Soghomon Soghomonian,[A] ordained and commonly known as Komitas[B] (Armenian: Կոմիտաս; 8 October [O.S. 26 September] 1869 – 22 October 1935), was an Ottoman-Armenian priest, musicologist, composer, arranger, singer, and choirmaster, who is considered the founder of the Armenian national school of music.[4][7] He is recognized as one of the pioneers of ethnomusicology.[8][9]
Orphaned at a young age, Komitas was taken to Etchmiadzin, Armenia's religious center, where he received education at the Gevorgian Seminary. Following his ordination as vardapet (celibate priest) in 1895, he studied music at the Frederick William University in Berlin. He thereafter "used his Western training to build a national tradition".[10] He collected and transcribed over 3,000 pieces of Armenian folk music, more than half of which were subsequently lost and only around 1,200 are now extant. Besides Armenian folk songs, he also showed interest in other cultures and in 1903 published the first-ever collection of Kurdish folk songs titled Kurdish melodies. His choir presented Armenian music in many European cities, earning the praise of Claude Debussy, among others. Komitas settled in Constantinople in 1910 to escape mistreatment by ultra-conservative clergymen at Etchmiadzin and to introduce Armenian folk music to wider audiences. He was widely embraced by Armenian communities, while Arshag Chobanian called him the "savior of Armenian music".[11]
During the Armenian genocide—along with hundreds of other Armenian intellectuals—Komitas was arrested and deported to a prison camp in April 1915 by the Ottoman government. He was soon released under unclear circumstances and, having witnessed indiscriminate cruelty and relentless massacres of other Armenians by the Ottoman Turks, Komitas experienced a mental breakdown and developed a severe case of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The widespread hostile environment in Constantinople and reports of mass-scale Armenian death marches and massacres that reached him further worsened his fragile mental state. He was first placed in a Turkish military-operated hospital until 1919 and then transferred to psychiatric hospitals in Paris, where he spent the last years of his life in agony. Komitas is widely seen as a martyr of the genocide and has been depicted as one of the main symbols of the Armenian Genocide in art.[12] Collection of Works of the Composer Komitas Vardapet is included to UNESCO Memory of the World Register.
^Soulahian Kuyumjian 2001, p. 46.
^"Etchmiadzin. 1902". Virtual Museum of Komitas. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
^Lang, David Marshall (1980). Armenia: Cradle of Civilization. London: Allen & Unwin. p. 256. ISBN 9780049560079.
^ ab"Komitas". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 26 January 2014. Komitas [...] created the basis for a distinctive national musical style in Armenia.
^Editorial Board (1969). "Հայ ազգային երաժշտության հիմնադիրը [The Founder of Armenian National Music]". Lraber Hasarakakan Gitutyunneri (in Armenian) (11). Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences: 3–6. Archived from the original on 21 May 2017. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
^Poladian 1972: "He was among the pioneers in ethnomusicology, a younger contemporary of Carl Stumpf (1848–1936)."
^McCollum, Jonathan Ray (2004). "Music, Ritual, And Diasporic Identity: A Case Study Of The Armenian Apostolic Church" (PDF). University of Maryland. p. 11. Retrieved 4 February 2014. Komitas Vardapet, considered a pioneer in ethnomusicology, turned his attention to the anthropological, sociological, and historical aspects of comparative musicology.
^Crutchfield, Will (5 October 1987). "Music Noted in Brief; Choir From Armenia at Avery Fisher Hall". The New York Times. Retrieved 26 January 2014.
^Soulahian Kuyumjian 2001, p. 51.
^Soulahian Kuyumjian, Rita. Archeology of Madness: Komitas, Portrait of an Armenian Icon. Edition: 2, Reading, England: Taderon Press; Princeton, NJ: Gomidas Institute, 2001, p. 3.
Cite error: There are <ref group=upper-alpha> tags or {{efn-ua}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=upper-alpha}} template or {{notelist-ua}} template (see the help page).
