Khachaturian, Aram Il'yich (1903–1978)

Armenian composer. His use of folk themes is shown in the ballets Gayaneh (1942), which includes the ‘Sabre Dance’, and Spartacus (1956).

His father, a bookbinder, was able to send him to study in Moscow only after the Revolution. He entered the Gnesin School of Music there and studied under Mikhail Gnesin in 1923; from 1929 until 1937 he studied at the Moscow Conservatory under Sergey Vasilenko and Nikolay Myaskovsky. He studied the folk songs of Russian Armenia and other southern regions, which influenced his compositions. He was successful with a pre-war symphony and piano concerto, but was denounced in the composers' purge of 1948 and as a result turned to patriotic film and ballet music.

Works Stage ballets Happiness (1939), Gayaneh (1942), Spartacus (1956); incidental music for Shakespeare's Macbeth, Lope de Vega's The Widow of Valencia, Pogodin's Kremlin Chimes, Kron's Deep Drilling, Lermontov's Masquerade, and others.

Orchestral three symphonies (1932–47), Dance Suite (1933), Solemn Overture, ‘To the End of the War’ for orchestra; Song of Stalin for chorus and orchestra (1938); marches and pieces on Uzbek and Armenian themes for wind band; concertos for piano, violin, cello, and violin and cello.

Chamber string quartet (1932), trio for clarinet, violin, and piano; sonata and pieces for violin and piano; piano music.

Other part songs; songs for the Russian army.