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

's regional anthem 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 (1977) * Order of the Red Banner of Labour (18 March 1959) * Order of the Badge of Honour (6 December 1951) * People's Artist of the Uzbek SSR (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