ԿՈՄԻՏԱՍ ՀԵ&#1360

[Arpa]

Above we saw how Komitas’ sensitive and fragile heart and soul was already bruised before that final Coup de Grace , the Genocide when he witnessed the brutal murder of his soul mates.

Above we also saw how, given the time he would disavow his oath of celibacy and marry either Sona Yar or the soprano Margaret Babayan.

Below in an excerpt from Ahot Patmagrian’s- From My Memories- we see the following.**

**Why can’t I find any word or biography of him? Ashot was an accomplished musician, musicologist, composer and choirmaster in his own right. Apparently a student of Komitas at the Gevorgian Academy at Ejmiatsin.

Here we see his obsession and inner secrets with worldly life, family, wife and children.

When asked if he would continue his creativity, he answers- No, no not until I get out of here, join my wife and children, have my own home, I will not compose anymore- A Freudian slip?

 

Here we see the somber side of his dark humor. When one of the visitors was presented as a poor, destitute and homeless, he answered- He can move into the next room that was recently vacated, here they treat everyone so humanely-.

 

 

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http://www.azg.am/AM/culture/2013022307

 

 

«Իմ յուշերից»

 

ԿՈՄԻՏԱՍԻ ՀԵՏ

ԱՇՈՏ ՊԱՏՄԱԳՐԵԱՆ

Հայաստանում քչերը միայն ծանոթ են սփյուռքահայ հայտնի երգահան, խմբավար, երաժշտական բազմաբեղուն գործիչ Աշոտ Պատմագրյանիՙ 1978 թ.-ին Բեյրութում լույս ընծայած «Իմ յուշերից» գրքին, որի էջերում 1898 թ.ին Թավրիզում ծնված եւ հետագայում Ս. Էջմիածնի Գեւորգյան ճեմարանում եւ այնուհետեւ Գերմանիայում երաժշտագիտական կրթություն ստացած հեղինակը հետաքրքրական ու թանկարժեք տեղեկություններ է տալիս Պարսկաստանի, Թիֆլիսի, Բեռլինի, Սոֆիայի, Փարիզի, Բաղդադի, Բեյրութի, Կահիրեի, Ալեքսանդրիայի, Նյու-Յորքի, Ֆրեզնոյի, Դետրոյթի եւ հայաշատ այլ քաղաքներում ունեցած իր երաժշտա-մշակութային շրջագայությունների եւ այդ ընթացքում հանդիպած նշանավոր մարդկանց մասին, այդ թվումՙ Կոմիտասի, Արմենակ Շահմուրադյանի, Կոստան Զարյանի, Վահրամ Փափազյանի, Արամայիս Երզնկյանի, Հրաչյա Աճառյանի, Լուկաշինի, Պողոս Մակինցյանի, Չարենցի, հայ եւ օտար բազմաթիվ այլ դեմքերի մասին: Հուշագրական այդ ժողովածուից այսօր ընտրել ենք հոգեբուժարանում Կոմիտասի հետ հանդիպման հատվածը, որը, ինչպես ամբողջ գիրքը, գրված է անմիջական, հաճելի լեզվով, հումորով, հերթական կերպարն ու իրավիճակը բնորոշող ուշագրավ բնութագրմամբ:

Նրա գրչին են պատկանում ուրիշ բազմաթիվ գրքեր, որոնց մեջՙ երաժշտական ու երաժշտագիտական շատ գրքեր, երգարաններ, իր երգերի ու խմբերգերի ժողովածուներ: Այդ գրքերից առավել հայտնին «Հայ երգը դարերի միջից» վերնագիրն է կրում: Ունի նաեւ բազմաթիվ անտիպ ստեղծագործություններ:

 

Փարիզի հայկական կեանքի այս անօրինակ եռուզեռին մեծ զարկ էին տալիս բազմաթիւ միութիւնները, որոնց թիւը երբեմն հասաւ մինչեւ 60ի, որոնց մեծ մասը հայրենակցական միւթիւններն էին, ապաՙ բարեսիրական, եկեղեցասիրաց, ուսանողական մարզական, գրական եւ այլ մեծ կամ փոքր միութիւններն ու կազմակերպութիւնները:

