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Today is 125th anniversary of Azerbaijani composer Uzayir Hajibeyov

18 September 2010 08:40 (UTC +04:00)

He is the first Muslim author of an opera.
Uzeyir Hajibeyov was born on September 18, 1885 in Agjabadi village of Shusha district. His father, Abdul Huseyn Hajibeyov, was the secretary to Khurshidbanu Natavan for many years, and his mother, Shirin, grew up in the Natavan household. Growing up, Hajibeyov was strongly influenced by Natavan’s work.
From 1899 to 1904 Uzeyir Hajibeyov studied at the Gori Pedagogical Seminary. There, along with general education, he also acquired music. In this school Hajibeyov learned to play the violin, the violoncello and the brass instrument. After his graduation from the Pedagogical Seminary, Uzeyir Hajibeyov was appointed a teacher to the village of Hadrut in Upper Karabakh. Having worked there for a year. Hajibeyov permanently settled in Baku, where he carried on his career in teaching mathematics, geography, history, Azeri and Russian languages, and music. He wrote the Turkic-Russian and Russian-Turkic Dictionary of Political, Legal, Economic and Military Terms, Used in Press in 1907 and the textbook Arithmetic Problems in 1908, and had them published by the Orujov Brothers Publishing House in Baku.

In 1908, Hajibeyov wrote his first opera Leyli and Majnun based on the tragic love story

In contrast to Sheikh Sanan, Hajibeyov’s operas Rustam and Sohrab (1910), Asli and Karam (1912), Shah Abbas and Khurshudbanu (1912), and Harun and Leyli (1915) were entirely based on Azeri folk music elements, primarily mugham.

1908, Hajibeyov wrote his first opera Leyli and Majnun based on the tragic love story[8] by the 15th century poet Fuzuli. This would be the first of 7 operas and 3 musical comedies that Hajibeyov would compose throughout his life. In Leyli and Majnun, the uniqueness of the traditional modal music of mugham was incorporated into a Western genre with the use of instruments indigenous to both traditions.

Hajibeyov’s second opera Sheikh Sanan was written in 1909 in a form that was entirely opposite to the first. This time Hajibeyov employed a purely European style. Sheikh Sanan received raves as a musical composition, but the content was too progressive for the period.

In October 2006, the musical comedy Arshin Mal Alan ("The Cloth Peddler") by Uzeyir Hajibeyov, written in 1913, was announced to be performed on western stages for the first time.

In 1921, he established a professional music school - Baku Academy of Music - in Baku for Azerbaijani students.
In 1927, Hajibeyov published Collection of Azerbaijani Folk Songs along with composer Muslim Magomayev. For the first time, more than 300 pieces of Azeri folk music were documented by notation. In 1945, he published the book entitled The Basis of Folk Music in Azerbaijan, which has been translated into several languages including English.

Azerbaijani opera reached a peak on 30 April 1937 with the premiere of Hajibayovâ€™s Koroglu (The Blind ManÂ´s Son). Considered an operatic gem in Azerbaijan and the whole Soviet Union, Koroglu is a classical opera complete with arias, choruses and ballet, but like so much of Hajibayovâ€™s work it also includes traditional rhythms and melodies.

His romances â€œSensizâ€(â€œWithout youâ€), â€œSevgili Jananâ€ (â€œBeloved Sweetheartâ€), â€œCirpinirdi Qara Denizâ€ song, â€œAshiqsayagiâ€ musical instrumental work and etc are loved by music lovers nowadays too.

The 100th anniversary of â€œLeyli and Majnunâ€ opera by Azerbaijani composer Uzeyir Hajibayov was marked in UNESCO headquarters on June 24.His birthday is marked in Azerbaijan as Uzeyir Music Day.

Every year series of events are held in Azerbaijan on the occasion of Uzeyir Music Day. Today, representatives of Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan, Baku Musical Academy and other universities, technical schools will visit Uzeyirâ€™s tomb in the Alley of Honor. Solemn event due to 125th anniversary of the genius composer is planned to hold in front of the Baku Musical Academy.