Asəf Zeynallı

Asəf Zeynallı

Plaque

Asəf Zeynalabdin oğlu Zeynallı (also Asəf Zeynallı , Russian Асаф Зейналабдин оглы Зейналлы * April 5, 1909 in Derbent , Russian Empire ; † December 27, 1932 ) was an Azerbaijani composer and music teacher.

Life

Asəf Zeynallı's father was a gardener and died when Asəf was one year old. So his mother was responsible for his upbringing. When she was seven, she sent him to a school in Derbent. He began to sing in the children's choir and learn the clarinet . Over time, he helped the local orchestra out as a clarinetist at summer concerts in the city park. In 1920 he moved to Baku with his family . First he learned to play the trumpet in the wind orchestra of a military school. From 1922 to 1926 he studied piano, cello and trumpet at the Bakı Musiqi Texnikum. In 1926 he was admitted to the Azerbaijan State Conservatory in Baku. Initially in the Faculty of Orchestra, he later studied at the Faculty of Composition. Asəf Zeynallı was the first Azerbaijani composer who completed a professional training as a composer at this institution. Üzeyir Hacıbəyov was one of his teachers . This played for Zeynallı and awakened his enthusiasm for Azerbaijani folk music. Another teacher was Boris Wassiljewitsch Karagitschew (1879-1946). From 1928 he taught music theory music school of the Azerbaijan State Conservatory. Zeynallı traveled to the most remote corners of Azerbaijan to collect folk songs. At the conservatory he founded an association for Western European and Russian classical music. He worked at the Turkish workers' theater and at the music school of the conservatory. Here he taught Qara Qarayev , Tofiq Quliyev (1917-2000) and Cövdət Hacıyev . Together with Səid Rüstəmov (1907–1983), Əşrəf Həsənov (1909–1983) and Fuad Əfəndiyev (1909–1963) the textbook İbtidai not savadı [Primary Writing Skills]. In 1931 he organized concerts of Azerbaijani music in Leningrad and Moscow and provided information about it during the concerts. Before his death, he took part in an expedition to Karabakh to collect popular folk songs there. In Shusha he met the Azerbaijani folk singer Khan Shushinski (1901–1979). On the way back from the expedition, he fell seriously ill and died on December 27, 1932.

Works (selection)

He wrote the first romances in Azerbaijani, small pieces for violin and piano and the first symphonic works of Azerbaijani music. Through his detailed knowledge of European music, he combined it with Azerbaijani and created new works in his own style. The romances “ Ölkəm ”, “ Sərhədçi ”, “ Sual ”, “ Çadra ”, “Seyran ” are still popular in Azerbaijan today. His orchestral suite Fraqmentlər [Fragments] is considered to be the first symphonic work in Azerbaijani music. His early death prevented the completion of a Baku symphony.

Vocal works

• Çadra
• Ölkəm , romance
• Seyran , romance
• Sərhədçilər , romance
• Sual , romance
• Şikəstə for choir and orchestra

Instrumental works

• Bakı , symphony (unfinished)
• Çahargah
• Durna for piano
• Fraqmentlər for large symphony orchestra
• Qoyunlar for violoncello
• Muğamsayağı for violin and piano

• Truba üçün pyes
• Usaq süitası

Commemoration

A street and the music college of the Azerbaijan National Conservatory were named after Asəf Zeynallı. For his 100th birthday in 2009, commemorative events were held in many cities in Azerbaijan and in his native Derbent, including at the above-mentioned music college.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d e f g h i} Musiqiyə həsr edilən ömür - Asəf Zeynallı. In: http://portal.azertag.az . AZERTAC, accessed November 5, 2019 (Azerbaijani). 
2. ↑ ^{a b c d} Asəf Zeynallı. In: http://azcomposersunion.com.az . Azərbaycan Bəstəkarlar İttifaqı, accessed November 5, 2019 (Azerbaijani). 
3. ↑ Rafiq Salmanov: Asəf Zeynallı - 100. In: http://www.anl.az . May 17, 2009, Retrieved November 5, 2019 (Azerbaijani).