Այս բոլորի մէջ կար մէկը, որ անաղմուկ տանում էր գերազանցապէս մի գեղեցիկ գործ: Դա Կոմիտասի բարեկամների միութիւնն էր, որին մասնակցում էին Պոլսի իր նախկին բարեկամները, նախկին սաները, որոնց մղիչ ոյժը հանդիսանում էր Կոմիտասի անխոնջ բարեկամըՙ օր. Մարգրիտ Բաբայեանը: Միութեան նպատակն էր նիւթական միջոցներ հայթայթել Մեծ Հիւանդի բժշկութեան եւ ապրուստի համար: Արդէն այս միութեան անդամների ջանքերով էր, որ 1918-ին Կոմիտասին Պոլսից Փարիզ փոխադրեցին: Նիւթական միջոցները գոյանում էին նուիրատուութիւններից եւ Կոմիտասի անտիպ գործերի տպագրութիւնից եւ վաճառքից: Այդ շրջանում էր, որ հրատարակուեցին Վարդապետի բազմաթիւ անտիպ գործերը, մանաւանդ նրա նշանաւոր Պատարագը, որ մինչ այդ մնում էր ձեռագիր վիճակում: Փարիզի մերձակայ արուարձաններից Վիլժիւյիվի մէջ էր գտնւում այն հոգեբուժարանը, ուր ապաստան էին տուել Վարդապետին: Այդ արուարձանը այդ օրերում հայութեան համար դարձել էր մի տեսակ «տեսարժան վայր» կամ ուխտատեղի, ուր շտապում էին բոլոր նորեկ հայերըՙ տեսնելու մեծ Վարդապետին:

Երկու առիթով մի քանի ընկերներով մենք եւս փորձեցինք այցելել: Առաջին անգամ հիւանդապահ-պահակը թոյլ չտուեց ներս մտնել հիւանդի սենեակը, ասելով որ ամբողջ օրը շատ ջղային է եղել եւ կարող է շատ վատ ընդունելութիւն անել մեզ:

Երկրորդ անգամ երբ գնացինք, ասացին որ շատ լաւ տրամադրութեան տակ է: Երբ լուր տուեցին որ այցելուներ են եկել, ինքը սենեակից դուրս եկաւ եւ սիրալիր կերպով մեզ ներս հրաւիրեց:

Երբեք չէր կարելի ասել, որ մեր դիմաց նստած էր մի հոգեկան հիւանդ, այնքան որ բնական էին իր հարցերը եւ շարժումները, ինչպէս նաեւՙ տրամաբանական իր պատասխանները:

Սովորական հարցուփորձից յետոյ մեր ընկերներից մէկը հարցրեց.- Հայր Սուրբ, հոս կը շարունակէ՞ք ձեր աշխատանքները. նոր յօրինումներ կ՛ընէ՞ք արդեօք:

Կոմիտասը շատ վճռական կերպով պատասխանեց.

- Ո՛չ, ո՛չ, հոս աշխատել անկարելի է. այնքան ժամանակ որ այստեղ եմՙ ոչինչ չեմ կարող անել. մինչեւ այստեղից դուրս չգամ, կինս, զաւակներս չ՛առնեմ, տուն-տեղ չը լինեմ, անկարող եմ նոր բան գրել կամ յօրինել:

Այս պատասխանը մեզ վրայ շատ ճնշող տպաւորութիւն թողեց. զգացինք որ բոլորովին անգիտակից է իր կեանքին եւ վիճակին:

Քիչ յետոյ ինքը դարձաւ մեզ եւ հարցրեց.

- Տղերք, դուք նկատել է՞ք, որ հայերէն լեզւում որոշ հնչիւններ կան, որ որոշ պատկերներ են արտայայտում, ինչպէս օրինակՙ Օ հնչիւնը խորութեան պատկեր է տալիս- հոր, խոր, ձոր, ծով, փոր:

Խօսում էր շատ սահուն եւ մաքուր արեւելահայերէն:

Մեր ընկերներից մէկը հարցրեց.

- Հայր Սուրբ, հայկական երաժշտութի՞ւնն է գեղեցիկ, թէ՞ եւրոպական: Վարդապետը ծիծաղով պատասխանեց.

