Artemi (Harutyun) Ayvazyan ( hy, Արտեմի Այվազյան, russian: Артемий Айвазян; June 26, 1902 – November 14, 1975) was a

Soviet Armenia The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic,; russian: Армянская Советская Социалистическая Республика, translit=Armyanskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika) also commonly referred to as Soviet A ...

n composer, conductor, founder of the Armenian State Jazz Orchestra, and People's Artist of Armenia (1962).

Biography

Ayvazyan was born in Baku to a musical family. Many famous musicians including

Fyodor Shalyapin Feodor Ivanovich Chaliapin ( rus, Фёдор Ива́нович Шаля́пин, Fyodor Ivanovich Shalyapin, ˈfʲɵdər ɪˈvanəvʲɪtɕ ʂɐˈlʲapʲɪn}; April 12, 1938) was a Russian opera singer. Possessing a deep and expressive bass v ...

and Sergei Rachmaninoff visited the family apartment on Merkurievskaya Street. Ayvazyan graduated from the

Tbilisi State Conservatory Tbilisi State Conservatoire ( ka, თბილისის სახელმწიფო კონსერვატორია, ''Tbilisis Saxelmc̣ipo Ḳonservaṭoria'') is the State Conservatoire of Georgia, located in the capital Tbilisi ...

in 1923 and studied at the studio of

Alexander Spendiarian Alexander Afanasyevich Spendiarov (Spendiaryan) (russian: Александр Афанасьевич Спендиаров, hy, Ալեքսանդր Ստեփանոսի Սպենդիարյան, November 1, 1871, Kakhovka, Russian Empire – May ...

. He then attended the

Moscow State Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (russian: Московская государственная консерватория им. П. И. Чайковского, link=no) is a musical educational inst ...

, completing his post-graduate research in 1935. In 1933 Ayvazyan won the First Prize of All-Soviet musical competition. In 1938 he founded the Armenian State Estrada (Jazz) Orchestra in

Yerevan Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and i ...

, one of the most popular in the

USSR The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

and the only one that survived during the stalinist repressions of the 1940s. Among his well-known songs are "Jan Yerevan", "Karine", "Get Arax" and "Im Karavan", a melody which became the unofficial anthem of the

Karabakh movement The Karabakh movement ( hy, Ղարաբաղյան շարժում, also the Artsakh movement Արցախյան շարժում) was a national mass movement in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh from 1988 to 1991 that advocated for the transfer of the ma ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

in 1988. He is also the author of the Armenian operetta "The Eastern Dentist," (featuring the popular 'Taparnikos's Song') and soundtracks ("Inchu e aghmkum getn?", "Mor sirtn" Armenian films, "The Snow Queen" Soviet cartoon animation). In 1939 Ayvazyan was awarded by the ''Renowned Master of Armenian SSR Arts'' title. He headed the Armenian State Estrada (Jazz) Orchestra until 1956, from 1943 to 1945 he was also the artistic head of Yerevan Musical Comedy Theater. Ayvazyan was the first professor of

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

class at the Yerevan State Conservatory.

Discography

*"Государственный эстрадный оркестр Армянской ССР" (1948)

Filmography

*1939 - The Priest and the Goat, animation *1957 - Mother's Heart *1957 - ''

The Snow Queen "The Snow Queen" ( da, Snedronningen) is an original fairy tale by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published 21 December 1844 in '' New Fairy Tales. First Volume. Second Collection'' (''Nye Eventyr. Første Bind. Anden Samli ...

'' *1958 - What's All the Noise of the River About? *1960 - A Poem about Armenia, doc. *1961 - Before the Dawn *1967 - Alexander Myasnikyan, doc. *1967 - Suren Spandaryan, doc.

Sources

Biography
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080430050147/http://www.nv.am/3nov/lica.htm Biography (in Russian)br>НЕЗАБЫВАЕМЫЕ МЕЛОДИИ АРТЕМИЯ АЙВАЗЯНА, ArmTown

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ayvazyan 1902 births Armenian composers Musicians from Baku People from Baku Governorate Soviet Armenians People's Artists of Armenia 1975 deaths Tbilisi State Conservatoire alumni Moscow Conservatory alumni Armenian conductors (music) Armenian jazz musicians Soviet conductors (music) Soviet composers