IMMORTAL GENIUS

Azerbaijan celebrates Music Day on 18 September. An important event in the annals of the centuries-old Azerbaijani music took place on that day: Uzeyir bay Hacibayov, musical genius and founder of modern Azerbaijani professional music, academic, playwright, educator and prominent social activist, was born on that day.

Music for people

It was through Uzeyir bay's efforts to create the first orchestra of folk instruments to play from a musical score that polyphonic performance was made possible. Let us remind our readers that before him, monophony reigned in Azerbaijani musical performances.  Having created the first national choir in Azerbaijan, the great composer took on the hard and painstaking job of introducing polyphony. It is easy to imagine how difficult it was to teach polyphony in a situation when the number of players with a musical education was much smaller than the total number of singers in the choir.  Incidentally, numerous present-day groups cannot deliver polyphony, singing in the same voice and producing a blurred sound, which is hard upon the ears of the audience.

Uzeyir bay strove to develop music on a theoretical basis and knew that it was impossible to achieve progress without hard work. To promote the art, and upon Uzeyir bay's initiative; a special music school was created in 1921 for young men and women, to which more than 500 students were admitted. In 1926, the school merged with the Azerbaijani National Music Conservatory. There, in parallel with a general musical education, the youth mastered a practical and theoretical knowledge of Azerbaijani folk music.

The great composer, who never doubted that the colourful folk music provided a firm foundation for polyphonic forms, was certain that, at some stage of its development, the Azerbaijani folk music would introduce qualitative changes to the international music scene. He did not like formalistic music or a superficial attitude towards art.

Uzeyir bay was an admirer of works by the classical composers of world music - Giuseppe Verdi, Mikhail Glinka, Petr Chaykovskiy and others. He put great store in the melodic variety, subtlety of form and richness of content of the masterpieces by these composers. Everyone who tried to arouse his interest in formalistic compositions heard the same thing from the great composer: "Music should be composed in a way that people can appreciate." He advised students in the composition department to make simplicity, the national ethos and realism the priorities of their musical careers. He insisted that music for the people should be close to the people and that the connection with live folk music should not be severed. Uzeyir bay spared no effort to show young Azerbaijani composers where the true creative path lay. He deemed it a vital part of the professional growth of graduates of the Azerbaijani Conservatory to take part in performance competitions in Moscow, Leningrad and Baku, and he always welcomed invitations to be a juror at these events. He continually reminded the departments of the Conservatory which trained performers to pay special attention to the development of elements of Azerbaijani folk music.

Uzeyir bay was constantly involved in issues concerning vocal training. He always tried to bring in genuine talent with great voices. He dreamed of future national operas, performed by talented local soloists. Uzeyir bay was critical of near-sighted people who did not appreciate the importance of teaching the youth polyphony, orchestration and the reading of sheet music. He would say: "We do not need poorly educated musicians; we need broadly educated, creative people." Uzeyir bay wanted lectures to be interesting and he criticized teachers who complained about poor attendance at their classes: "You see only students, not yourself, as the reason for poor attendance at your lectures." The director's criticism resulted in teachers revising the structure of their lectures and in more interesting educational processes.

To be teacher

Uzeyir bay always paid special attention to research and educational methods at the Conservatory. He transformed the departments into scientific research centres of sorts. Purposeful work to improve the educational process, find the best solutions to problems related to training methods, adjust

t the direction of research and to improve the professional qualifications of teachers was his permanent focus. Uzeyir Hacibayov began his teaching career at the pedagogical school in the town of Gori, under the Tiflis Government. A Tatar department (at that time, Azerbaijanis were called Tatars) was opened to train ethnic Azerbaijani teachers in elementary schools. Ethnic Azerbaijanis had special full-board arrangements and studied in that department. After medical tests, the applicants took admission tests. Ethnic Azerbaijanis who passed the tests were admitted to the initial training classes, and ethnic Russians and Georgians - to higher training classes.

After passing the tests successfully, Uzeyir Hacibayov joined the initial training class. After five years of government-funded studies, the graduates were to work for at least five years as elementary school teachers in their native area. The singing lessons played an important role in sparking Uzeyir bay's interest in music. In these lessons he studied singing from sheet music, the musical scale, tones and half-tones and mastered the methods of two- and three-voice textures. Natives of the nearby villages and districts of Azerbaijan had tremendous difficulties in handling all this because they had never heard any Western music and did not know what a scale was. Those who mastered these issues were then allowed to sing as second and third voices. The pedagogical school focused on the students' ability to play a musical instrument. Teachers in elementary schools had to be able to play the violin in order to teach children to sing to its accompaniment. During his studies, Uzeyir learned to play the violin, cello and also the tenor bugle. Uzeyir's musical talents were so evident that he was included in the school's orchestra. The young student also played in the string orchestra. The school's orchestras performed marches and waltzes from Gound's "Faust," Verdi's "La Traviata" and Chaykovskiy's "Yevgeniy Onegin" at various concerts in Gori. The fact that Uzeyir Hacibayov, who had arrived from Karabakh and who had never heard a European polyphonic performance, learned the basics in just a few lessons caused great surprise among his classmates. Not only could he read the seconds and thirds from the score, but he also sang second tones. The youth were also surprised that not all the most assiduous students could sing the third, although Hacibeyov could. When he had mastered the theory and practice of singing, learned to play European musical instruments, accumulated experience of playing in bands and visited the opera in Tiflis, Uzeyir and his close friends discovered that they already had quite an advanced knowledge of European musical theory. His thorough knowledge of Eastern music, and especially Azerbaijani mugam, earned Uzeyir the respect of his friends. His melodic songs at parties and on Sunday outings were very much to the taste of his classmates. Shortly before his graduation, the future great composer invited his friends to the dining hall to perform Sebi Hicran in chorus, to the accompaniment of a violin. The performance turned out to be so beautiful that his friends were delighted. Later Uzeyir was to use the song as the opening chorus in the first Eastern opera, "Leyli and Macnun."