- Եթէ ես հարցնեմ քեզ թէ խաղո՞ղն է համեղ, թէ՞ տանձը, դու ի՞նչ կը պատասխանես. դու կ՛ասեսՙ Հայր Սուրբ, խաղողը խաղողի համ ունի, տանձըՙ տանձի: Նոյնպէս էլ հայկական եւ եւրոպական երաժշտութիւնը:

Մեր ընկերը լսել էր, որ այդ միեւնոյն հարցը ուրիշ մի այցելու, տարիներ առաջ տուել էր. պարզապէս ուզեց իմանալ թէ արդեօ՞ք նոյն պատասխանը պիտի տար, թէ մոռացած պիտի լինէր: Պատասխանը ճիշտ ու ճիշտ նոյնն էր:

Յետոյ դարձաւ մեզ եւ հարցրեց ,թէ ի՞նչպէս ենք, ի՞նչ ենք անում, ի՞նչ ենք սովորում եւ այլն: Մեզնից իւրաքանչիւրը պատմեց իր կեանքի մասինՙ մի քանի խօսքով: Ընկերներից մէկը, որ ամէնից աւելի համեստ պայմաններում էր ապրում, դառնութեամբ պատմեց պանդոկատէրերի խստութեան մասին, թէ ինչպէս եթէ երկու օր ամսավճարը ուշացնում է, պայուսակը դուրս են հանում եւ մերժում սենեակ տալ:

Շատ կարեկցօրէն եւ բարեացակամութեամբ Կոմիտասը նրան դարձաւ եւ ասաց.- Այս կողքիս սենեակն այս առաւօտ պարպուեց. կ՛ուզե՞ս ասեմ քեզ համար պահեն. այստեղ մարդիկ շատ ազնիւ են եւ նման խստութիւններ երբեք չեն բանեցնում:

Կէս ժամ տեւեց մեր այցելութիւնը. հիւանդապահ պահակը ներս եկաւ եւ հասկացրեց, որ ժամանակ է մեկնելու:

Դուրս եկանք հոգեպէս բոլորս շատ ընկճուած տրամադրութեամբ:

[Arpa]

　

Today, Sept. 26 , 2013 is the 144^th anniversary of the birth of Komitas.**

http://www.yerakouyn.com/?p=39647

Beside the heartrendingly sad songs, let us today listen to his more happy ones.

Vagharshapati Par**

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3f6v-UhQIg

** Did you know that Komitas was born in the same year as his soul brotherToumanian and that they were in constant contact, where Komitas advised Hovannes to not use so many furkish words.

**Today in spite of much attempt, Vagharshapat, most people still know it as Ejmiatsin.

http://hy.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D5%8E%D5%A1%D5%B2%D5%A1%D6%80%D5%B7%D5%A1%D5%BA%http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagharshapat,_ArmeniaD5%A1%D5%BF

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vagharshapat,_Armenia

No, please Komitas did not write music like Dolmayi Par.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb5rNQTNtKc

Edited September 26, 2013 by Arpa

[Arpa]

　

GREAT EXPECTATIONS IN ANTICIPATION

ՄԵԾ ԱԿՆԿԱԼԱՆՔ ԵՒ ԱԿՆԿԱԼՈՒՄ

http://www.armenianmusicarch.com/Resources/komitas.jpeg

http://www.armenianmusicarch.com/Resources/komitas.jpeg

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/4/20/1303313641909/Detail-of-painting-of-Kom-007.jpg

http://armenpress.am/eng/news/736340/script-of-movie-devoted-to-archimandrite-komitas-to-be-ready.html

 

