YEARS OF STUDY
Komitas, a.k.a. Soghomon Soghomonyan, was born on September 26, 1869
in Anatolia, Turkey, in the town of Koutina (Ketaia). His ancestors
had moved over there from the village Tskhna of Gokhtan province
in the 17th century. Komitas’ 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. “The
members of our family had great impressive voices. The father was
a well-known tarist and the uncle was a sazist. My father and my
uncle – Haroutune Soghomonyan were the singers in our church
until their death. The songs of my mother and father, composed in
Turkish and in Turkish motifs (some of them being recorded by me
in 1893) are still sung in our town”, Komitas wrote.
Joyless and full of deprivations was Komitas’s childhood.
He lost his mother when he was less than a year old, and because
of his father’s business, 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 further
the 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, especially in the winter with severe cold weather,
as he would go to school chilled to the bone and blue with cold…
“We would put pillows on our seats, but Soghomon sat on a
fully bare board, his legs bent, reading and shivering with cold;
he would always warm up his frozen hands with his breath”,
one of his classmates recalled about Komitas.
Soghomon was often seen sleeping on the cold stones of the laundry
room. “He was often hungry and I almost always shared my breakfast
with him. For my “generosity” I would insist that he
sing to me with his fine voice and he never refused to do that.”
Sometimes the street boys would offend Soghomon. “When we
were together I tried to protect him to the extent of my strength,
but Soghomon had a wonderful means of protection: he would start
singing…”
He sang perfectly, and it was not by accident that in Koutina he
was nicknamed “a little vagrant singer”. For his delightful
voice Soghomonyan was indebted to this event, which 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, but if you
wish I will sing”. Then with his fine soprano voice he sang
an Armenian sharakan (a church hymn) not understanding the words.
Due to his exclusive aptitude Soghomon overcame all the obstacles
for a short time and perfectly learned Armenian (Komitas was also
known as a good expert of New Armenian and Old Armenian, called
grabar).
In 1890 Soghomon was ordained
a monk. The Church had great hopes regarding him, took pride in
him and paid special attention to him.
In 1893 he finished studying
at the seminary, then he was ordained a “Vardapet” (priest)
and acquired his new name “Komitas” - the name of the
outstanding poet of VII century, the author of sharakans. At the
seminary Komitas was assigned to teach music in the stead of a well-known
composer Khristophor Kara-Mourza. The latter provoked dissatisfaction
of the clergy by his progressive democratic activity and was fired.
Along with teaching, Komitas organized a choir, an orchestra of
folk instruments, and treated folk songs; he made the first researches
in the field of Armenian Church music.
In 1895 Komitas was ordained
an archimandrite. In the fall of the same year he left for Tiflis
to study at the musical college. However, when he met the composer
Makar Yekmalyan, who had received his education at the conservatory
of Petersburg, he changed his mind and started studying the course
on harmony by that composer. These studies became the original forerunner
and the firm basis for gaining the European technique of composition.
The further events of Komitas’s life were connected with the
large music center in Europe – Berlin, where he went to study
under the protection of the Catholicos, being financed by the largest
Armenian oil magnate Alexander Mantashyan. During the years spent
in Berlin Komitas totally immersed himself in his studies and creative
work and gained high professionalism. Despite financial hardships
he was able to fully utilize the rich skills he obtained while he
studied in Berlin.
Komitas entered the private conservatory of Professor Richard Schmidt.
Here he studied theoretic musical subjects, composition, and took
a course on the piano and the organ. Within the conservatory Komitas
took private classes on singing, elaborating his beautiful voice,
fine baritone. Simultaneously, Komitas was preparing to be a conductor;
he was present at the rehearsals of the symphonic orchestra, opera
rehearsals, concertos and performances. He also attended the lectures
on Philosophy, Esthetics, General History and History of Music.
While studying he had the opportunity to “communicate”
with European music, continually enriching the supply of knowledge,
and engaging in musical criticism. Upon the invitation of the International
Music Association he held lectures devoted to the Armenian Church
and contemporary music in comparison with Turkish, Arabian and Kurdish
music. His thesis was devoted to studying Kurdish music that proved
that he was a great expert of the Orient. Professor Richard Schmidt’s
remark that Komitas was “a passionate representative of the
Orient, ready to shed blood for each note” was no accident.
“You acquainted us with the culture of your motherland which
is situated so far away from us, and which has reached such a high
stage of development. We were surprised at your unsurpassed mastery,
both in your lectures and in the songs you performed, which will
never fade in our memory”, - wrote Doctor Max Seifert (Komitas
– Ethnographic collection, book 2, Yerevan, 1950. Yeolyan,
p.24).
“You can make a priceless contribution to modern science if
you publish your works”, Professor Oscar Fleischer wrote (the
teacher of History of Music at the university, Yeolyan, p.25).
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