27 Facts About Uzeyir Hajibeyov

Uzeyir bey Abdulhuseyn bey oghlu Hajibeyov was an Azerbaijani composer, musicologist and teacher.

Uzeyir Hajibeyov is recognized as the father of Azerbaijani classical music.

Uzeyir Hajibeyov was the first composer of an opera in the Islamic world.

Uzeyir Hajibeyov composed the first oriental opera Leyli and Majnun in 1908 and since then he is revered for adapting the written masterpiece to the theatre.

Uzeyir Hajibeyov was born in Aghjabadi, near Shusha of Azerbaijan, on 18 September 1885.

Uzeyir Hajibeyov received his early education in a religious school, where he perfected his Arabic and Persian.

From 1899 to 1904 Uzeyir Hajibeyov studied at the Gori Pedagogical Seminary, later to be known as the Transcaucasian Teachers Seminary.

Uzeyir Hajibeyov wrote the Turkic-Russian and Russian-Turkic Dictionary of Political, Legal, Economic and Military Terms, Used in Press in 1907 and the textbook Arithmetic Problems in 1908, and had them published by the Orujov Brothers Publishing House in Baku.

Uzeyir Hajibeyov always searched for ways to merge and integrate the past with the present, rather than to discard either form.

Uzeyir Hajibeyov had the opportunity to open music schools that combined various educational systems.

In 1908, Uzeyir Hajibeyov wrote his first opera, Leyli and Majnun, based on the tragic love story by the 15th century poet Fuzuli.

In October 2006, the musical comedy Arshin Mal Alan by Uzeyir Hajibeyov, written in 1914, was announced to be performed on western stages for the first time.

Uzeyir Hajibeyov's statue sits in front of this grand building that is still devoted to the synthesizing Eastern and Western musical traditions.

In 1931, Uzeyir Hajibeyov helped in establishing the Azeri Folk Instruments Orchestra affiliated with the Radio Committee.

Uzeyir Hajibeyov thus was the first musician to adapt the note system to traditional Azerbaijani musical instruments.

In 1936, Uzeyir Hajibeyov assisted in the founding of the Azerbaijani State Choir within the Azerbaijan Philharmonic Society.

Uzeyir Hajibeyov resolved this problem by using contrapuntal polyphony and unison-doubling rather than four-part singing in the problematic sections.

Uzeyir Hajibeyov devoted much energy to the idea of integrating woman's role and status into the male-dominated world.

Uzeyir Hajibeyov wrote with his brother Jeyhun Hajibeyli this libretto of the opera based on a poem of the same name written by Fuzuli.

From 1919 to 1920 Uzeyir Hajibeyov served as editor-in-chief for the newspaper Azerbaijan, the main governmental media body of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan.

In 1927, Uzeyir Hajibeyov published Collection of Azerbaijani Folk Songs along with composer Muslim Magomayev.

Uzeyir Hajibeyov was the creator of the first operas and operettas in the Orient.

Uzeyir Hajibeyov was honored with the Order of Lenin and the Stalin Prize which he won twice, once in 1941 for the opera Koroghlu, and the other time in 1946 for the 1945 film based on his opera Arshin Mal Alan.

Uzeyir Hajibeyov was a professor at the Baku Academy of Music and Active Member of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan.

Uzeyir Hajibeyov served twice as a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union, the highest legislative institution in the Union.

Uzeyir Hajibeyov died of diabetes at the age of 63, and was buried at the Alley of Honor in Baku.

On 18 September 1995, the 110th anniversary of Uzeyir Hajibeyov's birth has been celebrated.