Aram Khachaturian House Museum

The Birthright Armenia program staff had arranged a private tour for us at the house museum of Aram Khachaturian. Khachaturian was a world-renowned composer, conductor, and personal favorite of my late grandfather. I was eager to learn more about his life, works, and preserved home and personal effects. 

I first learned of Khachaturian when I was 12 years old. My grandfather encouraged our family to join him in a public viewing of a recently-released documentary directed by Peter Rosen and narrated by Eric Bogossian. Though I was a child with a short attention span struggling to sit through a black and white movie, I felt a sense of obligation and respect towards my grandfather to try to learn about his favorite musician. In retrospect, I’m glad I found the patience. Almost two decades later, I relived that curiosity when touring his house museum. 

Aram Khachaturian was born on June 6, 1903 in Tbilisi, Georgia. At the age of eighteen, he moved to Moscow and attended the Gnessian Musical Institute, where he initially studied the cello. By 1929, he attended the Moscow Conservatory and studied orchestration and composition. The 1920s through the mid 1930s were the formative years of his music education which led to his successful career as a composer and conductor. He wrote his first works and gained popularity and respect within the Soviet Union and abroad. His compositions were mostly influenced by Armenian folk music. 

From the late 1930s to 1948, Khachaturian composed the bulk of his life’s works. Though he was best known for his ballets, such as Gayane (1942) and Spartacus (1954), his works ranged from symphonies and orchestras to film scores. However, in 1948, Khachaturian and other prominent Soviet composers were black-listed and denounced by the Communist Party for their “politically incorrect” music. They were accused of formalism, art for art’s sake, that was in conflict with Soviet Realism. Their music was considered too complex or advanced for the working class to enjoy and only stood to benefit the artists themselves. This was an effort of the Department of Agitation and Propaganda to censure and control cultural works within the Soviet Union. Thus, within a year and following a public apology, Khachaturian was restored to his previous status.

In the early 1950s, Khachaturian began teaching at his alma maters. Following the completion of Spartacus, he worked less on new compositions and focused more on traveling abroad, conducting at famous concert halls and meeting prominent and famous people from other countries. Among those he met included the Pope, Che Guevara, Queen Elisabeth of Belgium and Ernest Hemingway. During his visits, he was granted gifts by his hosts, which are housed in the museum today. Among these was a piano gifted to him in Argentina which currently sits in the museum’s concert hall. The piano is laid with iron pieces, ivory keys, with beautiful carvings in the wood. The front and back lid is covered by a painting of a head statue of Chopin and two angels. I stood in awe of this piano, the incredible detail of the craftsmanship as well as the painting and design was so captivating I fell behind our tour group as they continued on. 

The last portion of his life was filled with international concerts within the Eastern Bloc, Western Europe, Latin America and the United States. He also served on various Soviet committees and unions, including the Soviet Peace Committee and the Union of Soviet Composers. In 1978, he passed away in Moscow after succumbing to a stomach illness he struggled with in the last few years of his life. His legacy and recognition continues to live on through the music he created. 

Khachaturian was a proud treasure for not only Armenia or the Soviet Union, but for the whole world and humanity. His work was enjoyed by all who appreciated the arts and music. I’m glad to have taken the time to enjoy his work myself and learn about his life. It’s clear why he was such a favorite of so many, including my grandfather.