Melikyan, Romanos Hovakimi

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Melikyan, Romanos Hovakimi

Melikyan, Romanos Hovakimi, Armenian composer; b. Kiziyar, northern Caucasus, Dec. 1, 1883; d. Yerevan, March 30, 1935. He studied at the Rostov Coll. of Music (graduated, 1905), then with Ippolitov-Ivanov, Taneyev, and Yavorsky in Moscow (1905–07); subsequently with Kalafati and Steinberg at the St. Petersburg Cons. (1910–14). He founded the Tiflis Music League (1908). He became director of music at the Armenian House of Culture in Moscow (1918), then founded the Yerevan Cons. (1923); was also founder-director of the Yerevan Theater of Opera and Ballet (1933). He was a major figure in Armenian music circles. As a composer, he was highly regarded for his songs and folk song arrangements.

Bibliography

G. Geodakyan, R. M. (Yerevan, 1960); K. Tordjyan, R. M. (Yerevan, I960).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire