History of Armenian Piano Performing Art

The portrait of Karol Mikuli by Marcin Władyka, based on the work of an unknown photographer, ca. 1880 / source: Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie | A portrait of Stephan Elmas by Aimée Rapin

At present, the Armenian piano-performing school is very famous not only for famous Armenian names but also for the quality and professionalism of the pianists.

One can endlessly talk about musicians of Armenian origin, and touch upon topics related to the activities of the most prominent Armenian pianists of the past and our time.

These musicians come from large cities of Transcaucasia, where they received their primary musical education. In the future, they will continue their education and improve their skills in major musical centers in Western Europe, America, Russia, and many other major countries of the world. The fate of these musicians was different. Some of them remained abroad and, being active in concert activities, significantly contributed to different countries’ cultures.

The Armenian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire (now Turkey) in 1915 left a very big impact, as a result of which many found their refuge, creating a cultural diaspora.

The first famous pianists of Armenian origin were Karol Mikuli and Stéphan Elmas. Both of them were from western Armenia. Karol Mikuli was connected to Armenia by the deep roots of the family pedigree, and Stefan Elmas — by the place of birth and the years of childhood and adolescence. Having received an excellent education, they settled in European cities and gained great fame and respect in the music world with their versatile fruitful activities.

Karol Mikuli made a significant contribution to the history of European pianism, and to the musical culture of several Eastern European countries and was a student of the Polish composer and pianist of French origin Frédéric Chopin.

The creative activity of other pianists proceeded in the cities of Russia, although it retained ties with various spheres of Armenian musical culture. Most of these musicians later returned to their native Armenia and devoted all their efforts to the formation and development of national piano art.

Our public first got acquainted with the creative activity of most of these musicians through the publication of magazine and newspaper articles by the Armenian musicologist, pianist, teacher, and professor at the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan Shushanik Apoyan.

Thanks to dozens of books by musicologists, teachers, and pianists, in our time, we can learn about the history of Armenian performing piano art, learn about great performers, and learn about the techniques of these great pianists. In addition to the fantastic work of Shushanik Apoyan, such significant people as Shushanik Babayan, Armen Budaghyan, Sahenik Maghakyan, Mikhail Kokzhaev, Irina Zolotova, Gohar Shagoyan continue to play a huge role in the promotion of the Armenian Piano Performing School.

Based on Shushanik Apoyan‘s book Unforgettable Names (essays on Armenian pianists, published by Yerevan State Conservatory, Yerevan 2008), I would like to be faithful to the title of the book and present the unforgettable names of Armenian pianists and teachers of the past. Many of which are not of Armenian origin, certainly left a mark on the Armenian Piano Performing School. Of course, we need to emphasize once again the name of Sahenik Maghakyan, the author of the book Accompanists of Armenia (essays on Armenian pianists-accompanists, published by Lusakn Publishing House, Yerevan 2018), from which our readers will find many names on this site.

The first Pianists-Professors of the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan

The first building of the conservatory from 1921 to 1948; the second building from 1948 to 1969; and the current building since 1969, © photo by Hrair Hawk Khatcherian

The origin of piano art in Soviet Armenia dates back to the 20s of the last century, although the activity of the first Armenian pianists began long before that, in the middle of the 19th century, when interest arose among the Armenian population of large cities of Transcaucasia, Russia, the Middle East, and Western Europe, to European forms of everyday music-making and concert performance.

In Armenia itself, in the pre-Soviet period, due to well-known historical conditions, there were no established traditions in the field of piano performance and pedagogy, although already at the turn of the 19th-20th century, the piano began to spread in the everyday life of wealthy families in Yerevan, Alexandropol (Gyumri), Meghri, Kapan and other cities.

Concerts by individual pianists who visited Yerevan were rare events. Piano lessons in Yerevan during these years were given by only a few private teachers. With this, more than modest experience, in the most difficult conditions of the new state structure in Yerevan in 1921, the first Music Studio in the history of Armenia was created and, thus, the possibility of training professional pianists appeared.

It is known that the Yerevan State Conservatory was opened based on the Musical Studio in 1923. It was during these years that true patriots of their Homeland — representatives of the Armenian intelligentsia, who were owned by high civic thoughts.

Among the first figures of Armenian musical culture were pianists — Anna Mnatsakanyan (1884-1951), Yevgenia Khankalamyan (1883-1946), Yevgenia Khosrovyan (1908-1963), and Olga Babasyan (1898-1969).

They worked for many years not only at the conservatory but also in other musical institutions in Yerevan founded later with their active participation (in the Tchaikovsky Secondary Music School and other city music schools). Iosif Madatov (worked from 1921 to 1927), graduated from the St. Petersburg Conservatory in the class of Anna Yesipova. For a short time, in the 1922-1923 academic year, Taguhi Yeghiazaryan-Shahnazaryan worked, having received her musical education in Venice and Bologna.

Only one academic year, from 1930 to 1931, was Anaida Sumbatyan, a graduate of the Leningrad Conservatory (Piano class of Olga Kalantarova). Subsequently, she was one of the best teachers at the Central Music School at the Moscow Conservatory. Later, in 1936-1940, Alexander Dolukhanyan was a talented pianist and composer, a graduate of the Leningrad Conservatory (class of Samari Savshinsky).

