Schahan Berberian
Encyclopedia
Schahan R. Berberian (January 1, 1891 – October 9, 1956) was an Armenian
philosopher, composer, pedagogue, psychologist, aesthetician, public speaker and author.
(now Istanbul
, Turkey
). Shortly thereafter, along with his parents Retheos and Zaruhi and his elder brother Onnig, Berberian moved to Geneva
, Switzerland to escape the atrocities against the Armenians perpetrated by the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II
from 1894 to 1896.
Returning to Constantinople, Berberian enrolled at the Berberian School, which had been founded by his father in Kadıköy
, a district on the Asian side of the city. At that time, he started taking private lessons on the violin, but soon quit playing the "insufferable instrument" (allegedly throwing it into the fireplace to burn it). Instead he took up piano lessons although this venture was also rather unsuccessful.
Berberian graduated in 1906. The first job of the fifteen-year-old young man was to teach literature and natural sciences at his alma mater but in 1908, he left for Paris where he studied at the Sorbonne
and the Collège de France
, taking classes in philosophy and metaphysics with Henri Bergson
, psychology with Georges Dumas
and sociology with Émile Durkheim
, thus receiving a thorough education in the liberal arts and obtaining a diploma to teach philosophy. At the same time he was able to quench his deep love for music by attending concerts and teaching himself composition.
In 1918, Schahan Berberian was selected to become the director of the Central Committee of the Armenian Teachers’ Union and was appointed a member of the Central Educational Council in 1919. He was also instrumental in the foundation—and later became the chairman—of the Armenian Art Center (Hayardun) in Constantinople. He contributed essays to Armenian newspapers in Constantinople, mostly to Vosdan (Den) and in 1922, along with Kegham Kavafian, Vahan Tekeyan
, Hagop Oshagan and Gostan Zarian
, he founded the monthly, Partsravank (Monastery-on-a-Hill), which was devoted to art and literature.
In 1921, he married Telli Sirakian. They had two sons, Ardavazt and Bared. Bared died as a young man at 20 years old in a motocycle accident.
Ardavazt Berberian after living in Jerusalem and Beyruth, moved to Paris with his wife (Paule), where he became a renowned painter and also extremely involved in Armenian culture. He had two sons named Vanik and Schahan, and a daughter named Gariné.
Ardavazt passed away in Avignon at the age of 79, in August 2002.
, Germany, where he studied Choreography
, in addition to pursuing his philosophical and aesthetic interests. In 1924, together with his older brother composer Onnig Berberian, he moved to Cairo
, Egypt to relaunch the Berberian School. Strongly supported by Archbishop Torkom Koushagian of Egypt, the school became an intellectual center for the local Armenian community and remained open until 1934 when its shaky finances forced it to close its doors. In Cairo, Berberian and his long time friend and colleague Hagop Oshagan establish two choral groups to further encourage involvement in the Armenian community: the Union of Armenian Art Lovers (1932–34) and the Berberian School Choir (1924–34).
Most of Berberian's compositions are written for solo voice with piano or vocal ensembles. These have only recently came more widely known thanks in no small part to the efforts of Abp. Torkom Manoogian
, the present Patriarch of Jerusalem. According to Manoogian, the songs were "in my possession for some time. When Berberian visited the United States in 1949, he agreed to provide copies of his music, two songs at a time, clearly written and in final form. He did so for a while, but soon stopped. He also sent me new variations of some of the songs. I had in addition three different notebooks, copied from the composer's work by three of his students. It was from these that the rest of the songs were obtained." Fortunately, fifty of Berberian's songs were published in 1983 by St. Vartan Press in New York.
Most of Schahan Berberian's songs share a mystic lucidity and spaciousness, and a simple melodic line with minimal accompaniment – notes hanging in midair. They are fragile and laconic, the textual content always leading the recitative-like musical line.
Other Berberian manuscripts, including the incidental music to Oshagan's Sasuntsi Tavit (David of Sassoun) and four scenes from the opera Anush, are at the Library of the Jerusalem Patriarchate. In addition, his literary output comprises two unpublished volumes: Komitas vartabed—antsı yev kordzı (Komitas—His Life and Work," 1936) and Yergu zhamanagner (Two Lifetimes, 1943).
While on a summer vacation in Paris, visiting his son Ardavazt, Berberian fell ill and died there on October 9, 1956.
Armenians
Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....
philosopher, composer, pedagogue, psychologist, aesthetician, public speaker and author.
Early Years
Berberian was born in ConstantinopleConstantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
(now Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
). Shortly thereafter, along with his parents Retheos and Zaruhi and his elder brother Onnig, Berberian moved to Geneva
Geneva
Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...
, Switzerland to escape the atrocities against the Armenians perpetrated by the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II
Abdul Hamid II
His Imperial Majesty, The Sultan Abdülhamid II, Emperor of the Ottomans, Caliph of the Faithful was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire...
from 1894 to 1896.
Returning to Constantinople, Berberian enrolled at the Berberian School, which had been founded by his father in Kadıköy
Kadiköy
Kadıköy is a large, populous, and cosmopolitan district of İstanbul, Turkey on the Asian side of the Sea of Marmara, facing the historic city centre on the European side of the Bosporus...
