The Armenian composer and conductor Armen Tigranian was born on December 26, 1879 in Alexandropol (Russian Empire / today Gyumri, Armenia). He died on February 10, 1950 in Tbilisi. February 2025 marks the 75th anniversary of his death.
Tigranian was interested in music from a very early age. When he was 15, his family moved to Tbilisi. At the local music school, he learned to play the flute and piano and studied music theory and
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composition. In 1902, Tigranian returned to Alexandropol, where he worked as a music teacher, founded a mixed amateur choir, and finally began composing. He incorporated Armenian music into his compositions and created numerous choral arrangements of folk songs. In 1908 and 1912, he composed his masterpiece “Anoush,” the first opera ever performed in Armenia, which premiered on August 4, 1912 by an amateur group in Alexandropol and quickly became a permanent fixture in the repertoire of many opera houses. Today, “Anoush” is generally considered the “national opera of the Armenian people.” After the establishment of the Soviet Union, however, Tigranian had to thoroughly rework the opera to adapt it to the principles of the new populist aesthetic. Tigranian’s other works include a dance suite for symphony orchestra, a cantata, incidental music, choral works, and songs. Tigranian’s second opera, “David Bek”, which he composed between 1941 and 1950, was premiered shortly after his death. For the musical theater, Tigranian translated the libretti of Verdi’s Rigoletto and Bizet’s Carmen into Armenian.
The video shows the brass band of the city of Gyumri (formerly Alexandropol) under the direction of Artak Grigoryan playing the overture to Tigranian’s opera “Anoush”.
