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).