Babadjanian, Arno Harutyuni

(b Yerevan, 22 Jan 1921; d Yerevan, 11 Nov

1983). Armenian composer and pianist. He graduated from Talians
composition class at the Yerevan Conservatory in 1947, and in 1948
from Igumnovs piano class at the Moscow Conservatory; his
composition studies were continued under Litinsky at the House of
Armenian Culture in Moscow (19468). He taught the piano at the
Yerevan Conservatory (195056) and was himself a brilliant pianist.
In 1971 he was made a Peoples Artist of the USSR. His music
draws on Khachaturian and Rachmaninoff, but is unmistakably
individual, particularly in its scoring. The piano works are in a
virtuoso style, liberal in their use of touch, texture, rhythm and
register, and with expressive leading parts. This style was formed in
the 1940s; later he introduced Prokofiev-like chromaticism, Bartkian
rhythm and Schoenbergian dodecaphony into his music, achieving
his best work in the Violin Sonata, the Cello Concerto and the Shest'
kartin (Six Pictures) for piano. Babadjanians variation technique, an
important feature of his music, springs from folk ornamentation, while
peasant music forms the source of his irregular rhythms.
WORKS
(selective list)

Str Qt no.1, 1943; Pf Conc., 1944; Polifonischeskaya sonata, pf, 1947; Str Qt no.2,
1947; Vn Conc., 1949; Haykakan rapsodia [Armenian Rhapsody], 2 pf, 1950;
Herosakan Ballad [Heroic Ballad], pf, orch, 1950; Pf Trio, 1952; 4 par [4 Pieces], pf,
1954; Poem-Rhapsody, orch, 1954; Sonata, vn, pf, 1959; Vc Con., 1962; 6 kartin [6
Pictures], pf, 1965; Poem, pf, 1966; Str Qt no.3, 1976; Elegy, pf, 1978; Meditation,
pf, 1980; Vocalise, S, orch, 1981; variety songs and film scores
Principal publishers: Sovetakan Grokh; Sovetskiy Kompozitor

WRITINGS
Tol'ko vliyaniye vremeni [Only the influence of time], Sovetaka

arvest (1971), no.6, pp.1619

Chcialbym wzruszac serca [I want to stir hearts], RM, xxxii/8
(1988), pp.69; repr. in Arvest (1991), nos.23, pp..1417

BIBLIOGRAPHY
A. Grigoryan: Arno Babadzhanyan (Moscow, 1961)
Y. Yevdokimova: Shest' kartin Ar. Babadzhanyana
[Babadjanyans 6 Pictures], SovM (1967) no.2, pp.2024
Sh. Apoian: Fortepiannaya muzka sovetskoy
Armenii (Yerevan, 1968), 15067, 20109
S. Amatuni: Arno Badadzhanyan: instrumental'noye
tvorchestvo [Babadjanian: his instrumental work] (Yerevan, 1985)
G. Arakelian, ed.: Arno Babadjanian-75, Arvest (19667)
[special issue]
SVETLANA SARKISYAN