When asked about his visit to the Vatican, Khachaturian has been quoted by Solomon Volkov as having said: "I'm an atheist, but I'm a son of the people who were the first to officially adopt Christianity and thus visiting the Vatican was my duty."

Bibliography

Books and book chapters

Bagar, Robert; Biancolli, Louis (1947). The Concept Companion: A comprehensive guide to symphonic music. New York & London: Whittlesey House.
Bakst, James (1977). "Khachaturyan". A History of Russian-Soviet Music (Reprint ed.). Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0837194229.
Robinson, Harlow (2013). "The Caucasian Connection: National Identity in the Ballets of Aram Khachaturian". In Kanet, Roger E. (ed.). Identities, Nations and Politics After Communism. Routledge. pp. 23–32. ISBN 9781317968665.
Shneerson, Grigory (1959). Aram Khachaturyan. Xenia Danko (translator). Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House.
Yuzefovich, Victor (1985). Aram Khachaturyan. Nicholas Kournokoff and Vladimir Bobrov (translators). New York: Sphinx Press. ISBN 0-8236-8658-2.
Hakobian, Levon (2016). Music of the Soviet Era: 1917-1991 (2nd ed.). London: Routledge. ISBN 9781317091875.

Dictionary and encyclopedia articles

"Aram Ilich Khachaturian". Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit: Gale. 2004.
"Aram Khachaturian". The Complete Classical Music Guide. London: Dorling Kindersley. 2012. p. 301. ISBN 9781465401342.
Blackwood, Alan (2013). "Aram Khachaturian". In Stacy, Lee; Henderson, Lol (eds.). Encyclopedia of Music in the 20th Century. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. p. 341. ISBN 978-1-57958-079-7.
Geodakyan, Gevorg (1979). "Խաչատրյան Արամ ". Soviet Armenian Encyclopedia Volume 5 (in Armenian). Yerevan: Armenian Encyclopedia Publishing. pp. 18–20.
Geodakyan, Gevorg (1981). "Хачатурян А. И. [Khachaturian A. I.]". Музыкальная энциклопедия [Musical Encyclopedia] (in Russian). Moscow: Sovetskaya Entsiklopediya and Sovetsky Kompozitor. Archived from the original on 22 March 2014.
Johnston, Blair (2005). "Aram Khachaturian: Artist Biography". In Woodstra, Chris; Brennan, Gerald; Schrott, Allen (eds.). All Music Guide to Classical Music: The Definitive Guide to Classical Music. San Francisco: Backbeat Books. pp. 685–6. ISBN 9780879308650.; also available online at AllMusic
"Khachaturian, Aram". Current Biography Yearbook. 9. New York: H. W. Wilson Company: 345. 1949.
Lebrecht, Norman (1996). "Aram Khachaturian". The Companion to 20th-century Music. New York: Da Capo Press. p. 183. ISBN 9780306807343.
McCollum, Jonathan; Nercessian, Andy (2004). "Aram Khachaturian". Armenian Music: A Comprehensive Bibliography and Discography. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. pp. 95–96. ISBN 9780810849679.
Petrak, Albert M., ed. (1985). "Khachaturian, Aram Ilyich". David Mason Greene's Biographical Encyclopedia of Composers (1st ed.). Garden City, New York: Reproducing Piano Roll Foundation. pp. 1329–30. ISBN 9780385142786.
Randel, Don Michael, ed. (1996). "Khachaturian, Aram Il'yich". The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. p. 445. ISBN 9780674372993. Khachaturian, Aram Il'yich.
Rosenberg, Kenyon C. (1987). "Khachaturian, Aram". A Basic Classical and Operatic Recordings Collection for Libraries. Metuchen, New Jersey: Scarecrow Press. pp. 111–112. ISBN 9780810820418.
Tomoff, Kiril (2006). Creative Union: The Professional Organization of Soviet Composers, 1939-1953. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press. pp. 34–35. ISBN 9780801444111.