11:45, 12 October, 2013 YEREVAN, OCTOBER 12, ARMENPRESS. The Script of the movie devoted to Archimandrite Komitas with the initiative of "Armenia Production" is already ready. The chief producer of the company, Valeri Sahakyan, in the interview with the reporter of Armenpress pointed out that as the movie named "Patient" is getting ready for the provision of the global movie rental, it is not random that the complete variant of the script is now passing an editing stage in Hollywood. "The final edition of the script in Hollywood will last about 1 and a half months, after which, I think, the shooting of the movie will start. The date of the movie to appear on the great screen can be outlined in the autumn of 2014," told Sahakyan. He informed that the author of the movie script is Armenian Marc Aryan which is his literary pseudonym. Komitas, a.k.a. Soghomon Soghomonyan, was born on September 26, 1869 in Anatolia, Turkey, in the town of Koutina (Ketaia). His father, Gevorg Soghomonyan was a shoemaker but he also composed songs and had a beautiful voice. The composer's mother - Tagui - was also singled out for her vivid musical abilities; she was a carpet weaver. Komitas's childhood was joyless and full of deprivations. He lost his mother when he was less than one year old, and because his father was too busy his grandmother took care of him. At age 7 Komitas entered the local elementary school. As soon as he finished school his father sent him to Broosa to continue his education. However, he failed and 4 months later he came home having ultimately become an orphan: his father passed away and Soghomon was only 11 years old... "He was a frail, weak, pale boy, always thoughtful and kind. He was dressed poorly," one of his classmates recalled about Komitas. Soghomon was often seen sleeping on the cold stones of the laundry room. He could sing perfectly, and no wonder in Koutina he was nicknamed "a little vagrant singer". For his delightful voice Soghomonyan was also indebted to an event that fundamentally changed the entire course of his life. In 1881 the priest of Koutina, G. Dertsakyan, had to leave for Echmiadzin to be ordained a bishop. At the request of the Catholicos he brought the gifted orphan boy with him to study at the Echmiadzin Church Seminary. Twelve-year old Soghomon was selected out of the other 20 orphans to study at the Seminary. As it was forbidden to speak Armenian at that time the boy spoke Turkish and when being greeted by the Catholicos Gevorg IV, he replied, "I don't speak Armenian, if you wish I will sing". Then with his fine soprano voice he sang an Armenian sharakan (a church hymn) without understanding the words. Due to his exclusive aptitude Soghomon overcame all the obstacles in a very short time and perfectly learned Armenian. The genius of Armenian music found his final shelter in Paris, in the suburban sanatorium Vil-Jouif where he spent almost 20 years of his life. On the 22nd of October the life of the Great Komitas came to an end. In the spring of 1936 his remains were transported to Armenia and buried in Yerevan - in the Pantheon of prominent art figures. No less tragic was the destiny of Komitas' creative legacy. The majority of his manuscripts were destroyed or lost all over the world... "The Armenian people found and recognized its soul, its spiritual nature" in Komitas' songs. Komitas Vardapet is a beginning having no end. He will live through the Armenian people, and they must live through him, now and forever"(Vazgen I, the Catholicos of all Armenians)

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[Arpa]

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ՏՈՒՆ ԵԿՈՒՐ ԴԱՇՆԱՄՈՒՐ

COME HOME PIANO

ՆԵՐԴԱՇՆԱԿ ԴԱՇՆԱԿ- HARMONIO PIANO

http://hetq.am/arm/news/59589/mi-cucanmushi-patmutyun-komitasi-amenatank-nvery.html

 

 

http://hetq.am/eng/news/59589/priceless-artifact-komitas-piano-returns-home.html

 

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Priceless Artifact: Komitas Piano Returns Home

11 April, 2015

By Anna Babajanyan

The Komitas Museum-Institute, which opened in January, received its most expensive exhibition piece from the Charents Museum of Literature and Artsthe grand piano Komitas himself used for composing.

This journey, however, was not unswerving. For decades this pianos abode changed from one to the next before reaching its final resting place.

And Komitas, the greatest Armenian musician, was deprived of the opportunity to have this legendary historical artifact for many years. It would have been unbelievable for the distinguished archimandrite Komitas to have given concert performances of his popular and spiritual songs and have led a choir with this instrument, but he actually composed on a tiny antique piano housed in Etchmiadzin congregation hall. That instruments keyboard was nowhere near substantial enough for Komitas.

Its well known that Komitas dwelled with humble furnishings at the time, and even if he had the means, he wouldnt have spent anything on himself.

Hovhannes Tumanians observations demonstrated just how modest his living situation was. One of Tumanians letters read: Someone like Komitas, whos even admired in Europe, is not able in his own country to obtain a piano and doesnt have the means to travel the regions to perform the work that only he himself can accomplish and that would bring so much glory to our nation.

 

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According to one legendary tale from Komitass life, the earnings from one of his concerts, amounting to 1,000 gold coins at that time, were donated to the state hospital.

Imagine how great Komitass happiness and appreciation was when in 1907 the prominent Armenian entrepreneur and philanthropist Aleksander Mantashian gifted him an expensive piano. Incidentally, Mantashian was so impressed with the 27-year-old composers talent that he sponsored Komitass higher education in Germany.

