Biography
Alan Hovhaness, born Alan Chakmakjian in Somerville, Massachusetts, wove an expansive global perspective into his orchestral writing. Although much of his output drew from Armenian traditions, he also integrated Indian ragas, Japanese gagaku, and sounds from the natural world. His 1970 work “And God Created Great Whales” called for a full symphony orchestra together with a prerecorded humpback whale vocalization.
During the 1930s Hovhaness began to provoke debate through his music. While established figures dismissed his pieces, others welcomed their international outlook. Leonard Bernstein branded “Symphony No. 1” as “filthy ghetto music,” yet Leopold Stokowski championed the composer by leading the American premiere of the 1936 score “The Exile,” which addressed the persecution and forced exile of Armenians in Turkey; Andre Kostelanetz later recorded the 1975 composition “Rubiyat Of Omar Khayyam.”
Born to Armenian and Scottish immigrant parents, Hovhaness produced his earliest pieces at the age of four and turned to operatic forms by his teenage years. Serving as pianist and organist at a neighborhood Armenian church, he gained notice for his improvisations on ancient modes. He refined his craft under Frederick Converse at Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music and under Bohuslav Martinu at Tanglewood.
His professional surname was supplied by a high-school librettist. Despite destroying numerous early manuscripts in 1940, he left behind hundreds of surviving scores. Among the most familiar are the 1945 “Lousadzak (The Coming Of Light)” for piano and strings, the 1952 “The Prayer Of Saint Gregory” for trumpet and symphony orchestra, and the 1975 “Seventeen Prayers” scored for oud, lute, or guitar with string quartet or string orchestra. “Symphony No. 3” has been characterized as “a tribute to the Mozartian classical sonata form.” Hovhaness died on June 21, 2000, aged 89.
During the 1930s Hovhaness began to provoke debate through his music. While established figures dismissed his pieces, others welcomed their international outlook. Leonard Bernstein branded “Symphony No. 1” as “filthy ghetto music,” yet Leopold Stokowski championed the composer by leading the American premiere of the 1936 score “The Exile,” which addressed the persecution and forced exile of Armenians in Turkey; Andre Kostelanetz later recorded the 1975 composition “Rubiyat Of Omar Khayyam.”
Born to Armenian and Scottish immigrant parents, Hovhaness produced his earliest pieces at the age of four and turned to operatic forms by his teenage years. Serving as pianist and organist at a neighborhood Armenian church, he gained notice for his improvisations on ancient modes. He refined his craft under Frederick Converse at Boston’s New England Conservatory of Music and under Bohuslav Martinu at Tanglewood.
His professional surname was supplied by a high-school librettist. Despite destroying numerous early manuscripts in 1940, he left behind hundreds of surviving scores. Among the most familiar are the 1945 “Lousadzak (The Coming Of Light)” for piano and strings, the 1952 “The Prayer Of Saint Gregory” for trumpet and symphony orchestra, and the 1975 “Seventeen Prayers” scored for oud, lute, or guitar with string quartet or string orchestra. “Symphony No. 3” has been characterized as “a tribute to the Mozartian classical sonata form.” Hovhaness died on June 21, 2000, aged 89.