FROM: AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE 890 Broadway New York, New York 10003 (212) 477-3030

ARAM KHACHATURIAN

Aram Khachaturian was born in Tbilisi, Georgia, in 1903, the son of an Armenian bookbinder. Folk music, which became an assured element of his musical style, made a strong impression in his childhood. After studies at the Tbilisi Commercial College, Khachaturian moved in 1921 to Moscow where he studied biology at college and undertook private instruction in cello at the Gnesin Institute and, later, composition with Reinhold Glière and Mikhail Gnesin.

Subsequently, he enrolled at the Moscow Conservatory, where he completed graduate studies in

1936, the same year as the composition of his Piano Concerto. Khachaturian was accepted into the

Soviet Composer’s Union in 1932 and was named deputy chairman of its organizing committee in

1939. Khachaturian’s mature musical style represents a synthesis of Armenian song and folk instrumental tradition, particularly that of the ashugh or troubadour, colorful harmonic idiom, complex meters and lavish orchestration. Along with Prokofiev and Shostakovich, he came to define musical culture during the Soviet era.

In addition to the Piano Concerto, Khachaturian wrote concertos for the violin and cello. Other significant works include three symphonies, incidental music for Lope de Vega’s The

Widow of Valencia and Lemontov’s Maskarad, three ballet scores: Schast’ye [Happiness] (1939),

Gayane (1942) and Spartacus (1950-54), several film scores, and numerous pieces for piano. His

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Second Symphony, Gayane and Violin Concerto were awarded state prizes. In the 1960’s,

Khachaturian composed three concerto-rhapsodies for the violin (1961), cello (1963) and piano

(1968), all with orchestra.

Khachaturian was widely admired as a conductor and teacher—he taught both at the

Gnesin Institute and the Moscow Conservatory, appointed in 1950—and influenced composition in Armenia and beyond, notably in Asia and South America.

Much of the music for Of Love and Rage, arranged by Philip Feeney, is drawn from

Gayane, which includes folk-inspired dances from Armenian, Kurdish, Georgian, Ukrainian and

Russian traditions, as well as the celebrated Sabre Dance. The score also includes the Adagio from the Gayane Suite No. 3 and interpolations from Khachaturian’s Piano Concerto, Piano Sonatina,

Pieces for the Young Pianist and Ostinato for Two Pianos.

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2019/2020

Sources: New Grove Dictionary of Music, Oxford University Press, 2001.