The spectacular Schröder Royale was placed in Komitass apartment and, at the time, he rushed to share his happiness with his closest friends

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In his letter addressed to vocalist and pianist Margarit Babayan, Komitas wrote:

Now I have a big Schröder piano in my home. Youll know just how thrilled I am whenafter banging out on the piano puts the room topsy-turvy for the first time and people are sent on their wayIm left all alone. My eyes cant believe that Im finally becoming respectable and I have the proper conditions in which to work, and continue working. For a moment I was frozen in my own happiness, the torrent of tears began twirling in my eyes, and Imy heart, my mind and lifecalmed and became reconciled because I now have a way to work, a most imperative way.

For many years multiple initiatives and organizations have exerted great efforts in finding the relics that belonged to Komitas in different parts of the world and bringing them home, including the legendary Schröder.

Thankfully that has happened, and the display of the Schröder in the Komitas Museum-Institute is testimony to that dedication.

It wouldnt necessarily be far-fetched for some to think that had Mantashian not been known for his own undertakings, his benevolence towards Komitas would have sufficed for his own place in history.

[Yervant1]

Music of Komitas played in UNESCO headquarters

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16:59, 30 November, 2016

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 30, ARMENPRESS. Herman Makarenko – conductor of Ukraine’s national opera, artistic director and conductor of “KievClassic” orchestra, became the first Ukrainian to be named UNESCO “Artist for peace”.

During the awarding ceremony in the UNESCO headquarters in Paris on November 29, works of famous Armenian singer/composer Komitas were played by the “Kiev-Classic” orchestra during a special concert program, Analitikaua.net reported citing the press service of Ukraine’s Union of Armenians.

The Ukrainian conductor is famous for his permanent participation in large-scale musical projects organized by the Armenian embassy in Ukraine and the Union of Armenians. One of the latest concerts of Herman Makarenko was the evening-requiem dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide.

http://armenpress.am/eng/news/869925/music-of-komitas-played-in-unesco-headquarters.html

[Yervant1]

Armenian Weekly

Oct 2 2017

Halide Edib Adıvar on Komitas

By Meliné Karakashian on October 2, 2017

Special to the Armenian Weekly

I first heard the name of Halide Edib Adıvar in Turkey, in 1997, while on a tour, when the tour guide referred to the Genocide of Armenians as “The dark days of our country’s history” and stated that she had read Halide Edib’s writings. I then read a passage in a newspaper, on a meeting of Edib with Komitas [Gomidas] after the latter’s return from exile, in 1915. I kept this article and read it again when writing a book on Komitas’s mental state (see Komitas: Victim of the Great Crime, 2014).

Komitas (Photo: Komitas Museum-Institute)

I subsequently bought Edib’s Memoirs of Halide Edib (2005), in which Edib writes not only about her encounter with Komitas but also about becoming the principal of the orphanage in Antoura (then Syria, now Lebanon) on the invitation of Cemal/Jemal *****; I knew about Antoura orphanage, having read my teacher’s, Karnig Panian’s memoirs of his childhood—from his native Gurin to the orphanage and more. Because I explore the psychological consequences of the genocide, both subjects interested me: Komitas’s mental state and happenings at the Antoura orphanage.

Halide Edib was the daughter of Sultan Abdul Hamid’s secretary, Edib Bey. She attended a Christian Greek school and was raised appreciating tolerance, according to the introduction to her Memoirs. Halide Edib was a respected feminist and nationalist Turkish writer and novelist; in the introduction to her memoirs, H. Dak states, “Although not the first, Halide Edib (1882-1964) is the most prolific Ottoman-Turkish woman writers, with 21 novels, four short story collections, two dramas, four scholarly works and a two-volume autobiography.”

Reading her memoirs, the discerning reader notices the author’s tendentious, biased representations of Komitas, and Armenians generally, combined with a real appreciation of his art and work.

We learn, for example, about Turk Ocak/Ojak, where Komitas was invited to perform a few weeks before his imprisonment. Edib writes, “It is in that hall that I came to know Goumitas [sic] Vartabet, the Armenian priest, musician, and composer. He was one of those musicians, actors, and lecturers of fame whom the Ojak invited to address its weekly audiences.

“Goumitas had become very famous with the Anatolian songs and the music of the old Gregorian chants which he had collected during years of patient labor in Constantinople and Anatolia. He had trained a choir of the Armenian youth and was considered a great leader among the Armenians.”

