About
Alan Hovhaness
“My purpose is to create music, not for snobs, but for all people—music which is beautiful and healing—to attempt what old Chinese painters called ‘spirit resonance in melody and sound.'”
Alan Hovhaness was one of the most prolific composers of the Twentieth Century— sixty-seven symphonies, three oratorios, seven operas, plus stage works, and numerous compositions for full orchestra as well as various instrumental combinations. His opus numbers total 434; after finishing counting his manuscripts, there could well be over five hundred opuses. Unlike any other Twentieth-Century composers, he stood alone. He followed his “instinct and his voice.” His compositions were unique and original.
He was born Alan Vaness Chakmakjian on March 8, 1911, in Somerville, Massachusetts, son of Haroutioun Chakmakjian and Madeleine (Scott). At age four, he had made his first attempt to compose on the eleven line staff, which he invented. His mother, who had a small harmonium organ, could not play his music, so he gave up composing for astronomy—until the age of seven.
Hovhaness’s early piano studies were with Adelaide Proctor and later with Heinrich Gebhard, both encouraged him greatly. His early studies in composition were with Leo Rich Lewis and Frederick Converse at the New England Conservatory of Music.
In the summer of 1942, he won a scholarship to Tanglewood to study. By this time he had written numerous pieces of music and had just finished composing his Symphony No. 1, Exile. But after criticism by Aaron Copland and Leonard Bernstein, heads of Tanglewood, he left there disappointed. As a result, he burned more than one thousand pieces of music in his fireplace.
Herman di Giovanno, his spiritual teacher, a psychic who worked as a waiter in a Boston Greek restaurant, persuaded him to go back to his heritage, Armenia, to find himself. This led him into his Armenian Period, Lousadzak (The Coming of Light), Concerto for Piano and Strings (1944), and The Prayer of St. Gregory, for trumpet and strings (1946). Still, not very much musically happened in his time in Boston – in his own words, he described himself at that time as, “Composer of no performance.”
In the same year, 1942, the writer William Saroyan, who believed in Hovhaness’s talent, introduced his music to conductor Leopold Stokowski. On January 21, 1943, Stokowski performed his Symphony No. 1, Exile, with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra. He also performed numerous Hovhaness compositions in years to come and became his champion. In 1951 Hovhaness moved to New York – then things started happening. He composed for radio and television, a Clifford Odets play, and three scores for Martha Graham Dance company. In 1955, Stokowski commissioned and premiered Symphony No. 2: Mysterious Mountain, Hovhaness’s masterpiece, for his debut with the Houston Symphony Orchestra; the premiere recording, however, was with Fritz Reiner and the Chicago Symphony and established Hovhaness’s career.
In 1960 Hovhaness received a Fulbright Scholarship grant to go to India where he studied Karnatic music. From there he went to Japan—a paradise for him. In 1962 he received a Rockefeller grant and went back to Japan to study Gagaku, ancient Japanese music. He then went to Korea and studied Ah-ak, the ancient orchestra and instruments of Korea.
Early in 1960, New York Philharmonic Orchestra conductor Andre Kostelanetz became his new champion and began commissioning many works from Hovhaness, including Floating World, Op. 209 (1964), Fantasy on Japanese Wood Prints, Op. 211 (1964), and God Created Great Whales, Op. 229 (1970), one of his most popular symphonic works premiered by Kostelanetz at a New York Philharmonic Promenade concert on June 11,1970.
In 1966, Vilem Sokol and the Seattle Youth Symphony invited Hovhaness to conduct his music in Seattle; a year later he became Composer-in-Residence with Seattle Symphony under Milton Katims. He found great inspiration in the Cascade and Olympic mountain views there (and of course, Mount Tahoma/Mount Rainer). He moved to Seattle, where he resided the rest of his life. There he composed many symphonies, and Gerard Schwarz, the new young conductor of the Seattle Symphony, conducted (and later recorded) his Symphony No. 50, Mount St. Helens, Op. 360 (1982). It was a great success and from that time on, Schwarz became Hovhaness’s final champion. This symphony was commissioned by Henry Hinrichsen, the young president of C.F. Peters, Hovhaness’s New York publisher; in fact, his father Walter was the discoverer of Hovhaness’s music – he believed in his music and wanted to publish all of it. Unfortunately, “Mysterious Mountain” went to G. Schirmer, to Hinrichsen’s great regret. C. F Peters now include 239 of Hovhaness’s compositions in their catalog.
Hovhaness lived in Seattle from 1972 until his death on June 21, 2000 at the age of 89. He had received five honorary doctorates and numerous other awards, He was a strict contrapuntalist, but his interest in ancient oriental music led him to study in Armenia, India, Japan, and Korea. His melodies, though Eastern-sounding, are all original (unless otherwise indicated in the scores.) Even though he was spiritual, he wanted his music to be played with vitality, not meditatively, according to his own words, “People misinterpret my music. My music should be played like Tschaikowsky – not over-sentimental nor meditative.”
~ Hinako Fujihara Hovhaness
Alan Hovhaness: Unveiling One of the Great Composers of the 20th Century
In the year 2000, after Alan’s death, Hinako Fujihara-Hovhaness started writing poems, which was the only way she could cope with her great loss. They were written with her limited English, yet they were spontaneous and poignant, straight from her heart. After she had written hundreds of poems, it was not enough. Hinako started writing stories from my memories about Alan, events she had experienced with him.
To Hinako, “Alan was a master of counterpoint and an intellectual, yet he had many different sides to his personality, from being a polite, distinguished gentleman to a wild savage, idealistic, and old-fashioned man to sexy womanizer. He understood human nature and emotion, and I think that is why his music touches people’s hearts and is loved by them, even though his music is built on an intellectual foundation.”