The father of the Armenian Opera Tigran TchouKhajian

Tigran Tchoukhajian – an Armenian composer, who is often called the father of the Armenian Opera. However, it is worth mentioning that he is also the author of the first opera in all of the Ottoman Empire. He was a conductor, an activist and the founder of the first independent professional composition school and the first musical theater in the Ottoman Empire. His works had a substantial impact on development of the Armenian, Turkish and Near-Eastern classical music.

Tchoukhajian was born in 1837 in Constantinople into an Armenian family of palace watchmaker. His fist music teacher was Gabriel Yeranian, followed by piano and theory lessons from an Italian teacher, C. Manzoni. Advised and recommended by Manzoni, Tchoukhajian continued his music studies in Italy at the Milan Conservatory from 1861 to 1864. Returning to Constantinople, Tigran Tchoukhajian soon became the major organizer of a symphony orchestra and promoter for publications of musical journals. His fascination with Italian operas, especially those with librettos tackling themes of national reawakening, guided his attention to write music for stage productions of Armenian historical plays. The fresh quality of his musical style was well received by the music critics. The Italian Critic Riccardo Torre named him as The Italian Verdi (Il Verdi Armeno, was the title of his article). He thought that Tchoukhajian became the creator of a new school “By combining the melodies of the Oriental people”.

As the French critic Adolpho Talasso wrote in the Revue Theatrale, Tigran Tchoukhajian was the first to apply European techniques to Oriental music. “His highly original ideas, freshness of musical language, colorful orchestration – all these are impregnated with rays of the orient. His skilful use of harmony and counterpoint has ensured an integral structure of his compositions, so full of power and enchantment”.

Still, his greatest desire was to write a Grand Opera. His plans were fulfilled in 1868, when Tchoukhajian composed the first Armenian opera, called Arshak II. The Libretto was masterfully handled by Tomas Terzian, a well-known Italian Armenian writer whose name appears in Verdi’s letters as Tomasio Terziani.

It should be mentioned the Armenian historical events and rulers, or tales associated with Armenian history, played their significant role in Italian, German and French operas, long before an opera as a distinct art form was composed by an Armenian composer. Both the librettos and the music of those operas with Armenian historical subjects were written and composed by the masters of the art of Opera of the day. Here are only few examples:

Tigrane, Re d’Armenia by T. Albinoni, and later by M. Bononcini.

La virtu trionfante dell'amore e dell'odio ovvero il Tigrane, by Antonio Vivaldi.

Radamisto by Handel.

Il Tigrane by Alessandro Scarlatti, later by Johan Hasse and by various other composers -Lampugnani, Tozzi, Piccini, Riccini, and even C. W. Gluck with libretto by Goldoni in 1743.

Arsace. C. W. Gluck Also by various other composers, Gasparini, Giacomelli, etc.

Artaserse by various composers: Vinci, Hasse, Gluck (his first opera, by the way), Graun, and so on.
Musically and structure-wise Tchukhajian’s Arshak II fits quite comfortably into the well-known traditions of 19th century

Italian opera and, particularly, with bel canto singing. Certainly the score of Arshak gives evidence of the composer's studies at the Milan Conservatory. From the opening triumphal chorus through a series of lyrical and heroic set pieces to the climactic finale, the influence of Verdi and his contemporaries is apparent everywhere. As for the libretto, based on a chapter from Armenian history, it also has a lot in common with the practices of Italian melodrama.

Like Verdi's Nabucco or Attila, which it often brings to mind, the opera revolves around an authentic historical figure – a fourth century tragic Armenian monarch renowned for his ruthlessness and military might -- and places him at the center of a tangle of love and political intrigue. And although Arshak is regarded as the first Armenian opera, the music is just as Italianate in its approach as the libretto.

However, Tchukhajian's comparison with Verdi, apparently, is not quite accurate. Rather, we should draw an analogy with the work of Bellini and Donizetti. Arshak II, following the operas of Bellini raises the theme of patriotism using the dramatic and romantic elements characteristic of the music of Bellini. The influence of Donizetti, on the other hand, is manifested in elegant lyricism and considerable lightness of melody along with virtuoso cadences.

At the same time, one cannot help noticing that the musical language of the opera is more cosmopolitan, representing a peculiar mixture of various European musical traditions. First and foremost, it clearly shows the significant influence of German music and, above all, Schubert and Schumann. This is noticeable, mainly, in the logic of musical development, modulations specific to the music of German composers. Together with this Tchoukhajian could not avoid the influence of Wagner's music, which, in fact, is reflected in the diversity of musical and dramatic techniques, the use of leitmotifs system. Giving the orchestra and chorus the roles of independent participants in the musical drama, Tchoukhajian creates large-scale orchestral episodes, evolved choral scenes, various ensembles, smoothly flowing one into another.