, a district on the Asian side of the city. At that time, he started taking private lessons on the violin, but soon quit playing the "insufferable instrument" (allegedly throwing it into the fireplace to burn it). Instead he took up piano lessons although this venture was also rather unsuccessful.
Berberian graduated in 1906. The first job of the fifteen-year-old young man was to teach literature and natural sciences at his alma mater but in 1908, he left for Paris where he studied at the Sorbonne
Sorbonne
The Sorbonne is an edifice of the Latin Quarter, in Paris, France, which has been the historical house of the former University of Paris...
and the Collège de France
Collège de France
The Collège de France is a higher education and research establishment located in Paris, France, in the 5th arrondissement, or Latin Quarter, across the street from the historical campus of La Sorbonne at the intersection of Rue Saint-Jacques and Rue des Écoles...
, taking classes in philosophy and metaphysics with Henri Bergson
Henri Bergson
Henri-Louis Bergson was a major French philosopher, influential especially in the first half of the 20th century. Bergson convinced many thinkers that immediate experience and intuition are more significant than rationalism and science for understanding reality.He was awarded the 1927 Nobel Prize...
, psychology with Georges Dumas
Georges Dumas
Georges Dumas was a French doctor and psychologist.His main work is The Treatise of Psychology . He wrote many articles and led the publication in two volumes of the treaty in which the main French psychologists of the time participate...
and sociology with Émile Durkheim
Émile Durkheim
David Émile Durkheim was a French sociologist. He formally established the academic discipline and, with Karl Marx and Max Weber, is commonly cited as the principal architect of modern social science and father of sociology.Much of Durkheim's work was concerned with how societies could maintain...
, thus receiving a thorough education in the liberal arts and obtaining a diploma to teach philosophy. At the same time he was able to quench his deep love for music by attending concerts and teaching himself composition.
Principal of Berberian School
In 1911, Berberian was obliged to return to Constantinople to become Principal of the Berberian School, and thus was unable to complete his doctoral thesis (entitled "The Pathological Method in Psychology"). In addition to his duties at the school, he became involved in the cultural life of the Armenian community in the city. During this period, he developed a close friendship with Komitas, spending long hours discussing with him various issues in the field of the arts.In 1918, Schahan Berberian was selected to become the director of the Central Committee of the Armenian Teachers’ Union and was appointed a member of the Central Educational Council in 1919. He was also instrumental in the foundation—and later became the chairman—of the Armenian Art Center (Hayardun) in Constantinople. He contributed essays to Armenian newspapers in Constantinople, mostly to Vosdan (Den) and in 1922, along with Kegham Kavafian, Vahan Tekeyan
Vahan Tekeyan
Vahan Tekeyan was an Armenian poet and public activist.-Biography:Tekeyan has worked as a newspaper editor in Beirut and Cairo, a teacher, and a social worker....
, Hagop Oshagan and Gostan Zarian
Gostan Zarian
Gostan or Kostan Zarian was an Armenian writer.- Biography :Kostan Zaryan was born in Shamakhy, on February 2, 1885...
, he founded the monthly, Partsravank (Monastery-on-a-Hill), which was devoted to art and literature.
In 1921, he married Telli Sirakian. They had two sons, Ardavazt and Bared. Bared died as a young man at 20 years old in a motocycle accident.
Ardavazt Berberian after living in Jerusalem and Beyruth, moved to Paris with his wife (Paule), where he became a renowned painter and also extremely involved in Armenian culture. He had two sons named Vanik and Schahan, and a daughter named Gariné.
Ardavazt passed away in Avignon at the age of 79, in August 2002.
1920s
In the fall of 1922, the deteriorating political atmosphere in Turkey impelled him to leave for Europe once more and Berberian settled in DresdenDresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
, Germany, where he studied Choreography
Choreography
Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements in which motion, form, or both are specified. Choreography may also refer to the design itself, which is sometimes expressed by means of dance notation. The word choreography literally means "dance-writing" from the Greek words "χορεία" ...
, in addition to pursuing his philosophical and aesthetic interests. In 1924, together with his older brother composer Onnig Berberian, he moved to Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
, Egypt to relaunch the Berberian School. Strongly supported by Archbishop Torkom Koushagian of Egypt, the school became an intellectual center for the local Armenian community and remained open until 1934 when its shaky finances forced it to close its doors. In Cairo, Berberian and his long time friend and colleague Hagop Oshagan establish two choral groups to further encourage involvement in the Armenian community: the Union of Armenian Art Lovers (1932–34) and the Berberian School Choir (1924–34).
