A PLAYWRIGHT'S PLAY

The Azerbaijani writer, playwright, translator, publicist, theatrical and public figure, Abdurrahim bay Asad bay oglu Haqverdiyev [1870-1933] did not have an easy life. It started off with a separation. He was only three years old when he lost his father. Mourning descended on their estate situated in the village of Agbulag near Susa [Shusha, Karabakh, Azerbaijan], with the untimely decease of Asad bay, who worked as a translator in the district administration office. His mother, Husnucahan xanim could not stop weeping, clinging onto her two small children, guarding them against this grief, which had torn their lives apart like a hurricane and turned it upside down.

Asad bay's older brother, Abdulkarim bay, looked devastated. His nephew was his only consolation. The brother and the family had named the infant born on 17 May 1870 after their father, Abdurrahim. The uncle had hoped he would be born even while his father was alive, because he had no children of his own. Abdulkarim bay treated his nephew like his own son, placed all his hopes in him and drew consolation from him. For it was Abdurrahim who was looked to to continue the famous Haqverdiyev family line in Nagornyy Karabakh.

His childhood

After the anniversary of Asad bay's death, Husnucahan left the house that she had come to as a bride with a dream of happiness. She had her little daughter Nabat in her arms. She left with tears in her eyes, frequently casting a glance over her shoulder. They had not allowed her to take her son Abdurrahim with her. Abdulkarim bay simply lived for his nephew and did not have the strength to part with him. Husnucahan xanim was very worried. She knew how cruel her brother-in-law's wife could be. She felt sure that, when Abdulkarim bay was not there, his wife would torment her son. This is why she did not want to leave him with them. But she could not make up her mind to go against her brother-in-law.

After his mother left, Abdurrahim bay got to know what a bitter feeling it was to be an orphan. No one dared to hurt him when his uncle was there. But when Abdulkarim was not there, they began to beat and torture little Abdurrahim. As soon as his uncle left the house, Abdurrahim would hide away in a secluded corner, so that no-one caught sight of him and he would create his own imaginary world there. It was a world in which he imagined his father and his mother and where he was happy…

When his uncle returned home, Abdurrahim felt that there was a close person in that world who would love and protect him. Abdulkarim would treat his nephew with affection and asked him if anyone had offended him while he had been away. The boy did not say anything, since he knew that, if he were to tell the truth, he would be tormented even worse when he uncle went out. It was precisely at that time that he understood that it is easier to put up with all the distress and torment in life if there is hope. He watched the gate in fear all day long and counted the minutes until his uncle, his greatest protector, came home. But one day he was even left without that. The bitter news came that his uncle had been killed by neighbouring feudal lords. 

It was as if he was plunged into darkness. His uncle's house became a real hell for him. The uncle's wife and her nephew needed not fear anyone now. They would beat the little boy all day. One day, he managed to get away from their grip and ran away from home barefoot. He did not stop until he reached the house where his mother, Husnucahan xanim, lived. A few years after the death of his father, Asad bay, she had married Hasanali bay and formed a new family. When she saw the son that she had yearned for for several years, she rushed towards him. She embraced him tightly, and both mother and son could not help crying. Husnucahan xanim called her little daughter Nabat, who burst into tears when she saw them: "Nabat, my dear little daughter, come here, this is your brother. Give him a kiss." Nabat ran up and threw her arms round her brother's neck.

His stepfather welcomed Abdurrahim . He was a literate person and was personally involved in bringing up and educating his seven-year-old stepson. He taught him to read, write and speak Russian. Husnucahan xanim became contented when Abdurrahim returned. Nabat was very glad to have him there; she was pleased that her brother, who was two years older than her, was going to live with them. Brother and sister were good friends right from the start

Hasanali bay used to spend every summer with his family at the country villa near Susa. The same thing happened in 1878. Nabat particularly liked that. She used to play with her brother and the neighbours' children right up until evening and bathe in the river… On that day they played catch for a long time and then went for a dip in the river. They splashed around in the water, laughed and enjoyed themselves. Suddenly the river began to seethe and the current became stronger. Unaware of the danger, the children continued to bathe there. But they soon understood how serious the situation was. The river became a merciless whirlpool which swept the children away like twigs. The children who had been playing happily just a moment ago, were carried away by the current right before people's very eyes.

