Nikolai Chemberdzhi

Nikolai Karpovich Chemberdzhi was a Soviet composer, born on August 24, 1903 in Tsarskoye Selo, Saint Petersburg Governorate, Russian Empire. He was the author of the first Bashkir opera, Karlugas (The Swallow), and was later named Honored Artist of the Bashkir ASSR in 1944. In 1946 he received the Stalin Prize, second class.

He was born into a family of Armenian origin. His father, Karp Chemberdzhi, who served as physician to His Imperial Majesty, was married to Valentina Spendiarova, the sister of the composer Alexander Spendiaryan. Chemberdzhi's mother died when he was two years old, and after her death his father sent him to Crimea, where he was brought up in the family of his uncle, Alexander Spendiaryan.

From 1913 he studied music theory with S. A. Bugoslavsky and composition with his uncle Spendiaryan. In 1917 he moved to Moscow, where he first worked as a silent film accompanist and later entered the Moscow Conservatory. He graduated there in composition under A. N. Alexandrov.

From 1928 he served as head of the musical department and conductor of the Central Theater of Working Youth in Moscow. He was one of the founders and a member of PROKOLL, the Production Collective of Students of the Moscow Conservatory, and was regarded as a fellow traveler in the Russian Association of Proletarian Musicians. He wrote mass songs and marches, and in 1931–1932 taught a composition class at the Moscow Conservatory.

During the Great Patriotic War, while in Ufa, he created the first Bashkir opera, Karlugas. He also devoted much time to public activity, taking part in the first steps toward establishing the Music Fund of the USSR. He held responsible positions in the Union of Soviet Composers, serving as chairman of the Moscow Union of Composers from 1936 to 1937 and as executive secretary of the organizing committee of the Union of Soviet Composers from 1942 to 1945. He became a member of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) in 1942.

Among his works were the children's ballet Dream Sonovich, the symphony-cantata A Matter of Valor, a violin concerto, the symphonic poem Armenia, a sinfonietta, suites, marches, songs, chamber works, and music for films. His song Smile, performed by Antonina Nezhdanova, enjoyed popularity. His Third String Quartet brought him the Stalin Prize in 1946.

Chemberdzhi died on April 22, 1948 in Moscow, USSR, and was buried at Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow.

Connections

This figure has 1 connection in the Music Lineage catalog.