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Gomidas (Komitas)
Vartabed
 Soghomon
Gevorg Soghomonyan - Gomidas Vardapet ("Սողոմոն
Գևորքի Սողոմոնյան" - "Կոմիտաս Վարդապետ" in
Armenian), by Western Armenian transliteration also
Gomidas Vartabed, born on September 26 or October 8,
1869 in Kütahya, Turkey, died on October 22, 1935 in
Paris, France, was an Armenian priest, composer of
choir music, and musicologist.
Soghomon Gevorg Soghomonyan was born into a music
family. Soghomon's father – Gevorg Soghomonyan was a
shoemaker but he also composed songs and had a
beautiful voice. His mother – Tagui - was also
singled out for her vivid musical abilities; she was
a carpet weaver. At the age of 1 his mother died,
ten years later also his father died. His
grandmother looked after him. In 1881 the priest of
Koutina, G. Dertsakyan, had to leave for Echmiadzin
to be ordained a bishop. At the request of the
Catholicos he brought the gifted orphan boy with him
to study at the Echmiadzin Church Seminary.
Twelve-year old Soghomon was selected out of the
other 20 orphans to study at the Seminary. As it was
forbidden to speak Armenian at that time the boy
spoke Turkish and when being greeted by the
Catholicos Gevorg IV, he replied, “I don’t speak
Armenian, but if you wish I will sing”. Then with
his fine soprano voice he sang an Armenian sharakan
(a church hymn) not understanding the words. In 1890
Soghomon was ordained a monk. In 1893 he finished
studying at the seminary, then he was ordained a “Vardabed”
(priest) and acquired his new name “Gomidas” - the
name of the outstanding poet of VII century, the
author of sharakans.
 He
established and conducted the monastery choir till
1896 when he went to Berlin, enrolled the Kaiser
Friedrich Wilhelm University and studied music under
Richard Schmidt. In 1899 he acquired a title doctor
of musicology and returned to Ejmiatsin where he
took over conducting of a polyphonic male choir. He
was extensively traveling around the country,
listening and recording details about Armenian folk
songs and dances performed in various villages. This
way he collected and published approx. 3000 songs,
many of them adapted to choir singing.
His major work is Gomidas (Divine Liturgy), today
still part of a church liturgy, which he started
composing in 1892 and never completely finished due
to the upcoming World War I. For Gomidas's
fundaments he took chants sung by the eldest priests
and upgraded it with typical ("cleaned" from foreign
influences) Armenian music elements from his
collected material. Today the best known version of
Gomidas is his favourite for a three voiced male
choir.
He was the first non-European to be admitted into
the International Music Society. He had many
lectures and performances throughout Europe, Turkey
and Egypt, thus presenting till then very little
known Armenian music. The well-known musicians:
Vincent D’Andy, Gabriel Fore, Camille Sen-Sans… fell
in love with Gomidas’ creative work. After one of
the concertos the outstanding French composer Claude
Debussi exclaimed excitedly: “Brilliant father
Gomidas! I bow before your musical genius!” He paid
high tribute to the merits of Gomidas and his
significance for the world music, saying, “If
Gomidas wrote only “Antouny”, that alone would be
enough to consider him a great artist”. In Debussi's
opinion Gomidas was a revelation, the most
remarkable phenomenon in the world of music.
From 1910 he lived and worked in Constantinople.
There he established a 300 member choir Gusan.
 On
April 24, 1915, the day when Armenian Genocide
officially began, Gomidas was arrested together with
the number of outstanding Armenian writers,
publicists, physicians, and lawyers. After the
arrest, accompanied by violence, he was deported far
in Anatolia where he became a witness of the brutal
extermination of the nation’s bright minds. His
friends: poets and writers – Daniel Varuzhan,
Siamanto, Rouben Sevak, Grigor Zograb, perished as
martyrs. The enemies showed no mercy in killing
unprotected women, children and old people. Due to
the intervention of influential figures, his good
friend Turkish poet Emin Yurdakul and the U.S.
ambassador Henry Morgenthau, Gomidas was released
and returned to Constantinople.
The nightmare he had
experienced left a deep ineradicable impression on
his soul. Gomidas remained in seclusion from the
outer world, absorbed in his gloomy and heavy
thoughts – sad and broken. Mental shock continuously
tormented Gomidas. He was appalled by the total
extermination of his people and the absolute
indifference of the world. The last note left by
Gomidas, when the last sparks of consciousness had
not yet faded, was full of despair and deep
depression: “The flock is without a shepherd, lost
and mingled, invisible and turbulent waves are
lapping in the depth of the sea of our suffering and
tragic life. Thoughtless hunters stand, the nets
full of naive fish. The atmosphere breathes poison,
there is no healing power; devastation, awe and
interminable violence on one hand, and indifference,
alienation and dirty hearts on the other… Where is
our thinker Khorenatsi? Let him rise from the
blood-soaked ground and mourn for the hearts, souls,
thoughts, and lives of our descendants… My heart is
broken…”
The genius of Armenian
music found his final shelter in Paris, in the
suburban sanatorium Vil-Jouif where he spent almost
20 years of his life. In 1921, the artist Panos
Terlemezyan visited him. Conversing about life and
death, the composer said that death did not exist.
Then, pointing at his room, he exclaimed: “But if
it’s not a grave, then what is it?” On that day he
refused to sing for the first time of his life,
saying: “No, now I sing only to myself, and I sing
very quietly.”
On the 22nd of October 1935 the
life of the Great Gomidas came to an end. In the
spring of 1936 his remains were transported to
Armenia and buried in Yerevan – in the pantheon of
prominent art figures.
No less tragic was the
destiny of Gomidas's creative legacy. The majority
of his manuscripts were destroyed or lost all over
the world.
Gomidas was first printed
in 1933 in Paris and first recorded onto a digital
media in 1988 in Yerevan.
Today the music academy in Yerevan is named after
Gomidas.
  
The music of
Gomidas - page 2 ----more> |