People in the village began to shout: "The torrent is sweeping the children away."  Everyone ran to the river bank, but came to a stop when they saw the reddened river current. It would be fatal to swim in it. But it was unbearable to hear the doleful cries of the children. Several people who could swim jumped into the water to help them. But they did not manage to save them all. When they found six-year-old Nabat and brought her out onto the bank, it was already too late…The mother was devastated by Nabat's death. The summer that had begun so joyfully turned into a tragedy. It was only then that they recognised that the existence of that young child had been like a frill on their lives. Husnucahan suffered most all, reproaching herself that she had not been able to save her little daughter. The mother was broken-hearted, and Abdurrahim was so despondent because he had lost not only a sister, but a friend as well.

When he returned from the villa in the country, he no longer smiled and stopped playing with the other children. Nabat haunted him all the time. It was only his lessons with Hasanali bay that distracted him from thinking about her for short periods…

His creative quest

Two years after that, in the summer of 1880, Hasanali bay took the boy to Shusha where he enrolled him in a temporary summer school. This was where he became acquainted with Yusif bay Malik-Haqnazarov, whom he later remembered with enormous gratitude. In September he passed his exams and was accepted at a vocational school that had only just opened. But he did not forget his first teachers and frequently met up with them. Yusif bey was a great fan of the theatre. Village teachers who came to Susa in the summer months acted in shows that he put on first at his home and then at the town club. Since there were no other plays available, they only staged plays by Mirza Fatali Axundov. 

It was thanks to Yusif bey that the boy started to love the theatre. He created a new world in his imagination, but had not yet found a way to express his feelings. In 1884, he watched the play "Hekayati xirs-quldubasan" ("The Tale of the Bear that Beat the Robber") by M. F. Axundov, which he liked very much. He found and read the works of this author. Under the influence of his "Haci Qara", he wrote the comedy "Haci Dasdamir". He took what he had written to his teacher and asked him to take a look at it. This was the first effort by the young man who had decided to devote himself to the creation of works of literature. After reading his work and returning it to him, Yusif bay pointed out the weak points in the work so subtly that it only strengthened the young man's desire to write works of literature. Several works resulted from his creative quest, which did not differ much from "Haci Dasdamir" from an artistic point of view, which, as mentioned above, had been written under the influence of M. A. Axundov's comedy.

In 1890, when he had completed his studies in Susa, Abdurrahim bay headed for Tiflis [now Tbilisi, Georgia] to continue his education in the 7th class of a vocational school. This city opened up before him like a completely different world. He was particularly charmed by the theatrical life in Tiflis. He took up literature seriously. This is how the writer recalled those days many years later: "I began to take serious classes in literature in the 1890s, when I was attending the Tiflis vocational school; I became acquainted with the works of Russian authors like [Nikolay] Gogol and [Aleksandr] Ostrovskiy, European authors like Shakespeare, Moliere and [Friedrich] Schiller and others and began to go to the theatres in Tiflis regularly, once I had understood what a real drama was like."

In 1891, Haqverdiyev received his diploma when he finished the vocational school and set out for St. Petersburg, where he entered the road-construction engineers' Institute. He lived at the house of a retired general, whose wife taught the student French and to play musical instruments.

Haqverdiyev spent eight years in St. Petersburg. During that time he attended the lectures of well-known lecturers in the faculty of oriental studies as a free student and took an interest in the literary, cultural and theatrical life of the city. The Mariinskiy and Mikhaylovskiy theatres in St. Petersburg had an extensive repertoire and troupes of professional actors. But Abdurrahim bey thought that they were nowhere near as good as those at the Aleksandriynskiy theatre. He regarded this theatre as his second mentor after Yusif bay.

He read the works of the world's classic writers ecstatically. His desire to put his feelings on paper continued to grow and become stronger. In 1892 Haqverdiyev wrote the comedy "Yeyyarsan qaz atinii, gorarsan lazzatini" and, at the age of 26, in 1896, he wrote the tragedy "Dagilan tifag". Both works were published while he was living in St. Petersburg.

"Dagilan tifag" was staged in Shusha in 1896 with the participation of the author. Haqverdiyev's much loved teacher, Yusif bay Malik-Haqnazarov, played the main character, Nacaf bay, in the performance with a supporting cast of local amateur actors. 

