OTD in Music History: Obscure but historically important Armenian-Soviet composer, conductor, and pedagogue Alexander Afanasyevich Spendiaryan (1871 - 1928) -- who often went by "Spendiarov" -- is born in what is now modern-day Ukraine.
Spendiarov is a little-known figure today, except in Armenia, where he is still celebrated as the "Father of Armenian Symphonic Music."
After obtaining a law degree in Moscow in 1894, Spendiarov traveled to St. Petersburg to show some musical compositions that he had composed in his spare time to legendary Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov (1844 - 1908). Rimsky-Korsakov was highly complementary, and, from 1896 to 1900, Spendiarov stayed on and studied music privately with him; according to fellow composer Alexander Glazunov (1865 - 1936), Rimsky-Korsakov always “considered [Spendiarov] to be a serious and talented composer with a great flair for composition.”
In the best works dating from his mature years, Spendiarov cultivated a type of late-Romantic Russian “orientalism” in which the elements of folk songs native to the peripheral regions of the Old Russian Empire were adroitly arranged and decked out in the colorful harmonies of the Russian "Nationalist" school of music spear-headed by Rimsky-Korsakov and his colleagues in "The Mighty Five."
Spendiarov's relocation from Crimea to Yerevan, Armenia, in in the early 1920s had a significant impact on his creative activities. In Armenia, he focused more of his time on teaching (he was one of the first significant figures to support the young Aram Khachaturian), helped to organize the first symphony orchestra ever assembled in the country, and spent a significant amount of time studying and transcribing Armenian folk music. When Spendiarov died from pneumonia in 1928, he was widely mourned as a national cultural hero.
PICTURED: A beautiful publicity photo showing the middle-aged Spendiarov, which he signed and inscribed to a friend in Yalta in 1913.
10 notes
·
View notes
Hi love ❤️
I’m so sorry to hear that this week hasn’t been the best. I’ve been there!
I’m here for you if you need anything and I hope you know how much I, and basically everyone from this fandom, adores you!!!
Please please please lemme know if you need anything. You deserve the world and all the good things ❤️💓
I’m sending you some positive vibes and so much love and support!! 🥰
Hi baby! ♥️
You’re so sweet, thank you so much 🥹🥹I’m always here for you too!
Sending you ALL the love and hugs and smooches 😘😘🥰🥰♥️♥️
6 notes
·
View notes
rose tyler visiting home wearing tshirts from artists and tours that havent happened yet or tv shows that dont exist yet and everyone thinking she just has weird obscure music taste and is rly weird. its 2006 rose tyler walking down the street and everyone who glances at her shirt is thinking ‘who in the fuck is olivia rodrigo and where did this girl get a 2024 tour shirt’
11K notes
·
View notes
this meme with guns n roses (OG under the cut)
3K notes
·
View notes
Ya Girl Went to the Emmys
I had a fun time, it was nice to meet cool people and shake their hands and serve a mother slay, etc - AND it was very cool that my cousin Will won for Slow Horses, so proud - BUT
as fun as it was, I know when the chips are down none of the people I met last night (except Dave) are gonna be there for me. They don't know me, even the ones who recognised me and said they follow my work, and that's okay! The people who are really gonna be there for me are my audience. Some of you have been watching since the bookshelf days and even earlier. Now I'm on the red carpet at the Emmys and that's cool, but I know who put me here. You. Especially you, tumblr fanbase. (Best fanbase.)
So here's to many more glitzy events and slay fits, but I hope I always remember where I started and who got me where I am today
<3
2K notes
·
View notes
thats what you get for not passing ur drivers license
the og meme ->
1K notes
·
View notes
I AM NEVER LEAVING THIS BUILDING
6K notes
·
View notes