Uzeyir bay and his friends would stay at school during the winter and spring holidays because they could not afford to go home. They would take their violins and visit Tiflis for a few days to stay at their classmate Ali Teregulov's place. They played duos, trios and parts from Western European operas, and went to the Tiflis opera. On their return, the friends would discuss for hours the individual parts of the play, the skills of the performers and different aspects of the acting profession. They would frequently discuss the strengths of a recently read book and recite excerpts from works by Russian and European authors. The young men were testing their abilities.

Uzeyir liked reading Gogol's works, deriving special pleasure from the writer's subtle sense of humour, which the young man shared. The jocular poem which he wrote during his last year at school made his friends laugh for a long time. It has to be said that the poem had a history. To save money on students' haircuts, the inspector of the Tatar department decided to combine his position with that of barber and he brought a rusty machine from home.  But the blades were so blunt that hair would get caught in them; the process was so painful that young men would run away to the courtyard. The "barber" had to end his campaign to "cut expenses" and take the boys to the barber's shop.  This was the story at the heart of the poem which was so popular with the students.

Breaking stereotypes

Uzeyir bay Hacibayov is the history and present day of the centuries-long musical culture of Azerbaijan. He was a good writer, talented playwright and composer of many prominent pieces of music. His music reflects the unusual sensitivity, profound mind and lofty ideals of its composer. His creative talent manifested itself in many genres. Uzeyir bay is the founder, not only of Azerbaijani opera, but also of Azerbaijani musical comedy. He wrote the librettos of all his operas except "Koroglu." Thanks to the touching melodies and wonderful lyrics which are in places interrupted by subtly humorous episodes, the great composer earned his people's love, and quotes from his works became an inseparable part of our everyday speech. Some of his characters, who reveal their none-too-profound essence, make the audience laugh.

As we know, Uzeyir bay decided to write the first Eastern opera, "Leyli and Macnun," after seeing the tragic musical "Macnun at Leyli's Tomb" in Susa, which was performed by amateur actors. At that time he was only 13 and, anyway, it was hard to imagine that anyone with just a rudimentary musical education at a pedagogical school would be able to write an opera. Only a truly talented person could accomplish such a thing. Hacibayov moved to Baku and delved into his work, trusting that his classmates, who played violin and cello, and talented tar player Qurban Primov would assist him. The entire score of the opera was monophonic. At that time, Uzeyir bay was familiar only with the basics of the solfeggio, which he was taught at school, and had no idea of harmony, counterpoint, musical form or anything else that a composer should know. Nevertheless, "Leyli and Macnun" was hugely successful. In Uzeyir bay's own words, the main reason for its success lay in the fact that Azerbaijanis were anticipating their own opera. And it was written, combining real folk music and a classical plot.

After the successful first night of "Leyli and Macnun," Uzeyir bay composed the opera "Seyx Sanan" and the musical comedy "Husband and Wife." The operas "Asli and Karam" and "Sah Abbas", which he wrote in 1909, focused on the composer's music and correct orchestration. The comedy musicals "Husband and Wife" and "If Not That One, Then This One," and "The Cloth Peddler," which portrayed real developments of the period, conveyed ideas which were gaining currency within progressive circles of the Azerbaijani intelligentsia. All three works promoted the ideas of the liberation of women and a parting with retrograde traditions, albeit in a veiled form.

Uzeyir bay began to study the fundamentals and roots of folk music 20 years before he composed "Koroglu." He started work on this opera only when he considered himself ready. As in other operatic works, all the arias, duets, trios, recitals and other leitmotifs in "Koroglu" were to be based on the Azerbaijani mugam.

In his article, "The national character of music," Uzeyir bay wrote: "The mugam arrangement will introduce novelty and freshness to the general musical culture. In my opera "Koroglu," I chose to transcend a little the limits of the ancient folk style, in other words the work is written in a relatively free style. Staging it proved that, overall, opera was accepted by the people. And the reason for this was that when writing the music for it, and also when using my creative imagination, I based it upon a mugam arrangement."

Uzeyir Hacibayov's art was highly acclaimed by the prominent composers of the period. Famous Russian composer Tikhon Khrennikov wrote:  "Uzeyir Hacibayov ascended from the roots of folk music. He is a classic of Soviet music." People's Artist of the Soviet Union, Akaki Khorava, called Uzeyir Hacibayov the pride and treasure, not only of the Azerbaijani nation, but of the entire Soviet people.

The patriarch of Russian music, Dmitriy Shostakovich, prized Uzeyir Hacibayov for his talent, social activism and for his success as founder of the operatic art in Azerbaijan, a creative man who fundamentally reorganized the system of musical education in the republic.

The immortal poet Samad Vurgun called Uzeyir bay the "singer of the human soul," writer Mirza Ibrahimov - "a rare person in the history of Azerbaijani arts and culture," and prominent scientist Mammad Arif - "a true creative talent of the people."  Uzeyir bay was a genius whose name will remain immortal.