Grigori Dombaev

Grigori Dombaev (Grigoriy Dombayants) was born on June 29, 1905, in Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd). His father, Sahak Dombaev, was from the village Bolshiye Saly village in Rostov region. He served as a salesman for the famous trading house of Yablokov (Khndzorian) in Rostov-on-Don. With the opening of the Tsaritsyn branch of this trading house, the Dombaev family moved to Tsaritsyn. There, having some prosperity in business, Sahak Dombaev, together with his wife, a native of Nor-Nakhichevan (now Nakhichevan district of

Rostov-on-Don) Elizaveta Galadzhyan, opened their own wholesale and haberdashery store. The Dombaev couple was distinguished by great hard work, commitment, and a friendly attitude towards others. These traits were largely inherited by their sons, Grigori and Karp. Parents encouraged and financially supported their children’s musical studies. Grigori studied piano, and Karp studied violin. The tragedy of the Armenian people (Armenian Genocide in 1915) didn’t leave the head of the family indifferent: he became one of the founders and co-chairman of the Tsaritsyn Committee for Assistance to Armenians. The committee organized numerous charity evenings, and in one of them, twelve-year-old Gregori and seven-year-old Karp performed in public for the first time.

After the October events of 1917, it was unsafe to live in the city; Tsaritsyn changed hands several times (from Bolsheviks to White Guards) and the famine began. So the family was forced to return to Nor-Nakhichevan in 1918, where they spent that difficult period.

In the 1920s, Grigori Dombaev continued his studies in Rostov-on-Don. There he began to study music seriously — first at the private Conservatory of M. Pressman in the class of E. Lutsky (a student of Anna Yesipova). In 1927, he finished music school in the class of the famous pianist, Professor Vasiliy Shaub, and the Faculty of Social Sciences of Rostov University.

Later, the elder brother went to Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) to see Karp, who began studying at the Preparatory Department of the Leningrad Conservatory (Saint Petersburg Conservatory). Grigori Dombaev was not accepted at the Leningrad Conservatory because he already had two Rostov University diplomas. The brothers spent about two years in Leningrad, the center of theatre and concert life. They attended concerts of famous conductors O. Klemperer, E. Kleiber, G. Abendroth, E. Ansermet, N. Malko, soloists E. Petri, Szigeti, K. Zecchi, A. Schnabel, and many others, as well as performances by famous directors with famous actors.

Returning to Rostov in 1931, the brothers accepted the offer of the local philharmonic society and for quite a long time performed in concerts of popular singers (completing the evening programs) in Mariupol, Yeisk, Taganrog, Stavropol, Novocherkassk, Krasnodar and other large and small settlements. This work yielded positive results: Karp added new works to his violin program and Grigori — to his accompanist program.

Since 1932, Grigori Dombaev worked as a teacher at the Rostov Music College; later he was offered the posts of director of this technical school (1934-1937) and of the Rostov Regional Philharmonic (1935-1938).

One of Dombaev’s most important innovations in those years was the decision to organize an artistic accompaniment class.

Looking ahead, we may say that Dombaev’s initiative was approved “at the top,” and the accompanist training course was soon introduced into the curricula of conservatories and music schools in the country.

In 1935, Grigori Dombaev, as an accompanist, together with violinist Avet Ter-Gabrielyan, participated in the II All-Union Violin Competition, in which Gabrielyan took second place.

Grigori Dombaev worked as head of the concert bureau of the Sochi Theater (1939-1941).

Since 1939, the name of Grigori Dombaev as an accompanist began to be mentioned in Yerevan posters. That year, with the singer Vera Dukhovskaya, he gave several concerts in Yerevan and Leninakan (now Gyumri). With Sergei Migai he prepared two concert programs and performed them in Tbilisi and Yerevan. Dombaev established long-term creative contacts with violinists V. Portugalov, B. Fishman, and S. Furer, singers V. Zarudnaya, N. Shpiller, N. Speransky, and many others.

During the Great Patriotic War, Grigori Dombaev lived and worked in Yerevan (his brother Karp Dombaev taught at the Yerevan State Conservatory since 1940).

Being the director of the Yerevan Music College after Romanos Melikian, Dombaev simultaneously taught a chamber ensemble class (1942-1944). He was the director and artistic director of the Armenian Philharmonic Society (1944-1947), and then the head of the Department of Arts under the Council of Ministers of Armenia (1947-1949). At the Yerevan Conservatory, Grigory Dombaev taught chamber ensemble (1944 -1950).

Despite the workload of pedagogical and organizational work, Dombaev did not stop his activity as an accompanist. During the war years, despite life’s hardships, the Yerevan public did not miss a single concert. Listeners of that generation still remember the skill of Dombaev as an accompanist. The concerts of violinist Hrachya Bogdanyan, singer Nikolai Serdobov, cellist Gurgen Adamyan, singer from Romania K. Sagzlyan, and other performers were memorable.

In December 1945, Aram Khachaturian and his wife, composer Nina Makarova, were in Yerevan. On December 9, a chamber concert of their works took place. Avet Ter-Gabrielyan, Pavel Lisitsian, Alexander Arutiunian, Arno Babajanyan, Eleonora Voskanyan, Grigori Dombaev, and others participated in the concert.

One of Dombaev’s most important initiatives as director of the Armenian Philharmonic Orchestra (with the support of the Yerevan State Conservatory) was the re-organization of the Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra in 1945.

Grigori Dombaev helped his brother, in those years the vice-rector of the conservatory, Karp Dombaev, to fulfill his long-held dream — to collect ancient string instruments in Yerevan. The Council of Ministers of Armenia allocated funds for the purchase of instruments. The unique collection was the pride of the musical culture of Armenia. The collection, now kept at the Aram Khachaturian House Museum, includes the most valuable instruments by Andrea Guarneri, Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, Nicolò Gagliano, and other famous masters. These instruments are played by famous performers of the republic.

From 1950 to 1972, Grigori Dombaev worked as the rector of the Gorky Conservatory (now Nizhny Novgorod State Conservatory named after Glinka), from which many famous musicians graduated (among them Yakov Zargaryan, pianist, future professor at the Yerevan State Conservatory).

When Grigori Dombaev was a rector of the Gorky Conservatory, he was awarded the title of Honored Artist of Russia (in 1967).

In 1972, Dombaev moved to Moscow, where he continued to teach with the rank of professor at the Chamber Ensemble Department at the Gnessin State Musical College.

In 1958, during the days of preparation for the first International Tchaikovsky Competition, the book “The Work of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in Materials and Documents” was published (M., 1958). Dombaev is also the author of the reference books “The Musical Heritage of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky” and “Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and World Culture” (M., 1958) and some other works.