One of the most
renowned Armenian Churchmen and musician of modern times was
Gomidas Vartabed, also known as
Komitas. He was born Soghomon
Soghomonian in Kutaha, Asia Minor in the year, 1869. His life had an
interesting turn of events, when at the age of eleven, he was
orphaned, and at a young age he was sent to a Seminary in
Etchmiadzin to study. Because of his singing prowess, he decided to
teach music at the Seminary after he completed his studies. In
1896, Soghomon was ordained a monk or “apegha” of the Armenian
Church. A few years later he was ordained a “Vartabed”, and as is
the practice in the Armenian Church assumed his new name “Komitas”(or
Gomidas).
Komitas learned a great deal of
music from the monks and continued to study music with the famous
composer Kara-Mourza, which eventually led Komitas into both secular
and religious music. Komitas continued to study music, and in 1896,
he was awarded a doctorate degree in musicology. He later returned
to Etchmiadzin as a choir director, and
Instructor of music at the Seminary.
Komitas wrote over three thousand
songs in Armenian, Arabic, Kurdish, and Persian, and also
contributed significantly to the modern
Armenian Badarak. His main contribution was to
rediscover Armenian folk music. He spent years traveling throughout
the provinces and visiting many villages listening to native songs
and dances, and making notes of them for further analysis. His work
in arranging and collating the folk music he had collected over the
years eventually became excellent songs for chorus music, and made
the public aware of the existence of true Armenian music.
In addition to the folk music, Komitas arranged the entire music of
the Divine Liturgy (Badarak) of
the Armenian Church, for male voices.
The internationally known priest was the
first non-European to be a member of the International Music
Society. Komitas performed concerts in Paris, Geneva, Berne,
Constantinople, Venice, and Alexandria. It is interesting to note
that in the spring of 1915, during the imprisonment of leaders of
the Armenian community, Komitas too was taken into custody. Through
the efforts of Henry Morgenthau, Ambassador from the United States
of America, and the Turkish poet Mehmet Emin Yurdakul, who admired
Komitas’ work, Komitas was released.
After the April 24, 1915 massacres of the
Armenian people by the Turks, he succumbed to mental and physical
anguish and never fully recovered. Komitas lived as if a walking
corpse for the next twenty years. The revered holy man died in Paris
on October 22, 1935 in a mental hospital. One year after his death
his ashes were transferred to Yerevan and interred in the Yerevan
Panthenon. In the 1950’s his manuscripts were transported from
Paris to Yerevan where they were being studied and published
“Komitas Vartabed is considered one of the
immortals of the Armenian Church and is remembered in the
minds and hearts of Armenians”.
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Arornu Tatrak
Presented by the author.
Recordings are made in 1912.
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Gutani Yerk
Presented by the author.
Recordings are made in 1912.
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Hov Arek
Presented by the author.
Recordings are made in 1912.
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Mokats Mirza
Presented by the author.
Recordings are made in 1912.
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