Journal articles

Chebotaryan, Gayane (1963). "OA Portal in Armenia" Արամ Խաչատրյան (Ծննդյան 60-ամյակի առթիվ). Patma-Banasirakan Handes (in Armenian). 3 (3). Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences: 109–114.
Ehrenburg, Ilya; Khachaturian, Aram; Pomerantsev, V. (1954). "Three Soviet artists on the present needs of Soviet art". Soviet Studies. 5 (4). Routledge: 412–445. doi:10.1080/09668135408409919.
Frolova-Walker, Marina (Summer 1998). ""National in Form, Socialist in Content": Musical Nation-Building in the Soviet Republics". Journal of the American Musicological Society. 51 (2). University of California Press on behalf of the American Musicological Society: 331–337. doi:10.2307/831980. JSTOR 831980.
Keldysh, Georgi (Summer 1954). "Soviet Music Today". Tempo. 32 (32): 23–28. doi:10.1017/S0040298200051883. JSTOR 943199. S2CID 145524684.
N., G. (July 1978). "Aram Khachaturian". The Musical Times. 19 (1625). Musical Times Publications: 619. JSTOR 958852.
Orga, Ates (1997). "Aram Il'yich Khachaturian (1903–1978)". Naxos Records. Archived from the original on 12 March 2014.
Shostakovich, Dmitri (1959). "Яркий талант ". Music Academy (in Russian) (6).
Steyn, Carol (2009). "Khachaturyan in Armenia today: his presence in Armenian music, art and architecture, rooted in Socialist Realism" (PDF). South African Journal of Art History. 24 (3): 9–23. ISSN 0258-3542. Archived from the original (PDF) on 14 August 2014.
Ter-Ghazarian, Zara (1983). "OA Portal in Armenia" Ա. Խաչատրյանի "Մակբեթ" ներկայացման պարտիտուրը [The score of A. Khachaturian's play "Macbeth"]. Lraber Hasarakakan Gitutyunneri (in Armenian). 6 (6). Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences: 23–28. ISSN 0320-8117.
Tigranova, Irina G. (1970). "OA Portal in Armenia" Արամ Խաչատրյանի ոճի մի առանձնահատկության մասին [About a Certain Particuliarity of Aram Khachatourian's Style]. Lraber Hasarakakan Gitutyunneri (in Armenian). 1 (1). Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences: 26–35.

Newspaper articles

"Khachaturian, a Leading Soviet Composer, Dies at 74". The New York Times. 3 May 1978. (archived)
Holland, Bernard (14 October 2003). "Khachaturian Beckons With Little-Known Works". The New York Times.
Huizenga, Tom (5 June 2005). "The 'Sabre Dance' Man". NPR. Archived from the original on 17 March 2014.
Pritsker, Maya (5 October 2003). "What Could Khachaturian Do Besides An Encore?". The New York Times.

External links

Virtual Museum of Aram Khachaturian
Aram Khachaturian: An Introduction 2014 documentary
2003 documentary on SnagFilms
1967 headshot portrait of Khachaturian. Photo by Horst Tappe at Getty Images
Ware, H. Joseph. "Aram Khachaturian". Russia's Periphery. College of William & Mary. Archived from the original on 14 August 2014.
Kocharova, Anna (6 June 2003). "100 лет автору "Танца с саблями" [100th anniversary of the author of the "Sabre Dance"]" (in Russian). Moscow. BBC Russian Service.
Suchý, Ondřej (24 February 2007). ""Танец с саблями" по-чешски [The "Sabre Dance" in Czech]" (in Russian). Radio Prague.
Aram Khachaturian at IMDb

v t e Aram Khachaturian
List of compositions
Ballets	Gayane (1939–41) "Sabre Dance" Spartacus (1950–54)
Orchestral	Symphony No. 2 The Bell Symphony (1944) Symphony No. 3 Symphony-Poem (1947) State Anthem of the Armenian SSR (1944) Suite from Masquerade (1944)
Concerti	Piano Concerto in D-flat major (1936) Violin Concerto in D minor (1940) Cello Concerto in E minor (1946)
Piano	Toccata (1932)
Incidental music	Masquerade (1941)
Film scores	Pepo (1934–35) Zangezur (1937–38) Salavat Yulayev (1939) Girl No. 217 (1945) The Battle of Stalingrad (1949) Othello (1955)
Related articles	House-Museum of Aram Khachaturian Music of Armenia Shostakovich v. Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp.
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