Uzeyir Hajibeyli — the man who reconciled East and West in one score
Staged in Baku in 1908, “Leyli and Majnun” was the first opera in the Muslim East. Its author also wrote the theory of mugham.
Composers
Arif Melikov — “Legend of Love” on the world's stages
A ballet written at 28 travelled from Leningrad into the repertoire of theatres across dozens of countries.
- Published
- Author
- Əkrəm Babayev
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Arif Melikov was born in Baku in 1933 and studied in Gara Garayev's class. Few composers confirm his teacher's principle — that a student must not resemble the teacher — as clearly as he does.
“Legend of Love”
Based on the play by Nazim Hikmet, the ballet was staged in Leningrad in 1961 in Yuri Grigorovich's production and made the composer's international name overnight.
In the decades that followed it entered dozens of stages, the Bolshoi among them, and it remains in repertoire.
The symphonic path
Melikov wrote nine symphonies. His symphonic language is hard, dramatic and concentrated — after the ballet's success this is where he withdrew.
The teacher
He taught for many years at the Baku Music Academy; his students work in Azerbaijan and abroad.
The composer died in Baku in 2019.
Photo: Presidential Press and Information Office of Azerbaijan, CC BY 4.0.
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