THE PERIOD OF MATURITY

In September 1899 Komitas returned to Echmiadzin and started his musical activity right away. He came back to the motherland with the thirst of devoting himself to the art of his people and striving to be useful to it. In these years the composer’s esthetic views and his style ultimately developed. For a short period he radically changed the system of teaching music in the seminary, organized a small orchestra and perfected the performance level of the choir. By his arrival the composer seemed to manifest a new charge to the monotonous musical life of Echmiadzin.
He visited various regions of Armenia treating and putting down thousands of Armenian, Kurdish, Persian and Turkish songs.
He started serious scientific research work, studied Armenian folk and church melodies and worked on the decipherment of Armenian khazzes and on the theory of voices. In various countries of the world Komitas appeared as a performer and propagandist of Armenian music. In his concertos and presentations one could hear the confident voice of a patriot, a warrior, struggling for the national culture of his people. Komitas craved to tell the world about the centuries-old musical creativity of Armenians, to show the great literary value and prove the right for independence.
His first copybook of treated songs, named “The Armenian Lyre”, was issued in Paris in 1907. The composer began thinking over big, monumental musical forms. He had in mind to create the musical epic “Sasna tsrer” and continued working on the opera “Anush”, which he started back in 1904. Komitas managed to complete a major part of the opera. He wrote to H. Toumanyan: “I have begun writing much of your “Anush”, but there is still a lot to do to bring it together”. Unfortunately “Anush” was never completed.
Komitas would spend his time touring, giving presentations and lectures; he also performed as a soloist and conductor. He had the baritone, original for its richness and expressiveness. Due to the wide range of his voice Komitas could also sing part of the tenor. He also wonderfully mastered the flute and the piano. He was endowed with great power to influence his audience. While travelling the composer gathered and recorded the best samples of Armenian song creation.
The performances of Komitas in Alexandropole, Izmir, Cairo, Paris, Geneva, Bern, Lozanna and other places received great feedback from the press that genuinely admired and appreciated his art. The Swiss newspapers wrote: “Armenia is a country of mountains and fields like ours. Switzerland is her sister by nature, but what miracles Armenians took use of their nature, while we…”. In another newspaper we read: “The people of Komitas is expressed in his songs”.
The well-known musicians: Vincent D’Andy, Gabriel Fore, Camille Sen-Sans… fell in love with Komitas’ creative work.
After one of the concertos the outstanding French composer Claude Debussi exclaimed excitedly: “Brilliant father Komitas! I bow before your musical genius!” He paid high tribute to the merits of Komitas and his significance for the world music, saying, “If Komitas wrote only “Antouny”, that alone would be enough to consider him a great artist”. In Debussi's opinion Komitas was a revelation, the most remarkable phenomenon in the world of music.
And under the impression of the Paris concerto the well-known French musicologist Loui Lalua wrote, “Nobody could blame me for exaggeration if I said that this concerto was a revolution and that it surprised us with its performance. Of all the people present here, excluding subtle experts, nobody can picture the beauty of this art, which, in its essence, is neither European, nor oriental, but unique in its own way. This music, rich in live rhythms and flexibility, sounds as if it flows from the depth of the heart like a cool, pure and glowing stream. The sun shines in it, but it is not the hot sun of Arabia or Persia – it is rather a celestial, golden luminescence, whose warmth caresses the tops of snow-capped mountains, verdure of forests, babbling of rivulets. Deep in a human soul it was destined to preserve the purity of the smiling motherland, its love and belief in something bright – in life. The invaluable treasury of this purity, which could neither be found, nor stolen by Kurds or retrograde Turks, has come to us in the form of untouched beautiful songs, like fragrant beautiful flowers.”
Along with his creative work Komitas also broadened his music research plans. He started researching the peculiarities of the poetic and melodic structure of folk music more meticulously; he focused on the themes concerning folk music and revealed the content of folk songs.
No doubt, such world outlook had to result in an inescapable conflict between Komitas and the Church. Gradually the indifference of new leaders, negative attitude of the backward group of the church figures, gossip and slander increased so much that it poisoned the life of the composer: the man who remained in the imagination of the contemporaries as an absolutely worldly man. “I remember everything about Komitas except for his holy orders”, said Armenian writer Derenik Demirchyan, - “his cassock was simply the clothes of a worldly and folk man, who got into the temple by the will of destiny.”
The conflict turned so tense that Komitas sent a letter to the Catholicos begging him to release him and let him create and live quietly. “My nerves have become weak, I can no longer bear it, I seek peace and don’t find it. I crave an honest job, I am going insane, I want to stay away, close my ears not to hear, close my eyes not to see, bind my feet not to yield to temptation to subdue my feelings so that I don’t get angry, but I am only human, I cannot… I beg you tearfully – set me free from the oath to the Holy Echmiadzin…”
This request remained unanswered, and the persecution of Komitas became more obvious.
“I am surprised I am still sane in this atmosphere. Sometimes I want to fly far away, alone, and sometimes I want to close up and suffer, but what do I do but suffer?… Yes, but suffer not like this, I want to live alone with the muse in order not to defile my heart, not to confuse my thoughts, not to offend my soul and not to kill my conscience…”, wrote the composer to his close friend and student Margarit Babayan.
In 1910 Komitas left Etchmiadzin and went to Constantinopole. There he expected to find the environment that would understand him, protect him, and encourage his activity; and here he would be able to fulfill his dreams. Komitas wanted to establish a National Conservatory with which he connected the further destiny of his people’s music. He wrote that Constantinople was the city of tempting opportunities. It was both oriental and western; there were over 100,000 Armenians there… But the composer failed to accomplish this plan (as well as many others), for, as he used to say, “merely kind wishes are not enough to get anything done”. His inspired ideas were only faced with the cold indifference of the local authorities. Despite his disappointments Komitas went on working hard. He dedicated most of his time to teaching.
Komitas managed to prepare qualified teachers of music for secondary schools, unify the talented youth who he was going to prepare for a more serious music career (B. Kanachyan, V. Sargsyan, V. Srvandzatyan, G. Semerjan…).
In Constantinopole Komitas organized a mixed choir of 300 men and called it “Gousan”. It was very popular. Armenian folk songs constituted most of its concerto program.
The choir “Gousan” became well-known for its frequent concertos to all the Armenians of Constantinople, who, even on the foreign land wanted to enjoy the beauty of folk songs”, wrote Ahavni Mesropyan in her reminiscences.