Ossetia Ossetia ( , ; or , or , ) is an Ethnolinguistics, ethnolinguistic region on both sides of the Greater Caucasus Mountains, largely inhabited by the Ossetians. The Ossetian language is part of the Eastern Iranian languages, Eastern Iranian b ...

is a region located on both sides of the

Greater Caucasus The Greater Caucasus, ''Didi K’avk’asioni''; is the major mountain range of the Caucasus Mountains. It stretches for about from west-northwest to east-southeast, from the Taman Peninsula of the Black Sea to the Absheron Peninsula of t ...

Mountains. The folk music of Ossetia () began to be collected and recorded in the late 19th and early 20th century. After the

Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, professional music appeared in Ossetia and in the following decades, a number of

symphonies A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning c ...

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

s and other institutions were formed. There is an Ossetian State Philharmonic. The first Ossetian opera was ''Kosta'', by Christopher Pliev.

Folk music

Ossetian folk music began to be collected in the late 19th and early 20th century. Boris Galaev made substantial contribution to the collection and documentation. Ossetian folk songs were divided into categories: * Historic songs * Revolution songs * Heroic songs * Worker's songs * Wedding songs * Drinking songs * Humorous songs * Dance songs * Love songs * Lyrical songs Traditional Ossetian musical instruments include: *''Kisyn fandyr'' (хъисын фæндыр or хъисын фандыр), a vertical fiddle with 2 or 3 strings *''Duadastanon'' (дуадастанон, sometimes spelled дыуадастанон or дыууадæстæнон), an

angular harp Angular harp is a category of musical instruments in the Hornbostel-Sachs system of musical instrument classification. It describes a harp in which "the neck makes a sharp angle with the resonator," the two arms forming an "open" harp. The harp ...

Ossetian musicians

Notable musicians

Valery Gergiev Valery Abisalovich Gergiev (, ; ; born 2 May 1953) is a Russian conducting, conductor and opera company director. He is currently general director and artistic director of the Mariinsky Theatre and of the Bolshoi Theatre and artistic director o ...

is of Ossetian descent and has since 1978 pursued a notable international career. He currently conducts the

Mariinsky Theatre The Mariinsky Theatre (, also transcribed as Maryinsky or Mariyinsky) is a historic opera house in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Opened in 1860, it became the preeminent music theatre of late 19th-century Russia, where many of the stage masterpieces ...

the

London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...

and is the artistic director of the

White Nights Festival The White Nights Festival is an annual summer festival in St. Petersburg dedicated to the phenomenon of midnight twilight due to its location near the Arctic Circle: Every year, from about April 22 to August 21, the night sky only reaches twili ...

in St. Petersburg. He is also a guest conductor at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera is an American opera company based in New York City, currently resident at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center), Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Referred ...

. Gergiev was born in Moscow, raised in Vladikavkaz and received his musical education from the

St. Petersburg Conservatory The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory () (formerly known as the Petrograd Conservatory and Leningrad Conservatory) is a school of music in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In 2004, the conservatory had around 275 faculty members ...

. One of his teachers was the Prof. Ilya Musin the creator of the Leningrad Conducting School that enabled many talented conductors to prosper. Gergiev developed his own style of conducting. He also used his talent to calm the first of revenge in the Caucasus, believing that "music is able to change the world and a person listening to Tchaikovsky's symphonies will not shoot".

Classical musicians

Veronika Dudarova Veronika Borisovna Dudarova (January 15, 2009) was a Soviet and Russian conductor, the first woman to succeed as conductor of symphony orchestras in the 20th century. She became a conductor of the Moscow State Symphony Orchestra in 1947, and le ...

- she was the first woman to succeed as a symphony conductor in Russia. She was an ethnic Ossetian born in Baku and educated in Moscow. She created and conducted the Symphony Orchestra of Russia. * Zlata Chochieva is an Ossetian pianist,

Merited Artist of the Russian Federation Merited Artist of the Russian Federation (, ''Zasluzhenny artist Rossiyskoy Federatsii''), also known as Honored Artist of Russia, is an honorary title in the Russian Federation. The title is awarded to actors, directors, filmmakers, writers, d ...

of the

Republic of north Ossetia–Alania A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a state in which political power rests with the public (people), typically through their representatives—in contrast to a monarchy. Although a ...

. *

Tugan Sokhiev Tugan Taymurazovich Sokhiev (; ; born 21 October 1977, Ordzhonikidze, North Ossetian ASSR) is a Russian conductor. Biography Sokhiev began piano studies at age 7. He first conducted at age 17, inspired by Anatoly Briskin, the conductor of the ...

is a conductor of Ossetian origin. In 2008 he became a music director of the Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse. * Dudar Hahanov (1921 - 1995) was an Ossetian composer, violinist and conductor. He was a member of the Composers Union of the USSR since 1953.

References

External links

* Iratta.com
Ossetian music
{{DEFAULTSORT:Music Of Ossetia Music of the Caucasus

Culture of Ossetia