THE MUSIC OF GENERATIONS

Music can kill you, can revive you, give you an unearthly sensation of flight and plunge you into the profoundest depths of human passions. Wikipedia says laconically and dryly, but quite accurately, that music is the stamp of what is outside the human being: of God, of the essence of everyday life, of the reality that surrounds us, of what is positive.

A soiree has been held at the Baku Philharmonia dedicated to the memory of the talented Azerbaijani composers Soltan Ismayil oglu and Ismayil Soltan oglu Hacibayovs, the father and the son. Their creative works have gone down as jewels of Azerbaijani musical culture and become the property and pride of our nation. This year Soltan Hacibayov would have been 95 years old and Ismail Hacibayov 65 years old.

Any Azerbaijani knows that the Hacibayovs had their roots in Susa [Shusha; Nagornyy Karabakh], just as they were closely related to [the composer] Uzeyir Hacibayov. In Azerbaijan moreover they say that any native of Susa is genetically predisposed to the art of music. The natural environment in Nagornyy Karabakh has taken care of this. A person who finds himself in the orbit of music ceases to belong to himself. The law of the desire to keep on composing comes into force and lasts all his life. Music, like any other field of human activity, transforms its creator first and foremost and moulds his personality.

Sometimes it is passed down from generation to generation, from father to son to grandson. True, the youngest in this family, Mahammad, is intending to become a conductor and not a composer. But who knows? His grandfather, Soltan, also started out by learning to play the trumpet, which did not in any way stop him from becoming a remarkable composer who wrote music for concerts and films, musical and drama theatres and opera houses, for the ballet and vocal performances. Soltan Hacibayov's numerous government awards, prizes and titles, which Wikipedia lists in detail, testify not only to the extent of his talent, but also to the recognition of creative works as a standard of cultural and intellectual values.

Soltan Ismayil oglu Hacibayov

The first part of the concert was dedicated to his creative works and started with the symphonic piece "The Caravan". It is a shame that words cannot describe how delightful and charming this music sounds. The work is so refined and precise in the way it conveys the mosaic-like picture of the changing expanse of the landscape, the thoughts, the emotions, the feelings, so that a simple idea comes into one's head, namely that, if this person had not written anything else except this symphony, he would still go down in the history of world music as a genius! The symphony orchestra of the Philharmonia, conducted by Rauf Abdullayev, brilliantly played not only this piece of music, but the other works of the composer as well, conveying a joyful sensation of that life that remains in the distant past, but lives on in our emotional memory as a memento of the present! One can only think what a harmony of feelings and sensations there is in it, what a belief there is in tomorrow. And how much love and light there is in that music! You can prescribe it as a treatment instead of powders and pills, as a panacea to combat spiritual emptiness and boredom.

Ismayil Hacibayov

He also became a composer like his father. Only Ismayil's world sounded quite different. It was as if he had a presentiment of the turning point in human awareness and perception of the world that occurred at the end of the 1980s. There is no hazy expanse in his music striving for other worlds and other sensations: it is heading straight forwards towards the horizon. The resilience of that passionate, emotional, lively sound, exploding with overflowing feelings, rises skyward and seeks a way out of your soul, like a bird trying to rush out of a cage. This is "Cangi", a rhapsody for piano with orchestra. Playing the piano is Ulviya Hacibayova, a musician, professor at the conservatoire, a splendid interpreter of the music written by her deceased husband.

This work appeared in the 1970s when few people understood him. His music met with a lot of criticism and lack of understanding on the part of his colleagues in the world of music. Niyazi did not understand either. Only Qara Qarayev was proud of him, saying that his pupil wrote this rhapsody. "Cangi" received an enthusiastic reception in Moscow. Then suddenly the score of the rhapsody went missing. The score was only restored 22 years later thanks to Rufat Xalilov, one of Ismayil's students.

He passed away in 2006, at the age of only 56 years. Ismayil Hacibayov left oil paintings and his music: suites, rhapsodies, concertos for violin and cello with orchestra, concertos for piano with orchestra… His last painting was a portrait of his wife. It is an amazingly harmonious painting, winning one over with its precision and penetrating effect. Here it was as if he were looking beyond the horizon and looking in greater depth into the most secret corners of the soul of a woman with her secrets, of the woman who was his wife, his beloved and reliable, loyal friend, Ulviya Hacibayova.

Ulviya

Suddenly he ceased to be. What is more, she was neither prepared for it at that time nor now. Therefore she talks about her husband as if he's just gone out somewhere and will be back soon. She recounts how he loved his students, how he constantly tried to feed them her lunches, believing that none of them ever got enough to eat; how he did not know how to barge through to get the fame he deserved; how he always hung around on the side lines and never strutted around, boasting that he was personally acquainted with Heydar Aliyev, of whom he always spoke with reverence and respect

He was proud that his student Vasif Allahverdiyev wrote a symphony and dedicated it to Heydar Aliyev back in the period when he was living in Naxcivan. Ismayil Soltanovich had a charismatic personality. He attracted people to him with his inner nobleness and special way of thinking, which is typical of people of aristocratic spirit. Therefore the space without him seemed frightening and terrifying to her. She seized upon the idea of writing six books and creating 15 discs as if grabbing at a straw. She immersed herself in that to such an extent that she sometimes even forgot to have a cup of tea…

The concert in memory of her father-in-law and her husband was not a tribute to tradition, but a well-founded need in continuing the dialogue with the only person who for her embodied the features of the ideal husband: a personality, a husband and the father of their son. The work on these projects disciplined her thoughts and did not permit her to focus on the tragedy in such a way that she would go beyond its extent. It's a good thing that their son, their boy, was at her side. He took care of her, letting it be known with each of his actions that he, his father's son, was there with her. But at that time Mahammad was barely 18 years old. They had to live and survive and without Ismail. But he always had his music with him, part of his soul. And this provided the possibility of continuing the dialogue.

Postscript

Ulviya Hacibayova belongs to a very old family, the Vakilovs. It was customary for women to be strong in their family. This is exactly how she is behaving. She is working, engaged in creating works, concerning herself with the fate of her son which is still unclear. and very much hoping that an opera written by her husband will soon be staged at our opera house. The opera has a very beautiful name: "Firuza". Hopefully the performance will beautiful too. This would be a fine continuation of the beautiful relationship between Ulviya and Ismayil. It would be a fine sequence in the continuing life of the composer's musical works. It would not simply be a tribute to the memory of descendants living in the 21st century, but continuity for generations who know how to preserve the cultural heritage of their own people for time to come. Simply, loyally and reliably, without any fuss, just as it should be in the mutual interaction between the artist, the creator, and people, who are to preserve it…