Armenian Opera

Yerevan Opera House

It was Dikran Tchouhadjian (1837-98) who founded the tradition of Opera in Armenia. He was a big admirer of Verdi and studied his work at length whilst undertaking his musical education in Milan. Born in Constantinople (in what was the Ottoman Empire) he was a political and musical nationalist who combined Armenian influences with Western ideas in his work.

In 1868 he wrote what is regarded as the first Armenian Opera with the ground breaking Arshak Erkrord, however it was not until 1945 that the Opera was fully staged. The story was about an Armenian prince who served as a Roman Client King of Arsacid Armenia from 350 until 368.


Arshak Erkrord
Tovmas Terzian is another composer who has contributed heavily to the Armenian Opera, especially with his work The Libretto which is also based upon the life of Arshak Erkrord who was a popular Armenian hero from classical times. Furthermore, he contributed many notable operas including: Arifi khardakhutyune (1872), Zemire (1891), Kyose Kyokhva (1891), Lelebidi (1892) and Indiana (1892).

Anoush
In 1878, Armen Tigranian (see separate article regarding Tigranian) was born and he went on to become one of Armenia’s most influential composers. He wrote the opera Anoush in 1908 and it was set in the Armenia countryside and made heavy use of Armenian folk music and culture and is perhaps the most popular Armenian musical or theatrical work. The opera is a tragic love story set in an Armenian village; Anoush is a young girl who falls in love with a local shepherd who is murdered by a rival.

Despite being first performed in 1912 in Alexandrapol it was not until 1935 that the opera had its first professional staging at the Armenian National Opera Theatre, even now Anoush remains in the repertoire of the Armenian National Theatre.

David Bek
Before he died Tigranian’s wrote his last and arguably most famous opera David Bek (1950), based upon the novel David Bek (1882) by the Armenian author Hakob Melik Hakobian better known by his pen name of Raffi. It was based upon the life of the national hero David Bek and is set in the 18th Century where a struggle between Armenians and Persians unfolds. With Tigranian’s untimely death in 1950 the opera was completed by Levon Khoja-Eynatov and G. Budaghyan.