Yeghiazarian, Grigor Yeghiai

(b Blur, Turkey, 25 Nov/8 Dec 1908; d Yerevan, 4 Nov 1988). Armenian composer and teacher. He moved to Yerevan in 1918 but later went to study in Moscow at the music college and the conservatory with Glière, Myaskovsky and Shebalin (1930–36). Back in Armenia he taught at the Leninakan Music College (1936–8), was head of the Armenian Composers' Union (1952–5) and rector of the Yerevan Conservatory (1954–60) where, as professor of composition, he taught many leading Armenian composers including Chitchian, Hovunts, Israyelian and Hovanesian. He received the titles People's Artist of Armenia (1960), the State Prize of Armenia (1970) and People’s Artist of the USSR (1977). His major compositional achievement was in the development of Armenian orchestral music; his works continue the tradition established by Spendiarian with their programmatic nature, use of variation and dance forms, their incorporation of eastern folk music and their expressive handling of colour. His use of harmony and timbre bears comparison with Impressionism, but this is counterbalanced by an epic, narrative quality which first became evident in the symphony Hrazdan. He was drawn to ballet by his interest in plastic movement; the first of these – Sevan – is based on Armenian folklore and has the formal character of a divertissement, while in the second – Ara Geghetsik yev Shamiram (‘Ara the Beautiful and Semiramis’) – various aspects of ritual dance and action are generalized in a score which also utilizes Assyrian orthodox music.

WORKS

(selective list)

Ballets: Sevan (3, I. Arbatov and V. Vardanian), 1955, Yerevan Opera Theatre, 1956, rev. as The Lake of Dreams, Yerevan Opera Theatre, 1968; Ara Geghetsik yev Shamiram (3, A. Asatrian and V. Galstian, after M. Khorenatsi: The History of Armenia) [Ara the Beautiful and Shamiram], c1965–73, Yerevan Opera Theatre, 1982

Orch: Rhapsody, 1939; Hayastan, 1942; Vn Conc., 1943; Ballet Fragments, 1946; Suite on Themes of Komitas, 1948; Arevatsagin [To the Sunrise], 1952; Hrazdan, sym., 1960

Pf: Sazandar, 1935; In Memory of Komitas, 1936; Preludes, 1962, 1968

Incid music, folksong arrs., mass songs, romances

BIBLIOGRAPHY

G. Tigranov: ‘O balete “Sevan”’, SovM (1956), no.7, pp.17–22

K. Khudabashian: Grigor Yeghiazaryan (Yerevan, 1966)

R. Terteryan: ‘V gostyakh u G. Yeghiazaryana’ [Visiting Yeghiazharian], SovM (1984), no.5, pp.120–22

K. Khudabashian: ‘Stepen' vernosti originalu: o balete “Ara Prekrasnïy i Shamiram”’ [The degree of faithfulness to the original: on the ballet Ara the Beautiful and Semiramis], SovM (1987), no.3, pp.40–44

SVETLANA SARKISYAN

Yekaterinburg.

City in western central Russia. Founded in 1723, it was renamed Sverdlovsk from 1924 to 1991. Musical life in Yekaterinburg in the 18th and 19th centuries was dominated by folksinging and singing in schools and churches, as well as by amateur concerts. The city's operatic history began in 1843, when a dramatic and musical troupe performed Bellini's La sonnambula and Verstovsky's Askol'dova mogila (‘Askold's Grave’). The first theatre, the 800-seat Gorodskoy Teatr (City Theatre), was opened in 1847. For many years operas were given in theatres belonging to private entrepreneurs (1843–1912) or were produced by the Yekaterinburg ‘music circles’, which also gave concerts of symphonic, chamber and choral music. A music school was opened in the city in 1880.

At the start of the 20th century Yekaterinburg entered the mainstream of Russian musical life. A new concert hall, the Makletskiy Hall, was inaugurated in 1900, a branch of the Imperial Russian Music Society was founded in 1912, an opera house, the Gorodskoy Opernïy Teatr (City Opera Theatre) opened in 1912, and a college of music was founded in 1916. Musical life in Yekaterinburg was enhanced by many eminent visiting artists from Russia and Europe. There were series of chamber, orchestral and choral concerts (the ‘historic’ chamber music concerts of 1908, and the seasons of orchestral music from 1912 to 1915). Concerts of sacred music, given by the choirs of the Voznesenskiy, Kafedral'nïy and Yekaterininskiy cathedrals, were also popular. In 1918 a new opera troupe was formed as a Soviet company, and in 1924 the opera house was renamed the Sverdlovskiy Gosudarstvennïy Teatr Operï i Baleta imeni A.V. Lunacharskogo (Lunacharsky Sverdlovsk State Theatre of Opera and Ballet) and became one of the principal operatic centres of the Soviet Union.

