Gara Garayev

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Gara Abulfaz oghlu Garayev (Azerbaijani: Qara Əbülfəz oğlu Qarayev, February 5, 1918 in Baku - May 13, 1982 in Moscow), also spelled as Qara Qarayev or Kara [Abulfazovich] Karaev, was a prominent Azerbaijani composer of the Soviet period. Garayev wrote nearly 110 musical pieces^[1], including ballets, operas, symphonic and chamber pieces, solos for piano, cantatas, songs and marches, and rose to prominence not only in Azerbaijan SSR but also in the rest of the Soviet Union and worldwide ^[2].

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 3 Later life 4 Quotes about Garayev 5 Chronology 6 References 7 External links

[edit] Early life

Garayev was born in 1918 to a pediatrician father, who was famous in Baku, and a musician mother. His mother, Sona-khanym, was among the first graduates of the Baku-based school of the Russian Music Society. Garayev's younger brother, Mursal, became a surgeon, but died at an early age.

In 1926, at the age of eight, Gara Garayev first entered the junior music school at the Azerbaijan State Conservatoire, currently known as the Baku Music Academy. Due to his musical talents, in 1933 Garayev was allowed to enroll simultaneously in two faculties at the conservatoire. Among his teachers were Georgi Sharoyev, Leonid Rudolf, and the prominent Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Hajibeyov. In 1937, Garayev joined the Union of Composers of Azerbaijan SSR.

[edit] Career

In 1938, at the age of twenty, Garayev composed his first musical piece, a cantata "The Song of the Heart" to the poem by Rasul Rza. Garayev conducted his cantata during its premiere the "Decade of Azerbaijani Art" festival in the Bolshoi Theater, an event also attended by Joseph Stalin. In the same year, Garayev moved to Moscow State Conservatoire, where he became a student and a good friend of Dmitri Shostakovich.

In 1945, Garayev and Jovdat Hajiyev wrote the "Motherland" ("Vətən") opera, for which they were awarded a prestigious Stalin prize. In 1948, at the age of 30, Garayev was again awarded this prize for his symphonic poem "Leyli and Majnun", based on the same-titled famous work of Nizami.

In 1952, under the direction of the choreograph P. A. Gusev, Garayev's "Seven Beauties" ("Yeddi Gözəl") ballet was staged at the Azerbaijani Theater of Opera and Ballet. Based based on Nizami's famous poem, "Seven Beauties" became the first Azerbaijani ballet and opened a new chapter in the history of classical music of Azerbaijan. Garayev's only other ballet, "Path of Thunder" ("İldırımlı yollarla"), staged in 1958, was dedicated to racial conflicts in South Africa ^[3].

In the same year, Garayev also wrote the soundtrack for the documentary film "A Story About the Oil Workers of the Caspian Sea", directed by Roman Karmen and set at the Oil Rocks, world's first off-shore drilling town built in 1949 on rigs in the Caspian Sea.

Upon the death of Uzeyir Hajibeyov in 1948, Garayev became the Chair of the Union of Composers of Azerbaijan SSR and the rector of Azerbaijan State Conservatoire. In the latter position, Garayev retained Hajibeyov's traditional emphasis on Azerbaijani folk music in teaching, and also promoted the contemporary genres, such as jazz, in Azerbaijani music.

During his teaching career at the Azerbaijan State Conservatoire, Garayev prepared a number of prominent Azerbaijani musicians and composers, including Niyazi, Arif Malikov, Khayyam Mirzazade and Ismayil Hajibeyov among others. Garayev's own son, Faraj (born 1943) was also his student, who went on to compose single-act ballets such as "Shadows of Qobustan" ("Qobustanın kölgələri") and "Kaleidoscope", and later led the musical avantgarde movement in Azerbaijan.

In June 1961, amidst the Cold War, Garayev and Tikhon Khrennikov were the only two Soviet composers who attended the First International Los Angeles Music Festival held at UCLA^[4]. Fifteen composers from seven nations presented their works, including Arnold Schoenberg and Igor Stravinsky. On June 11, Franz Waxman conducted the Festival Symphony Orchestra with a suite from Garayev's ballet "Path of Thunder".

[edit] Later life

Garayev suffered from heart disease, which prevented him from attending his own 60th jubilee celebration held in Moscow, where he was awarded the title of the Hero of Socialist Labor, a highest recognition award of the Soviet government. Garayev spent the last 5 years of his life in Moscow, away from public, although his love for Baku remained strong and was reflected in his writing:

“

To me, Baku is the most beautiful city in the world. Every morning, when the city wakes whether it be to the sun or the rain and fog, every morning my city sings. Baku is meant for art. It gives me so much pleasure to write about this city no matter if you write music, verse or paint images.

”

Garayev died on May 13, 1982 in Moscow at the age of 64. His body was flown to Baku and buried at the "Alley of Honor" ("Fəxri Xiyaban") National Cemetery.

[edit] Quotes about Garayev

• Dmitri Shostakovich, Russian composer and Garayev's mentor:

“

Garayev has a great and brilliant talent which is highly developed. He is extremely knowledgeable about instrumentation, polyphony and the other components that make up music. He surely has a great future.

”

• Niyazi, Azerbaijani conductor and composer, student of Garayev:

“

I've been one who has been privileged in being able to reveal the private and mysterious ideas of Gara Garayev to the audience. So I know the excitement the audience feels while listening to Garayev's music. It can't be characterized as either entertainment or relaxation. Rather, it exposes all the fire in one's heart and compels one to act. I'm grateful that I've had the chance to be in touch with his music and to be the first one to interpret most of his works.