1930s
At the invitation of Abp. Koushagian – now the Patriarch of Jerusalem – he and his family along with Hagop Oshagan moved to the Patriarchate of St. James to teach at the Armenian Seminary there. His presence at the Seminary created much excitement and a cultural renaissance in the theological college was soon underway, fostered in part by the Armenian Cultural Union (1940–47) which he and Oshagan founded there.1940s and 1950s
After ten years of teaching in Jerusalem, in 1944 Berberian moved to the Catholicosate of Cilicia in Antelias, Lebanon to continue his vocation in education. Once again, he managed to create an atmosphere of educative curiosity and a passion for learning that left an indelible mark on the history of the Seminary.Most of Berberian's compositions are written for solo voice with piano or vocal ensembles. These have only recently came more widely known thanks in no small part to the efforts of Abp. Torkom Manoogian
Torkom Manoogian
Patriarch Torkom Manoogian is the current Armenian Patriarch of Jerusalem serving the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem as Archbishop under the authority of the Catholicos of Armenia and of all Armenians of the Armenian Apostolic Church...
, the present Patriarch of Jerusalem. According to Manoogian, the songs were "in my possession for some time. When Berberian visited the United States in 1949, he agreed to provide copies of his music, two songs at a time, clearly written and in final form. He did so for a while, but soon stopped. He also sent me new variations of some of the songs. I had in addition three different notebooks, copied from the composer's work by three of his students. It was from these that the rest of the songs were obtained." Fortunately, fifty of Berberian's songs were published in 1983 by St. Vartan Press in New York.
Most of Schahan Berberian's songs share a mystic lucidity and spaciousness, and a simple melodic line with minimal accompaniment – notes hanging in midair. They are fragile and laconic, the textual content always leading the recitative-like musical line.
Other Berberian manuscripts, including the incidental music to Oshagan's Sasuntsi Tavit (David of Sassoun) and four scenes from the opera Anush, are at the Library of the Jerusalem Patriarchate. In addition, his literary output comprises two unpublished volumes: Komitas vartabed—antsı yev kordzı (Komitas—His Life and Work," 1936) and Yergu zhamanagner (Two Lifetimes, 1943).
While on a summer vacation in Paris, visiting his son Ardavazt, Berberian fell ill and died there on October 9, 1956.
Solo vocal
- Բարձրացում • Partsratsum (Ascent, 1940)
- Փափաք • Papak (Desire, 1919)
- Պոլիս • Bolis (Constantinople, 1925)
- Քու յիշատակդ • Ku hishadagt (Your Memory, 1921)
- Իւսկիւտար • Eusgeudar (Üsküdar, 1944)
- Կ՚անձրեւէ տղաս • Gantsreve dghas (It is Raining, My Son, 1921)
- Գիշերերգ • Kishererk (Nocturne, 1945)
- Աստուածածնին ու խաչին • Asdvadzadznin u khachin (The Assumption and the Cross, 1918)
- Հրաւէր լուսնի տակ • Hraver lusni dag (Invitation in the Moonlight)
- Դուն աղբիւրն ես • Tun aghpyurn es (You Are the Fountain, 1918)
- Գարուն բացուաւ • Karun patsvav (Spring Has Come)
- Հօյ Հելինէ • Hoy Heline (Hoy Heline)
- Արազին • Arazin (To the Araz River)
- Հովին երգը • Hovin yerkı (The Song of the Wind)
- Զարոյի երգը • Zaroyi yerkı (Zaro's Song)
- Կարօտի երգ • Garodi yerk (Song of Longing)
- Ես ունէի • Yes uneyi (My Pomegranate Tree)
- Ամպի փէշով • Ambi peshov (Draped in Mist)
- Ձմեռն անցաւ • Tsmern antsav (Winter Has Gone)
- Լուսաւորչի կանթեղը • Lusavorchi gantegh (The Enlightener's Lamp)
- Հասուն արտ • Hasun ard (Ripening Field, 1919)
- Առաջին ծիլեր • Arachin dziler (The Exploding Seeds, 1920)
- Գիւղիս ճամբան • Kyughis jampan (My Village Road)
- Գիշերն անուշ է • Kishern anush e (The Night Is Sweet, 1919)
- Սէրով, սէրով (With Love Wounded)
- Ահաւասիկ (I Keep Yearning)
- Թող դէմքդ տժգունի (Let Your Face Be Pale)
- Հսկում (Let Me Stay)
- Երգ երջանկութեան (Song of Joy, 1952)
- Անձրեւին հետ (With the Rain)
- Իրիկունն իջաւ (Night Descents, 1920)
- Ձեռագիր (Manuscript)
- Վարդանանց քայլերգ (March of Vartanank)
- Ովսաննա (Hosanna)
- Ալէլուիա (Alleluia, 1935)
- Այսօր տօն է (Ode to the Nativity)
- Ետեւէս եկուր (Follow Me)
- Մի՛ մերձենար յիս (Do Not Come Near)
- Անառակը (The Prodigal)
- Եկուր վիշտ (Come Sorrow)
- Օրերն անդարձ (Unreturning Days)
- Իղձ (Longing)
- Ջուրին վրայ (On the Water)
Choral
- Ազատութեան զանգ • Azadutyan zank (Bell of Liberty)
- Իմ Նազենիս • Im Nazenis (My Nazeni)
- Քրիստոս պատարագեալ • Krisdos badarakyal (Christ Is Sacrificed)
- Առաւօտ լուսոյ • Aravod luso (Morning of Light)
- Անդնդային • Antntayin (Ode to the Holy Spirit)
- Խաչը • Khachı (The cross)