Rostom Aramovic Alagian (1916 - 2009) was a Soviet composer, conductor, and veteran of World War II. (1)
His Armenian father and Greek mother were forced from their home and yarn processing plant in Constantinople in the aftermath of the Greco-Turkish War of 1897. They settled in Tbilisi in Georgia where they built a new home and plant, only to lose their possessions again in 1921 with the arrival of Bolshevik rule.
By age eight both parents had died, and Rostom entered a military school for orphans. He later studied with Dmitri Shostakovich at the Moscow Military Music Academy. He served in World War II from Manchuria to the Crimea during from 1939 through 1946 and later became president of the Veteran War Council.
He was conductor in Vladikavkaz, Georgia and Armenia.
Alagian composed songs, marches, cantatas, elegies, and a symphonic poem. As a composer he set texts of Russian poets, a.o. Alexander Blok (1880-1921) (2) and Robert Rozhdestvensky (1932-1994). Alagian's style has an unmistakable Eastern influence.
Here is an excerpt of the cantata Lime Flame of Memory (Inextinguishable Fire of Memory) (3) for readers, soloists, symphony orchestra, and chorus.
Alexander The Great - Hymn To The Ancient Greece (1996) was composed for the wedding of the composer's daughter Louisa and Christo Voulgaridi. Voulgaridi who wrote Alagian's biographical information, also headed the recording effort of this work by the Philharmonic and the Chorus of Bacau in 2009, shortly after the composer's death. The following is a long excerpt.
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(1) Most information on Rostom Alagian originates from his son-in-law Christo Voulgaridi and cannot be verified with other sources.
(2) Several other composers set Blok's texts, a.o. Shostakovich, Weinberg, Lourié and Sviridov.
(3)Lime Flame of Memory is the usual translation found on the Internet. Inextinguishable Fire of Memory is a translation from the Russian title of the work.
His Armenian father and Greek mother were forced from their home and yarn processing plant in Constantinople in the aftermath of the Greco-Turkish War of 1897. They settled in Tbilisi in Georgia where they built a new home and plant, only to lose their possessions again in 1921 with the arrival of Bolshevik rule.
By age eight both parents had died, and Rostom entered a military school for orphans. He later studied with Dmitri Shostakovich at the Moscow Military Music Academy. He served in World War II from Manchuria to the Crimea during from 1939 through 1946 and later became president of the Veteran War Council.
He was conductor in Vladikavkaz, Georgia and Armenia.
Alagian composed songs, marches, cantatas, elegies, and a symphonic poem. As a composer he set texts of Russian poets, a.o. Alexander Blok (1880-1921) (2) and Robert Rozhdestvensky (1932-1994). Alagian's style has an unmistakable Eastern influence.
Here is an excerpt of the cantata Lime Flame of Memory (Inextinguishable Fire of Memory) (3) for readers, soloists, symphony orchestra, and chorus.
Alexander The Great - Hymn To The Ancient Greece (1996) was composed for the wedding of the composer's daughter Louisa and Christo Voulgaridi. Voulgaridi who wrote Alagian's biographical information, also headed the recording effort of this work by the Philharmonic and the Chorus of Bacau in 2009, shortly after the composer's death. The following is a long excerpt.
_____________________________________________________________
(1) Most information on Rostom Alagian originates from his son-in-law Christo Voulgaridi and cannot be verified with other sources.
(2) Several other composers set Blok's texts, a.o. Shostakovich, Weinberg, Lourié and Sviridov.
(3)Lime Flame of Memory is the usual translation found on the Internet. Inextinguishable Fire of Memory is a translation from the Russian title of the work.