”

• Tahir Salahov, Azerbaijani painter:

“

I must say that I indeed have been fortunate, not only because I had the chance to meet such a talented musical personality but because I got to know him through his music. This is the only way to get deep inside an artist-through music. Everything trivial and insignificant - the things one pays attention to during mundane, everyday meetings - disappears. Only the essence of a man is left.

”

• Tikhon Khrennikov, Russian composer:

“

Garayev has that rare ability to stay true to himself and not to imitate anyone. He maintains his own individuality even while changing with the times, regardless of genre.

”

• Rodion Shchedrin, Russian composer:

“

There was almost no limit to Garayev's scope of knowledge in all genres of music. In 1963, we traveled together to America. It amazed me how Garayev knew so many things about so many different genres of music. For example, I'd have to admit to being a bit elitist when it comes to jazz. But I couldn't hide my admiration when he demonstrated competency in this field as well. He mentioned several names, compared one tendency in jazz to another and talked about things I had never heard of.

”

• Fikret Amirov, Azerbaijani composer:

“

Garayev's music is one of the greatest columns in the museum of Azerbaijani music. His role in making Azerbaijan's music known worldwide is immense.

”

• Khayyam Mirzazade, Azerbaijani composer and Garayev's student:

“

As a rule, Garayev would turn his lessons into a discussion of problems in contemporary music - analysis of techniques, language and styles of music. Garayev hated thoughtless attitudes toward folk music. He made his students learn the inner workings of folk music.

”

• Imran Qasymov, Azerbaijani writer:

“

It seems like all civilization is in Garayev's hands, not as simple encyclopedic data but in a profound way. He was an indisputable authority in music circles in the USSR.

”

• Arif Malikov, Azerbaijani composer and Garayev's student:

“

He was very strict with his students. He had an encyclopedic knowledge about almost everything related to problems of life as well as problems of art regardless of whether it was in the field of science, music or literature. He was acquainted with so many intelligent people. You gain so much confidence through belief in your teacher when he is a great Master. We never dared to think of skipping class or of not coming prepared. Our classes were one-on-one with him, but we didn't leave when they were over. We would stay on and listen to what went on with the next student. That's why there were always so many people in Garayev's classes all the time despite how hard it was to enroll with him.

”

[edit] Chronology

• 1918 Born December 5 in Baku, Azerbaijan.

• 1933-1938 Music studies at Azerbaijan State Conservatoire.

• 1937 Joins the Union of Composers of Azerbaijan SSR.

• 1938 Composition studies, Moscow State Conservatory. Cantata "Song of the Heart" performed in Moscow's Bolshoi Theater in attendance of Joseph Stalin.

• 1941 Returns to Baku to teach at Azerbaijan State Philharmonic Society.

• 1942 Film score, A Story About the Oil Workers of the Caspian Sea.

• 1943 Opera "Motherland" ("Vətən") with Jovdat Hajiyev, premieres in Baku (1945).

• 1944-1946 Returns to the Moscow State Conservatoire; composition studies with Dmitri Shostakovich.

• 1946 Graduates from the Moscow State Conservatoire. Begins teaching composition at the Azerbaijan State Conservatoire. Awarded a Stalin prize for the opera "Motherland" ("Vətən")

• 1947 Symphonic poem, Leyli and Majnun. Edits Muslim Magomayev's opera, Shah Ismayil.

• 1948 Delegate to the First National USSR Congress of Soviet Composers. Awarded a Stalin prize for "Leyli and Majnun", heads the Music Department at the Azerbaijan Architecture and Art Institute.

• 1949 After Uzeyir Hajibeyov's death, becomes a rector of the Azerbaijan State Conservatoire. "Seven Beauties", a suite for symphonic orchestra.

• 1950 Six Children's Pieces for Piano.

• 1951 Seven Beauties and Leyli and Majnun are performed at the Prague Spring Festival conducted by Niyazi. 24 Preludes for Piano-First Notebook.

• 1952 Albania Suite, Two Children's Pieces for Piano, 24 Preludes-Second Notebook, Six Children's Pieces for Piano. "Seven Beauties" premieres in Baku.

• 1954-82 Member of the USSR committee for Lenin and State Prizes.

• 1956-73 Chairman of the Union of Composers of Azerbaijan SSR.

• 1957 Ballet, Path of Thunder.

• 1958 Laureate, USSR Festival of Soviet Films, for On Distant Shores. Path of Thunder premieres at the Bolshoi. Film score Her Great Heart. Three Nocturnes for Jazz Orchestra.

• 1959 Path of Thunder premieres at the Bolshoi. Named People's Artist of the USSR.

• 1960 Symphony, Don Quixote.

• 1961 First International Festival of Modern Music, Los Angeles.

• 1962 Member of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. Visits the U.S., Ethiopia and Lebanon.

• 1964 Third Symphony for Chamber Orchestra premieres in Moscow (1965).

• 1967 Violin Concerto. Awarded prestigious Lenin prize for the "Path of Thunder" ballet.

• 1969 "Seven Beauties" featured at the World Dance Festival in Paris.

• 1972 Visits Poland for the USSR Congress of Composers' Unions.

• 1978 His 60th Jubilee. Named Hero of Socialist Labor.

• 1980 Fourth Symphony, "Goya", written with son Faraj premieres in 1983.

• 1982 Dies May 13 in Moscow. Buried in Baku at the Alley of Honor ("Fəxri xiyaban").

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Azerbaijan International Magazine
• Gara Garayev at http://www.musigi-dunya.az
• List of Garayev’s works from Onno van Rijen's Soviet Composers Page.
• Listen to Gara Garayev's works, Music Section of Azerbaijan International
• Gara Garayev at the Internet Movie Database