In August 1897 theatre-enthusiasts in Shusha prepared the scene "Majnun at the grave of Leyli" with Abdurrahim bay directing, and this was remembered for many years by the local theatre fans. One member of the audience at that performance, Uzeyir Hacibayov, composed the first opera in the East, named "Leyli and Majnun" in 1907.

In 1899, Abdurrahim bay returned to Susa, where he lived for two years and wrote his most important work, the play "Baxtsiz cavan" ("The Unlucky Young Man") in 1900. Abdurrahim bay was quite familiar with the suffering of Farkhad, the main character in this work, which was in many ways similar to that of its creator…

His fate

From the very first day when he arrived in Susa his relatives began to exasperate Haqverdiyev by telling him: "That's enough, it's time to have a family." They insisted that he should marry the daughter of Mamo bay, Tukazban. They were related to Mamo bay - he was the husband of Abdurrahim bey's sister. For both of them it was a second marriage.  Abdurrahim's sister had two children by her first marriage and Mamo bey had a grown-up daughter, Tukazban. 

When he saw the girl, Haqverdiyev fell in love with her. Although there was a fairly large age gap between them, Mamo bey did not object to his daughter   marrying Haqverdiyev whom had known for a long time and greatly respected.

Tukazban, who had not had an education, did nevertheless have a fairly broad world outlook. She had a good memory. She recited off by heart to Abdurrahim bay folk tales and epics she had heard from her grandmother and mother. The interest in folk tales, which was sparked off by Tukazban khanum's influence, subsequently left an imprint on the works of Abdurrahim. The fairy-tale "Qizil don" ["Golden dress"] that he had heard from his wife motivated him to write the play "Pari cadu".

 Literary circles in Baku, where Abdurrahim bay had moved, welcomed him as their own. He set about writing zealously there. Elected a member of the Shusha authority in 1904, Abdurrahim bay returned to his home town. In 1906 he was dispatched to the State Duma [parliament] as the representative for Ganca province. After the Duma was dispersed, he remained in St. Petersburg for four months, where he wrote the play "Aga Mahammad shakh Qacar".

From St. Petersburg Haqverdiyev went to Tiflis, where he became acquainted with Calil Mammadquluzada, at whose suggestion he began to write satirical articles for the magazine "Molla Nasraddin". In that same year, he went travelling around different countries. He spent some time living in the Iranian city of Mazandaran, where he gathered even more materials for the play "Aga Mahammad  shakh Qacar".

After moving to Agdam in 1913, he then moved to Tiflis. He found himself a job at the Caucasus department of the union of towns. In 1918, he was sent as a , commissar to Borchali Uyezd [district], where he lived in Sulaverd for three months. After he returned to Tiflis, Abdurrahim bay was elected a member of the Georgian parliament from the National Council of Turks of Georgia. In February 1918 he went to Baku. As a representative of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan, he first went to Dagestan and somewhat later to Armenia.

After Soviet power was established in Azerbaijan in 1920, Haqverdiyev was appointed commissar and then head of the industrial department at the state theatre.

Besides being active as a writer, Abdurrahim bay was a splendid pedagogue. He was therefore pleased to accept the offer to be  a lecturer at Azerbaijan's State University.

Haqverdiyev did not have any children, so he took care of Fatima, the five-year-old daughter of his sister, whom he treated like his own child. This depressed Tukazban xanim who blamed herself for them not having children. Although it was difficult for her, she took the decision to divorce Abdurrahim bay, so that he could form a new family and have a child. Tukazban, who lived for many years after that, remained on her own till the end of her days and never remarried. But Abdurrahim married a Tatar woman, Yevgenia Osipovna. This woman, whom he called "Ceyran" stayed with him to the very end of his life. But Abdurrahim bey did not have any children by his second marriage either.

He was a real aristocrat, attracting people's attention with his neat and attractive appearance. Many partings and sufferings, hardships and bitterness befell him in life. But they did not break Abdurrahim bay. It was with this determination that he overcame a heart attack at the age of 63.

At 10 o'clock in the evening on 10 December 1933 he suffered a major heart attack. The doctors were called. Although the treatment administered did help,  he had a second heart attack the next day and on 11 December 1933 the Merited Figure of the Arts of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Azerbaijan, the first diplomat and first conductor during the run of the opera "Leyli and Majnun", the founder and head of the theatrical society of Azerbaijan, Abdurrahim bay passed away.