However, we can only note with regret, that the opera was never produced during the composer’s lifetime. To let an Armenian King appear on the opera stage, even if tormented in his conflicts with the Armenian aristocracy, while struggling to hold on the Armenian national sovereignty against two major empires of 4th century AD – Persian and Byzantine – was too much for Ottoman censors. They imposed the change of the title of the opera. The Armenian king Arshak’s name was dropped and the opera became known as Olympia -- the name of the Byzantine princess, wife to Arshak II. Nevertheless, the only section of the entire work which had its performance in 1868 in Istanbul was Arshak’s overture, or, Sinfonia, and it was welcomed by an enthusiastic audience.

Thus, Arshak II had to wait for its rediscovery in 1941 by a soviet musicologist Georgi Tigranov. It was significantly revised musically and textually, with an Armenian libretto by Armen Gulakian and new score by Leon Khoja-Einatoff. Following the new libretto, brought into line with Stalinist ideology, the score was substantially changed using a completely new musical language, common for Soviet epic style operas characterized by marching and extreme pathos. The Soviet version of Arshak II had its operatic première at the Armenian State Opera & Ballet Academic Theatre, in Yerevan, on November 17, 1945. Since then Arshak had four stage performances, in 1956 at the Bolshoi theatre in Moscow, and later in 1971 and 1984 back in Armenia.

Arshak had a complex destiny, suffering from state censorship twice – first in Ottoman Empire where it never was staged, and later during Soviet era, having its storyline and roughly 80% of its music revised.

In 2001, at the dawn of the millennium, Tchoukhajian’s major work was staged at San Francisco Opera with the original score. This time it was sung in an Armenian translation of the Italian text.

In June 2017 selected scenes from the opera were performed in the Armenian National Opera Theatre within the framework of the theater’s Young Artist Program. Arias from Arshak were also included in the compulsory program of the 13th Aram Khachaturian International Competition held in Yerevan in June 2017.

Now, I would like to present you two Arias from Arshak II performed by Marine Deinyan, one of the leading sopranos of the Armenian National Opera theater. The first one is Olympia’s Lament that will be followed by Paranzema’s Arioso.

In 1870 Tchoukhajian turned his attention to Parisian-style comic opera. In 1872 he wrote the first operetta in Turkish, Arif followed by, Kyose kyokhva, Leblebidji Hor-hor agha ; Zemire and Indiana.
Leblebiji is the third and most popular comic opera or opera buffa by Tchukhajyan. The work was originally performed in Turkish, in order to circumvent official censorship, although the libretto was translated into Armenian already during Tchoukhajian's lifetime. The first production of the operetta was a massive success, and shortly after that it was staged more than 100 times in Constantinople and the Transcaucasia. The work combines the features of everyday comedy with social satire on the bourgeois-aristocratic society of the 19th century. The operetta was translated into Greek and German. Leblebiji was presented on different stages of France, Egypt, the Balkans, the Middle East and other regions, gaining favor for the composer. Tchoukhajian used the urban and folk melodies of his time in the framework of this operetta. A satirical comedy of manners, it is distinguished by lively action, precise characterization, variety of vocal forms and buffo writing.
In 1943, the operetta was first staged in Armenia under the new title Karine. The names of the main characters were also changed, except for Hor-hor agha. It had been edited into a new Armenian-language version, with an altered script. In 1967 the Armenian version was also made into a film.
In 2011, the operetta was shown in the famous Marseille Theater "Odeon". The restoration of the original version of the work required a lot of detective work, as it had been changed a lot over the years. While Tchoukhajian’s original score has been lost, recently the scores were discovered in Paris in French translation that were intended for a French production that never occurred.
Tchoukhajian’s musical language is deeply rooted in the airs of urban traditions: he would stroll through the streets listening and noting down snatches of songs, rhythmical patterns and even bits of conversation to use as raw material. Tchoukhajian was also fully aware that, contrary to the trend of the times, a “national” composer had to draw on the experience of the worldwide musical culture.
This year we celebrate the 180th anniversary of Tchoukhajian, and 2018 is the 150th anniversary of Arshak II.
Thus, it looks like we are witnessing the revival of Arshak II and hopefully soon it will take its place in the repertoire of the opera theaters throughout the world.