In the 1920s and 30s amateur music-making flourished alongside professional music. The repertory of the opera house was adapted to include the works of Soviet composers on revolutionary themes, and in 1922 a ballet troupe was formed. Symphony concerts were given by the orchestras of the opera house and the radio.

The 1930s and 40s saw the opening of new musical institutions: the Teatr Muzïkal'noy Komedii (Theatre of Musical Comedy, 1933), the conservatory (1934, named after Musorgsky), the Philharmonia (1936), a branch of the Russian Union of Composers (1939), the Urals State Russian Folk Choir (1943) and a music college for gifted children attached to the conservatory (1943). Yekaterinburg became a centre of musical culture and music education for an enormous tract of Russia. Leading figures in this period include M.P. Frolov, composer, pianist and first rector of the conservatory; V.N. Trambitsky, who with Frolov founded the so-called Urals school of composers; and Lev Khristiansen, the first director of the Urals State Russian Folk Choir. During the war years a number of outstanding musicians from Moscow and Leningrad worked in Yekaterinburg, notably Shostakovich, Oystrakh, Kabalevsky and Gilel's.

From the 1950s to the 1970s Yekaterinburg was regarded as the third musical centre in Russia. The theatres and the Philharmonia enjoyed a rich artistic life: in addition to concerts and opera performances there were festivals of classical and contemporary music, opera festivals, competitions and festivals of choral music, in which up to 5000 singers took part. Touring soloists in these years included Oystrakh, Gilel's, Kogan, Rikhter and Rostropovich, and there were also visits from leading Soviet orchestras under conductors such as Svetlanov, Sanderling and Rozhdestvensky. In 1966 the opera house was renamed the Akademicheskiy Teatr Operï i Baleta (Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet). It is renowned as a centre for operas by Russian composers, especially those from the Urals, including Trambitsky and Spadavecchia.

During the 1980s and 90s musical life in Yekaterinburg opened up to the world outside Russia. In cooperation with musicians from Europe, the USA, Japan and China, large-scale events were mounted, including international festivals of opera, orchestral music, jazz and children's music festivals. Folk music and jazz is provided by the Urals State Orchestra of Folk Instruments, the Urals State Choir and the Urals State Jazz Orchestra. Newer ensembles in Yekaterinburg include the B-A-C-H Chamber Orchestra, the Domestik choir, focussing on early music, the Ayuska and Ural folk ensembles, the Municipal Ballet Theatre for Children, a children's choir and a municipal boys' choir.

The city's principal establishments for music education are the Modest Petrovich Musorgsky State Conservatory of the Urals, the Theatres Institute, which trains artists for the Theatre of Musical Comedy, and the Urals State Pedagogical Institute, which trains school music teachers. Unique recordings of folksongs from the Urals are held in the libraries of the conservatory and the House of Folklore.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Yu. Kurochkin: Iz teatral'nogo proshlogo Urala: zametki sobiratelya [From the history of the theatre in the Urals: the notes of a collector] (Sverdlovsk, 1957)

O muzïke i muzïkantakh Urala [On the music and musicians of the Urals] (Sverdlovsk, 1959)

Ye. Mayburova: ‘Muzïkal'naya zhizn' Yekaterinburga’ [The musical life of Yekaterinburg], Iz muzïkal'nogo proshlogo, ed. B.S. Shteynpress, i (Moscow, 1960), 22–67

B. Shteynpress: ‘Muzïkal'naya zhizn' Sverdlovska v 1917–1941’ [The musical life of Sverdlovsk, 1917–1941], Iz muzïkal'nogo proshlogo [From the musical past], ii (Moscow, 1965), 5–20

‘Istoriya Urala (v period sotsializma)’ [The history of the Urals (during the period of socialism)], Teatr i muzïka, ii (1977), 271–6, 497–506

‘Sverdlovsk. Sverdlovskiy teatr operï i baleta’ [Sverdlovsk. The Sverdlovskiy theatre of opera and ballet], Muzïkal'naya ėntsiklopediya, iv (Moscow, 1978), 874–9

‘Istoriya Urala (v period kapitalizma)’ [The history of the Urals (during the period of capitalism)], Iskusstvo, ii (Moscow, 1990), 401–14

Yekaterinburg: istoriya i sovremennost' [Yekaterinburg: history and modern times] (Yekaterinburg, 1996)

NINA VOL'PER

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