Baku, September 18, AZERTAC

On September 18, 2025, 140 years will have passed since the birth of Uzeyir Hajibeyli — the great composer, founder of modern professional musical art in Azerbaijan, conductor, musicologist, publicist, playwright, teacher, public figure, and People’s Artist of the USSR.

Professor Zumrud Dadashzade, musicologist and Honored Art Worker, shares with AZERTAC her family history connected with Uzeyir Hajibeyli.

The 140th anniversary of Uzeyir Hajibeyli is not simply the jubilee of a great artist but a celebration of Azerbaijani and world culture as a whole. Before us is the figure of a multifaceted creator — composer, thinker, and educator, who was able to unite the national and the universal. His music became the living expression of the people’s spirit and acquired a truly global voice.

In our family, Uzeyir Hajibeyli was always held in reverence and deep love. My grandfather, Mammad Arif Dadashzade, personally knew Uzeyir bey. In the April days of 1938, during the Decade of Azerbaijani Art in Moscow, his article about the dastan “Koroghlu” was published in many newspapers in Baku and Moscow, and was included in a special booklet dedicated to the performance of “Koroghlu” on the Moscow stage.

Later, in 1945, Mammad Arif wrote the article “A Truly National Artist.” In it, he emphasized the mastery of the playwright who was able to amplify the meaning and significance of his works through musical means of expression he himself had discovered, thereby achieving even greater power and depth.

This line of reverence and heartfelt respect was continued by my father, the literary critic Araz Dadashzade. For him, “Koroghlu” was a special text — he knew this opera by heart. And with the same love, he preserved a wide array of publications about his beloved artist. The folders he collected are not just an archive: actis testantibus — the documents bear witness. In these newspaper clippings, the very era comes alive. Here are moving articles about music, reflections of prominent cultural figures, and the imprint of the political and spiritual climate of the country and the world. These are pages where the destiny of art intertwines with the destiny of time itself.

A special place among the collected materials belongs to the publications of 1975, dedicated to the opening of the Uzeyir Hajibeyli House-Museum on the initiative of Heydar Aliyev, the leader of Azerbaijan. This event became a milestone of national importance, marking the deep reverence and grateful memory of the people for their great son.

The numerous responses of cultural figures, published in the newspapers “Bakinskiy Rabochiy,” “Vyshka,” “Kommunist,” “Pravda,” “Adabiyyat,” “Sovetskaya Kultura,” “Baku,” “Molodyozh Azerbaydzhana,” and others, are read with great interest. Composers from Central Asia, the South Caucasus, and the Baltic states shared their thoughts on the significance of Uzeyir bey. Andria Balanchivadze called his work “the musical soul of the entire Caucasus.” Estonian composer Eugen Kapp admitted that when creating his opera “The Singer of Freedom,” he listened to “Koroghlu” again and again. Veli Mukhatov from Turkmenistan compared Hajibeyli’s art to a handwoven carpet, where the colors emerge ever more vividly with time. Uzbek, Turkmen, Tajik, and Kazakh composers emphasized that it was precisely Uzeyir bey’s creations that laid the foundation for the birth of their national theatre. According to Sharif Ramazanov, the author of the first Uzbek dance suite “Tanovar” was none other than the great Azerbaijani Hajibeyli. These publications are imbued with admiration and gratitude. Turkish writer Yavuz Bülent Bakiler called Uzeyir bey the pride not only of Azerbaijan but also of Türkiye.

The multifaceted personality of the composer is also confirmed by articles written by poets, writers, actors, directors, painters, and philosophers. Shamsi Badalbeyli recalls how he staged “Arshin Mal Alan,” adding new mise-en-scènes to the play. Uzeyir bey, who treated his own text with great care, supported the young director, saying: “I accept the liberties of Shamsi Badalbeyli.” And the words of Leyla Badirbeyli are particularly poignant: at a moment of disagreement with director R. Tahmasib, it was her conversation with Uzeyir ami — as many of his students affectionately and tenderly called the maestro — that helped her to understand the character of Gulchohra more deeply and to portray her so convincingly that this role became part of cinema history.

Our family archive continues to grow. Recently, I was given the booklet for the premiere of “Koroghlu,” which took place on April 30, 1937. Gara Garayev, who attended the performance, described his impressions as follows: “It was not a furor, a great success, a brilliant premiere. It was something else — exultation, shock, tears…”

My personal memories are connected with my first visit to the theatre: I saw the opera “Asli and Kerem” on stage and forever remembered the unique sounds and colors of this performance. Later, in 1985, I had the good fortune to attend the centennial celebrations in honor of Uzeyir Hajibeyli’s 100th birthday. It was a true festival of music. I especially remember the performance of Ukrainian composer Ivan Karabits. With humor, he recalled how, as a student, he had come to Baku for a conference. Repeatedly watching the film “Arshin Mal Alan,” he had memorized many lines, including the famous phrase “Pulun var?” — “Do you have money?” Hearing it in the cafeteria from students speaking among themselves, he joined the conversation, surprising them. In reality, he had understood Hajibeyli’s musical language, which became a bridge to another culture for him.

140 years later, Uzeyir Hajibeyli’s legacy remains alive. His music and ideas not only created Azerbaijan’s national composer school but also became a guidepost for many other cultures.

Here, the lines from Samed Vurghun’s poem “The Great Composer,” published in 1985 in the newspaper “Molodyozh Azerbaijan” in a translation by V. Gafarov, come to mind:

You resemble an eagle in your impulse / in your wingspan.

You soar in the boundless sky / in the high sky you live.

These lines still sound fresh and inspiring today. Uzeyir Hajibeyli’s art is like the flight of an eagle — free and soaring upwards. It is an eternal flight that knows no boundaries.