Suleiman (Solomon) Alexandrovich Yudakov (; 14 April 1916 – 5 November 1990) was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

Biography

Suleiman Yudakov, a Bukharian Jew, was born in

Kokand Kokand ( ) is a city in Fergana Region in eastern Uzbekistan, at the southwestern edge of the Fergana Valley. Administratively, Kokand is a district-level city, that includes the urban-type settlement Muqimiy. The population of Kokand was ap ...

, and started to devote himself to music in the

orphanage An orphanage is a residential institution, total institution or group home, devoted to the care of orphans and children who, for various reasons, cannot be cared by their biological families. The parents may be deceased, absent, or abusi ...

where he spent three years of his childhood. His first teacher there was Mikhail Naigof. In 1932, he was accepted to the so-called ''

rabfak Rabfak (from , a syllabic abbreviation of Рабочий факультет, ''Rabochiy fakul′tet'', "workers' faculty") was a type of educational institution in the Soviet Union which prepared Soviet workers and peasants to enter institutions of ...

'' (рабочий факультет, or workers' faculty - an educational establishment set up to prepare workers and peasants for higher education) of the

Moscow Conservatory The Moscow Conservatory, also officially Tchaikovsky Moscow State Conservatory () is a higher musical educational institution located in Moscow, Russia. It grants undergraduate and graduate degrees in musical performance and musical research. Th ...

majoring as a

flautist The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

. In 1939, Suleiman Yudakov became a student in the class of

Reinhold Glière Reinhold Moritzevich Glière (23 June 1956), born Reinhold Ernest Glier, was a Russian and Soviet composer of German and Polish descent. He was awarded the title of People's Artist of RSFSR (1935) and People's Artist of USSR (1938). Biography ...

at the conservatory's Department of Composing. In 1941, he had to interrupt his studies due to the outbreak of the

war War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

and leave for

Tashkent Tashkent (), also known as Toshkent, is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Uzbekistan, largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of more than 3 million people as of April 1, 2024. I ...

. From 1943 to 1946 he worked as artistic director at the Tajik State Philharmonic in

Dushanbe Dushanbe is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 1,564,700, with this population being largely Tajiks, Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe, and from 1929 to 1961 as St ...

, but then returned to Tashkent. He died on 5 November 1990. He was buried in Tashkent at the Bukharan-Jewish cemetery.

Compositions

Yudakov's most famous piece was composing the melody of the

Tajik SSR The Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic, also commonly known as Soviet Tajikistan, the Tajik SSR, TaSSR, or simply Tajikistan, was one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union which existed from 1929 to 1991 in Central Asia. The Tajik Re ...

regional anthem An anthem is a musical composition of celebration, usually used as a symbol for a distinct group, particularly the national anthems of countries. Originally, and in music theory and religious contexts, it also refers more particularly to short s ...

in 1944. This melody is still used as the national anthem of

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

, the "

Surudi Milli "" is the national anthem of Tajikistan, officially adopted on 7 September 1994. It is derived from the anthem of the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic, composed by Suleiman Yudakov, Sulaymon Yudakov in 1946. History Upon the country's independen ...

." After the war, Suleiman Yudakov composed many works, including the first Uzbek comical opera, ballets, cantatas, and symphonic music: * 1945 – "", a drama ("The Son" in Russian; ) * "Восточная поэма" (Vostochnaya poema/ Eastern Poem), for violin and piano * "Fantasia for violin, violoncello and piano" * "Dancing suite" for two pianos, in three parts.

Awards

* Stalin Prize (1951) *

State Hamza Prize The State Hamza Prize or simply the Hamza Prize, officially the State Prize of the Uzbek SSR Named After Hamza ( uz-Latn-Cyrl, Hamza nomidagi Oʻzbekiston SSR Davlat mukofoti, Ҳамза номидаги Ўзбекистон ССР Давлат м ...

(1977) *

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour () was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to the Soviet state and society in the fields of production, science, culture, literature, the arts, education, sports ...

(18 March 1959) *

Order of the Badge of Honour The Order of the Badge of Honour () was a civilian award of the Soviet Union. It was established on 25 November 1935, and was conferred on citizens of the USSR for outstanding achievements in sports, production, scientific research and socia ...

(6 December 1951) *

People's Artist of the Uzbek SSR People's Artist of the USSR, also sometimes translated as National Artist of the USSR, was an honorary title granted to artists of the Soviet Union. The term is confusingly used to translate two Russian language titles: Народный арти� ...

(1976)

References

External links

Obituary (in Uzbek)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yudakov, Suleiman 1916 births 1990 deaths People from Kokand People from Fergana Oblast Bukharan Jews Uzbekistani Jews Tajikistani composers Tajikistani Jews Soviet Jews National anthem writers 20th-century Tajikistani musicians Recipients of the Stalin Prize Uzbekistani composers Soviet composers Moscow Conservatory alumni Recipients of the State Hamza Prize