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Document Details : Title: Komitas à Paris Author(s): SAHAKYAN, Louciné Journal: Revue des Études Arméniennes Volume: 42 Date: 2023-2024 Pages: 241-259 DOI: 10.2143/REA.42.0.3293647 Abstract : The Parisian sojourns of Komitas, saviour of Armenian folklore and liturgical music, in 1901, 1906, 1910, 1912 and 1914, played a decisive role in the development of his thought and in the international recognition of Armenian music. By meeting great French composers such as Saint-Saëns, Fauré, Ravel and Debussy, who enthusiastically welcomed his theories, his concerts and his personal creations, Komitas, in the words of the singer Margarit Babayean, freed himself from 'German scholasticism' and learned, in his compositions, to blend modernity with his own national traditions. He revealed to a well-informed audience the specific musicality of his people. On the other hand, in the milieu of the Ēǰmiacin seminary, of which he was a member, his activities were judged with a severity that affected him deeply. In Constantinople on 24 April 1915, he was arrested and deported with the Armenian intellectuals. Taken from his executioners, he was haunted by the memory of the atrocities he had witnessed. Unsuccessful attempts were made to cure him in France. He died in Villejuif in 1935. |
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