Figurine of Komitas - Composer

Komitas Komitas (Sogomonyan Sogomon Gevorkovich) 09.25.1869-22.10.1935 - Armenian composer, folklorist, singer, choir conductor, public figure, teacher. In 1893 he graduated from the Theological Academy in Etchmiadzin, was ordained a hieromonk under the name Komitas, and since 1894 he was archimandrite. In 1895 he studied the theory of music with M.G. Ekmalyan in Tiflis. In the years 1896-1899. He lived in Berlin, graduated from the R. Schmidt Conservatory. In 1899, at the invitation of the International Music Society, he gave a lecture on Armenian music. In 1899 he returned to Etchmiadzin, taught music and directed the choir of the Theological Academy, performed with him in Tiflis, then in Paris, in Switzerland and Italy. He was engaged in collecting and researching Armenian peasant folklore, in 1913 he was on an expedition to Armenia, for the first time he recorded Kurdish songs. In 1915, impressed by the massacre of Armenians organized by the Turkish authorities, he became mentally ill. Since 1919 he lived in Paris. Komitas played an outstanding role in the formation of new Armenian music, became the founder of Armenian scientific musical folklore. His musical compositions reflected the life of the Armenian people, opened up new ways of creative use of national folklore. Thanks to the works of Komitas, polyphony penetrated into the Armenian worship, the Patarag (liturgy) created by him was performed in the Armenian Apostolic Church. The name of Komitas was assigned to the quartet of the Yerevan Conservatory (1946).