Aram Khachaturian

Aram Khachaturian (1903–1978) was an Armenian Soviet composer whose orchestral and ballet music drew on Armenian and other Caucasian musical traditions.

Gayane: A ballet by Khachaturian, premiered in 1942, featuring the famous Sabre Dance. Its finale supplied the short orchestral excerpt that became Khachaturian’s best-known music.
Armenian folk music: The traditional vocal and instrumental music of Armenian communities. Its melodic turns and dance rhythms inform many of Khachaturian’s themes.
Nikolai Myaskovsky: A Russian composer and teacher who taught Khachaturian at the Moscow Conservatory. His mentorship guided Khachaturian’s formal development as a composer.
Tbilisi: The capital of Georgia and a major cultural center in the Caucasus. Khachaturian was born there in 1903 to an Armenian family.
Zhdanov Doctrine: A Soviet cultural policy that demanded ideological conformity in the arts after World War II. Its enforcement placed Khachaturian’s music under official scrutiny in 1948.
Spartacus: A ballet by Khachaturian, first staged in 1956, about the revolt of enslaved people led by Spartacus. Its Adagio became one of the composer’s most widely recognized dramatic passages.
Caucasian music: The diverse musical traditions of peoples in the Caucasus region. Khachaturian drew on musical idioms from across the region, not only Armenia.
Mikhail Gnessin: A Russian composer and teacher who taught Khachaturian at the Gnessin Institute. Gnessin encouraged Khachaturian’s early compositional study and engagement with folk music.
Moscow Conservatory: A Russian music institution founded in Moscow in 1866. Khachaturian studied composition there after moving to Moscow as a young adult.
Decree on Music of 1948: A Soviet resolution condemning several composers for alleged formalism. Khachaturian was among the composers publicly censured by the decree.

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