Edib continues, “As he appeared in the long black coat of the priest, his dark face as naïve as any simple Anatolian’s, and his eyes full of the pathos and longing which his voice expressed in its pure strong notes, I felt him an embodiment of Anatolian folk-lore and music.

“The airs were the ones I had often heard our servants from Kemah and Erzeroum sing. He had simply turned the words into Armenian. But I did not pay any attention to the language; I only felt the inner significance of that tender and desolate melody from the lonely wastes of Anatolia.”

Edib further writes, “Goumitas came from Kutahia and was of very poor parents. They knew no Armenian, and Goumitas learned it only in later life. His parents were probably of Turkish descent, from the Turkis who had joined the Gregorian church. The Byzantine rulers had called in Turkish tribes to form a barrier against the Saracenic invasions, and though these were mostly put along the southern frontiers, some might have moved elsewhere…. He was an Armenian nationalist whether his origin was Turkish or Armenian, but in temperament and heart he was a real Anatolian Turk if unconsciously….

Halide Edib Adıvar

“As a man and as an artist Goumitas was of a quality one rarely meets. His asceticism, the pure and beautiful simplicity with which he taught the Armenians, might well have been imitated by other nationalists. His way of expressing Anatolia both in song and in feeling was profoundly worth hearing.”

Edib is correct that Komitas knew Turkish well; however, she is incorrect in stating that Komitas had collected his music in Constantinople. By the time Komitas moved to Constantinople, in 1910, he had already collected peasants’ songs in Eastern and Western Armenia as well as Anatolia.

Moreover, in his autobiography, dated June 24, 1908, Komitas states clearly, “I was born on September 26[1], 1869 in Asia Minor, in the city of Godin or Kutahya. They christened me on the third day and called me Soghomon. My father, Kevork Soghomonian, was a native of Kutahya, while my mother, Takouhi Hovhannisian, a native of Brusa. Both were Armenian. Both families were known for their singing voices…. Songs composed by my mother and father in the Turkish [Dajig] language, a few of which I had already written down in 1893, in my native town are still sung with great admiration by the elders there….”

Kutahya Armenians spoke Turkish. Takouhi composed songs in Turkish. Kutahya Armenians, like many other Armenians in Turkey, were severely punished for speaking Armenian. Komitas’s familiarity with the Turkish language and the fact that he re-arranged the songs his mother sang in Turkish do not make him a Turk. He was an Armenian whose roots went back to the Tsghna Village in Koghtn county, Nakhichevan, formerly Armenian, now in Azerbaijan.

Memoirs of Halide Edib was first published in English in 1926 (Photo: The Century Co.)

Edib continues, “The acquaintance that began that day continued, Goumitas often coming to my house to sing. He continued to come even after the Armenians and Turks were massacring each other. We both silently suffered under the condition of things, but neither of us mentioned it. Mehemmed Emin and Yahia Kemal Beys, both great poets who had always taken a humanitarian view of nationalism, were interested in his personality and came to hear him. Youssouf Akchura also came, prompted by his love of music, but he declared that Goumitas had done a great harm to the Turk by stealing his popular culture in the form of music and songs.”

Those views were not unique to Edib and Akchura.

In March of 1915, at the Ojak, at the conclusion of Komitas’s performance, the audience composed of Turkish and non-Turkish music-loving society had sighed deeply; some had shouted, “May God protect him from the evil eye.” [Karakashian, p. 93]. The speaker of the day had stressed that the child of Anatolia, the Armenian priest, through his dedication and hard work, had given wings to Armenian music, presenting the folk songs he collected as Armenian national heritage, whereas Turkish clergy had not done that….

Komitas continued his work until his imprisonment, on April 23, 1915. Referring to an encounter after his exile in 1915, Edib writes:

Goumitas one day sang an Ave Maria in Armenian which belonged to the sixth century, a thing of rare mystical beauty; and the utter ecstasy and religious emotion of the air so fascinated me that I asked him if he had set any of the Psalms to music.

“Yes,” he said, “the one-hundred-and-first.”

“Are you too tired to sing it?” I asked.

He had thrown himself into the low chair near the piano, and his face was white and full of strange lines of pain.

He began singing without moving from the chair. As he began to sing I felt that the air had none of the sacred and humble beauty of the Ave Maria… It awed me and made me feel strange. I instinctively took the Bible from the bookcase near me and found the last stanzas of Psalm 1010, “I will early destroy all the wicked of the land: that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the Lord.”