Pantheon. The Music of Komitas – double LP released on the centenary of Komitas's birth. KCC, 1970. The Voice of Komitas Vardapet, Komitas Vardapet – archival...
renowned Armenian musicologist and composer Komitas. It is located adjacent to the pantheon at the Komitas Park of Shengavit district. The museum was opened...
here, including Komitas (1869–1935), the founder of Armenian national music, for whom it is named. There are 60 burials at the Komitas Pantheon. Below...
"Ucom" service centre HSBC bank on the avenue Komitas-Gyulbenkian intersection Shirvanzade school on Komitas Avenue 40°12′21″N 44°30′22″E / 40.20583°N...
Komitas I Aghtsetsi (Armenian: Կոմիտաս Ա Աղցեցի) or Komitas I of Aghdznik was a Catholicos of Armenia and Supreme Patriarch as well as the bishop of Taron...
Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan (Armenian: Երևանի Կոմիտասի անվան պետական կոնսերվատորիա), also known as Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory (YKSC)...
Komitadji, Comitadji, or Komita (plural: Komitadjis, Comitadjis, or Komitas) (Bulgarian, Macedonian and Serbian: Комити, Serbian Latin: Komiti, Romanian:...
collector, musicologist Komitas, and composers Alexander Spendiaryan and Romanos Melikian. Khachaturian acknowledged that Komitas "singlehandedly laid the...
2011 "History of Komitas Quartet". Virtual Museum of Komitas Vardapet. 21 January 1950. Retrieved 4 January 2022. "AUS hosts the Komitas Quartet". American...
Retrieved 2013-04-20. "Komitas Chamber Music Hall, information". Archived from the original on 2013-05-01. Retrieved 2013-04-20. Komitas Chamber Music Hall...
assassinated in the Armenian parliament shooting. Karen Demirchyan is buried at Komitas Pantheon which is located in the city center of Yerevan. Demirchyan was...
information about Komitas is scarce. He served as the Catholicos from 616 to 628 and initiated the construction of Saint Rhipsime church. Komitas Aghtsetsi is...
The film was therefore centered around the music of Komitas. It also displays the life of Komitas (1869-1935) before and up to the Armenian Genocide....
in cinema and painting. Komitas Museum opened in 2015, is a musical art museum devoted to the renowned Armenian composer Komitas. Charents Museum of Literature...
Armenian mixed chorus of Paris Sipan-Komitas. His contribution in the European knowledge of the works of Komitas, Ganatchian and Alemshah is crucial [citation...
Kurdish songs by Komitas. Kurdish melodies would consequently become the first publication of Kurdish music. In his transcription, Komitas stayed loyal to...
worked in Ukraine and I'm going to die in Armenia." Parajanov is buried at Komitas Pantheon in Yerevan. Parajanov's films won prizes at Mar del Plata Film...
Shamtanchyan. Other survivors, such as Komitas, developed serious cases of post-traumatic stress disorder. Komitas underwent 20 years of treatment in mental...
(both defense and resistance) and World War II. Some Macedonian-Bulgarian komitas that were members of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization...
cemetery was brought to Yerevan by Terian's daughter and buried in the Komitas Pantheon with a cenotaph was placed. Each year there is a commemoration...
Armenian priest and composer Komitas in 1903, when he published his work "Chansons kurdes transcrites par le pere Komitas" which consisted of twelve Kurdish...
(Aristakesyan), one of whom was Sipan Shiraz, a poet. He was buried at Komitas Pantheon in Yerevan, along with other distinguished Armenians. Yerevan...
ISBN 978-1136801495. Retrieved 8 August 2020. "Articles of Komitas about church music". Komitas.am. Retrieved 28 September 2012. Vahan Kurkjian (1958) A...
his ashes were buried in California, and the remainder in Armenia at the Komitas Pantheon near fellow artists such as composer Aram Khachaturian, painter...
soprano classical singer. Mansourian serves as Professor at the Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory since 2015. In 2015 she was awarded with the First Degree...
Global Information
