Anahit Tsitsikian ( hy, Անահիտ Ցիցիկյան; born
Leningrad
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
, August 26, 1926; death
Yerevan
Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and ...
, May 2, 1999) was an
Armenian
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
female
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
ist. She toured around the world through more than 100 cities during the
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
times; she taught at the
State Conservatory
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
for approximately 40 years and wrote more than 300 articles and scenarios for television and radio programs. She was also a scholar who established a new branch of Armenian musicology, history of performing art, and dedicated the last twenty years of her life to research in the field of
ancient music history, becoming the founder of a new branch of Armenian musical archaeology.
Tsitsikian was Merited Artist of Armenia or
People's Artist of the Armenian SSR
People's Artist of the Armenian SSR (Народный артист Армянской ССР), is an honorary title awarded to citizens of the Armenian SSR in the Soviet Union. It is awarded for outstanding performance in the performing arts, w ...
(1967),
PhD PHD or PhD may refer to:
* Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification
Entertainment
* '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series
* ''Piled Higher and Deeper
''Piled Higher and Deeper'' (also known as ''PhD Comics''), is a newsp ...
of
Musical Science (1970) and Professor of Music (1982).
Biography
Anahit Tsitsikian was born in Leningrad (currently St. Petersburg), Russia, into a family of an engineer and a doctor. She began playing the violin at the age of six. Her teachers were musician
Grigory Ginzburg
Grigory Romanovich Ginzburg (russian: Григо́рий Рома́нович Ги́нзбург; 29 May 1904 in Nizhny Novgorod – 5 December 1961 in Moscow) was a Soviet pianist.
Biography
Ginzburg first studied with his mother before being a ...
and later on professor
Lev Tseitlin
Lev Tseitlin (Russian: ''Лев Моисеевич Цейтлин''), (15 March 1881, Tbilisi - 9 January 1952, Moscow) was a violinist and a professor.
Biography
Tseitlin started to study violin in Tbilisi under Evgeny Kolchin. In 1901 he gradua ...
). At the beginning of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
, at the age of fifteen, she left Leningrad for Armenia. Her birthplace left an unforgettable mark on her development as a person and musician.
She studied at the
Yerevan State Conservatory
Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan ( hy, Երևանի Կոմիտասի անվան պետական կոնսերվատորիա), also known as Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory (YKSC) or Yerevan State Conservatory (YSC), is a state-owned colleg ...
from 1946 to 1950 as a student of Professor
Karp Dombayev. She was granted the Stalin Scholarship. In 1954 she completed her graduate course at the
Moscow State Conservatory
The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory (russian: Московская государственная консерватория им. П. И. Чайковского, link=no) is a musical educational inst ...
(adviser - Professor
Konstantin Mostras Konstantin (Georgiyevich) Mostras (born Ardzhenka, 16 April 1886; died Moscow, 6 Sept 1965) was a Russian violinist, teacher and composer.
He studied at the Moscow Philharmonic School of Music and Drama until 1914, and later was a teacher there ( ...
).
She began performing professionally at elementary school age; her performances included many solo performances as well as with symphonic orchestras. Beginning in 1961 she was the principal soloist at the Armenian Philharmonic Hall. Tsitsikian performed throughout the Republics of the former Soviet Union and in 27 countries around the world. As a violinist she produced four
vinyl discs under the
Melodiya
Melodiya ( rus, links=no, Мелодия, t=Melody) is a Russian (formerly Soviet) record label. It was the state-owned major record company of the Soviet Union.
History
Melodiya was established in 1964 as the "All-Union Gramophone Record Firm ...
label. The music of
modern Armenian composers
Modern may refer to:
History
* Modern history
** Early Modern period
** Late Modern period
*** 18th century
*** 19th century
*** 20th century
** Contemporary history
* Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century
Philoso ...
held a special place in Ms. Tsitsikian’s repertoire. She was often the co-author, editor and first interpreter of their original pieces.
She taught at the
Yerevan State Conservatory
Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan ( hy, Երևանի Կոմիտասի անվան պետական կոնսերվատորիա), also known as Yerevan Komitas State Conservatory (YKSC) or Yerevan State Conservatory (YSC), is a state-owned colleg ...
starting in 1950, and she established three new courses in its curriculum: history and theory of
bowed instruments
Bowed string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by a bow rubbing the strings. The bow rubbing the string causes vibration which the instrument emits as sound.
Despite the numerous specialist studies devoted to ...
, history of Armenian performing arts, and course of music teaching practice.
Tsitsikian started her scholarly research while she was still a student of the Conservatory. Her research focused on bowing art,
organology
Organology (from Ancient Greek () 'instrument' and (), 'the study of') is the science of musical instruments and their classifications. It embraces study of instruments' history, instruments used in different cultures, technical aspects of how ...
and
musical archaeology
Musical is the adjective of music.
Musical may also refer to:
* Musical theatre, a performance art that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance
* Musical film and television, a genre of film and television that incorporates into the na ...
, of which she was the founder in Armenia. She spoke five languages, and lectured in English, French, and German. She participated in numerous international scientific conferences and she also published he articles in Armenia and abroad.
During her artistic life, Tsitsikian performed in more than a thousand recitals, recorded sixty pieces of archived music, and authored more than 300 articles and scripts for many radio and television programs. She was a member of many local and international organizations such as:
Composer’s Union of Armenia or
Union of Soviet Composers
The Union of Russian Composers (formerly the Union of Soviet Composers, Order of Lenin Union of Composers of USSR () (1932- ), and Union of Soviet Composers of the USSR) is a state-created organization for musicians and musicologists created in 193 ...
,
Armenian Theater Union,
Journalists Union,
Women’s Committee of the USSR,
AOKS (cultural liaison committee of Armenia with foreign countries), "History of World Culture" Committee in the Academy of Sciences of the Soviet Union,
The World Scientific Association of Historical Archaeology, etc.
Anahit Tsitsikian died on May 2, 1999. The Anahit Cultural Foundation was established in the same year to continue her work and fulfill her dreams. The mission of the foundation is to facilitate the promotion of Armenian music by supporting musicians in their professional education and work, setting up and implementing cultural programs and events, and stimulating the integration of Armenian music within international music.
Honours and awards
Anahit Tsitsikian was an
Emeritus Artist of Armenia (1967),
PhD of Musical Science (1970), and
Professor of Music (1982). In 2004 a music school was named after her in Yerevan, Armenia.
See also
*
Women in musicology
Women in musicology describes the role of women professors, scholars and researchers in postsecondary education musicology departments at postsecondary education institutions, including universities, colleges and music conservatories. Traditiona ...
References
http://www.musicweb-international.com/Ntl_discogs/Russian_concertos/Russian_concertos_AG.pdf
External links
*
Anahit Tsitsikian CD
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsitsikian, Anahit
1926 births
1999 deaths
Musicians from Saint Petersburg
Academics of the Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan
Armenian classical violinists
Armenian women musicians
Russian people of Armenian descent
Komitas State Conservatory of Yerevan alumni
Moscow Conservatory alumni
Soviet classical musicians
Child classical musicians
People's Artists of Armenia
Armenian musicologists
20th-century musicologists
Music historians
Concertmasters
Soviet music educators
Armenian ethnomusicologists
20th-century Armenian historians
20th-century classical violinists
Women classical violinists