It was the cry of the hatred and vengeance of his soul for my people…. In 1915 the Ojak generously used its influence to have him spared from deportation, but in 1916 he had a serious disturbance in his mind, which gave way under the strain of those horrible times. Dr. Adnan begged Talaat ***** to allow him to go to Paris for a cure, and this was accorded to him. He is still in an asylum.

My book, Komitas: Victim of the Great Crime, of course presents the events differently, through research.

***

References

Edib, H. A. (2005/1926). Memoirs of Halide Edib. A. Pankoff (Ed.).

Karakashian, M. (2014). Medz Yegherni Zoheh. Yerevan: Dall.

Karakashian, M. (2014). Komitas: Victim of the Great Crime. Yerevan: Zangak.

Komitas Vartabed Gudinatsi (Michin Asya, Brusayi Marz), (Hounis 24), Inknagensakroutioun.

Notes

[1] The Julian and Gregorian calendars have a 12 days difference from 1800 to 1900, and 13 days after 1900.

https://armenianweekly.com/2017/10/02/karakashian-halide-edib-adivar-on-komitas/

[Yervant1]

Armenpress.am

Pashinyan lambastes bureaucratic system behind culture after witnessing embarrassingly small audience at “superb” concert honoring Komitas

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11:02, 30 January, 2019

YEREVAN, JANUARY 30, ARMENPRESS. In new Armenia, people must be in real and constant relationship with arts and culture, national values must be close to people like a parent, a friend, PM Nikol Pashinyan said after witnessing how very few people have attended the “powerful” concert of the Armenian National Academic Choir in honor of the 150th anniversary of birth of Komitas.

“Yesterday I and Anna went to the Armenian National Academic Choir’s concert dedicated to the 150th anniversary of birth of Komitas. 150th anniversary of birth of Komitas, National Academic Choir, conducted by National Hero of Armenia Hovhannes Chekijyan, superb concert. And – a semi-empty hall. This is the real face of our cultural life and policy. Ask anyone and they will say that Komitas, Chekijyan, and the Academic Choir are our national values. But the system is built in a way to make as little people as possible to interact with this national value. Because, this is high national value right, “it’s not for everyone”, masterpieces of art should be kept at the storages of museums (like rococo glasses kept in the closet”, because they are values and aren’t for daily use. As few people as possible must go to museums or not go at all. And so on..,” the PM said sarcastically.

He emphasized that the cultural policy’s goal should be the elimination of this system. He says that the perception must be sowed as early as from school. “It is this very problem or group of problems that the ministry of education, science and culture must solve,” he said.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

 

 

https://armenpress.am/eng/news/962420.html?fbclid=IwAR0V2cOCtXv5S13h6qJIRaTbr6TEtQzgQ4ziZa9QG_Q3qjUW3GrzNWXCBIc

[Yervant1]

Asbarez.com

UNESCO to Mark Gomidas, Hovhannes Tumanian Anniversaries

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Gomidas (left) Hovhannes Tumanian

The 39th Session of the UNESCO General Conference held in Paris, France has decided to include the 150th anniversaries of Gomitas and Hovhannes Tumanian in the UNESCO Calendar of anniversaries of eminent personalities and important events of 2018-2019.

The proposals on “The 150th anniversary of the birth of Soghomon Soghomonian, known as Gomitas Vardapet (1869-1935), composer, ethnomusicologist, researcher and singer” submitted by Armenia with the support of France and Germany, and “The 150th anniversary of the birth of Hovhannes Tumanian (1869-1923), poet, writer, translator” submitted by Armenia with the support of Georgia and Russia have been approved by the organization.

It should be noted that since 1998, 23 anniversaries submitted by the Republic of Armenia have been included in the UNESCO Calendar of anniversaries of eminent personalities and important events.

Two anniversaries submitted by the Republic of Armenia were included in the Calendar for the 2016-2017: “The 350th anniversary of the first printed Bible in Armenian by Voskan Yerevantsi,” and “The 200th anniversary of the birth of Ivan Aivazovsky (1817-1900).”

 

 

http://asbarez.com/177465/unesco-to-mark-gomidas-hovhannes-tumanian-anniversaries/?fbclid=IwAR3EnxrJxkrX7-dLTlomEiwRy0nnY3LdcMt8YRSUXRX06aTz863DGTPf5NY