Anna Mnatsakanyan was the leading teacher of the Music Studio, and then at the Conservatory, the first professor (1934), the first head of the piano department in the history of the Conservatory. (1938). She was born in the family of the city hospital doctor Mikhail Ter-Ohanyan, who was educated at the military medical academy of St. Petersburg. Her closest relatives were well-known artists and scientists Yevgenia, Yelena, Hovhannes, and Arshak Adamyans.

After graduating from the women’s gymnasium with a gold medal, Anna Mnatsakanyan continued her studies at the Geneva Conservatory under the guidance of Professor Willy Rehberg (1903 — 1907). At the same time, she listened to lectures on literature and history at the University of Geneva and even attended meetings of political emigrants from Russia, from 1907 to 1911, she continued at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin (in the class of higher skill — «Ausbildungsklasse») with Professor Martin Krause. After completing her studies, she was invited as a soloist to the Mozart Society in Berlin (Mozart-Gesellschaft Berlin-Brandenburg). But fate decreed otherwise, and the young pianist ended up in her homeland.

At the invitation of the government of Armenia, Anna Mnatsakanyan moved to Yerevan. Students and colleagues loved and appreciated her not only for her high professional merits but also for her personal qualities: delicacy, nobility of soul, and will.

The name Anna Mnatsakanyan was considered by such prominent Armenian musicians as Arshak Adamyan, Kristofor Kushnarev, Alexander Spendiaryan (Spendiarov), and Konstantin Sarajev. Her high erudition, and not only musical erudition, aroused great respect: she knew painting, and fiction — German, and French, and read them in the original language.

Rich knowledge in the field of piano literature made it possible for Anna Mnatsakanyan to include in the programs her pupils’ works that sometimes sounded for the first time at the Yerevan State Conservatory.

The performance activity of the pianist did not last long — in the first decade of work at the conservatory. She performed as a soloist in thematic concerts of the conservatory dedicated to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Frédéric Chopin, and often played in a chamber ensemble. With an educational goal for students, together with Yelena Khosrovian performed four-hand arrangements of Ludwig van Beethoven’s symphonies in concerts.

One of the remarkable dates in the history of the Yerevan State Conservatory is connected with the name of Anna Mnatsakanyan — the first graduation of pianists, consisting of the honored worker of arts, professor Nina Sahinyan and the honored teacher S. Margaryan who later proved themselves worthy.

Many gifted musicians were brought up in the class of Anna Mnatsakanyan. Among them are: Natalia Khanzadyan, Arevik Avdalbekyan, Mariya Gambaryan (Ghambaryan), Margarita Chakhmakhsazyan, Villy Sarkisyan, Vahe Aharonian, composer Geghuni Chitchyan, and others.

Natalia Khanzadyan, Mariya Gambaryan (Ghambaryan), and Arevik Avdalbekyann continued and completed their studies at the Moscow Conservatory in the class of Konstantin Igumnov; Villy Sarkisyan, Margarita Chakhmakhsazyan, Vahe Aharonian began their first steps in music with Anna Mnatsakanyan and completed their studies: the first one — with Kathy Malkhasyan, the last — with Robert Andreasian.

Briefly, it is necessary to dwell on the repertoire policy of Armenian teachers. In this area, the influence of the piano schools that educated them was tangibly manifested. At the same time, individual, bold «breakthroughs» in the work of modern composers were inherent in all teachers, which was especially evident later. Nevertheless, in the 1920s, most tribute was paid to the musical tastes of their time. So, for example, in the programs of students from polyphonic compositions, there were often parts from the suites of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel, transcriptions of the works by composers Leopold Godowsky, Ferruccio Busoni, and others.

By the end of the 1920s, the programs expanded significantly and were enriched with the works of Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, Edvard Grieg, and Camille Saint-Saëns. The increased pianistic abilities of senior students made it possible to introduce into their repertoire works of major genres by Ludwig van Beethoven, and Franz Liszt’s compositions (Mephisto Waltz No. 1, S. 514, «Concert Paraphrase on Verdi’s Rigoletto»).

A significant event in musical life took place in 1937. The first Conservatory Piano Competition for the performance of Aleksandr Glazunov’s «Theme and Variations», Op.72. The winners were Arno Babajanyan (1st prize, Yevgenia Khosrovyan’s piano class), Marjan Mkhitaryan (2nd prize, Olga Babasyan’s piano class), Anna Ambakumyan (3rd prize, Yevgenia Khankalamyan’s piano class).

Years have passed, and today we truly “see great things from afar”, the merits of the first teachers — pianists, the great importance of their activities, which took place in the initial, naturally difficult period of the formation and growth of national piano culture, are more clearly and presented. They laid the foundations of piano art in Armenia and brought up generations of pianists, soloists, teachers, accompanists, and musicologists.

These wonderful musicians joined the ranks of those who ensured the future wide recognition and glory of the Armenian musical culture. Veterans of the conservatory accomplished a feat without realizing it.

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