Fikret Amirov

Fikret Amirov (1922-1984) Azerbaijani composer, founder of symphonic mugam genre, pedagogue, professor, author of opera, ballet, symphony and other works. People’s Artist of USSR (1965), Hero of Socialist Labour (1982), Second degree Stalin Prize (1949) and USSR State prize laureate (1980).
Fikret Amirov was born in 22 November 1922 in Ganja into the family of Mashadi Jamil Amirov who was a famous mugam singer, tar player and composer.
He has studied at Ganja Music College in a tar class and later at Baku Music School in composition class.
In 1939 Amirov entered the Baku Conservatorie, where he learned composition from Boris Zeidman and the basis of Azerbaijan folk music from Uzeyir Hajibeyli.
During the World War II Fikret Amirov went to the army and demobilized after being wounded.
In 1942-1945 he was director and artistic director of the philharmony and also the director of Music school in Ganja city.
In 1945 he began to continue his education and after three years, when he graduated from conservatorie represented “Ulduz” opera as his diploma work. He was Artistic Director of Azerbaijan Philharmony after Muslim Magomayev in 1946-1947 and director of Azerbaijan State Opera and Ballet Theatre in 1956-1959.
The composer has mainly used Azerbaijan folk music, ryhtms, mugham principles and improvisions in his creativity and merges them with variation and polyphonic improvement. He is an author of “Ulduz” (1948), “Sevil” (1953) operas, “Shur” (choreographic novella) (1968), “Nasimi epos” (1973), “Caspian Conquerors” (vocal-choreographic poem) (1975), “Thousand and one nights” (1979), “Nizami” (1984) ballets, “Robbers of the heart” (1943), “Good news” (1945), “Congratulations” (1946) operettas, "To the Memory of Nizami” (1941), "To the Memory of the Heroes of the Great Patriotic War" (1943) poems for orchestra, “Jangi” overture” (1945, with Z. Hajibeyov) for orchestra of folk instruments, concerto for orchestra with violin and fortepiano (1946), “Nizami” symphony (1947), concerto for fortepiano and folk instruments (1947, with A. Babayev), two symphonic mughams: “Shur", “Kurd Ovshari” (1948), “The winter road” poem for orchestra with tenor and baritone (1949, on the poem of A.S. Pushkin) “Azerbaijan” suite (1950), concertos for fortepiano and orchestra in arabian themes (1957, with E. Nazirov), "Azerbaijan Capriccio" (1961), “Sypmhonic dances” (1963), Mezzo-soprano, "Gulustan Bayati-Shiraz" symphonic poem for camera orchestra and timpani (1968), “Symphonic portraits” for 4 soloists, reader and orchestra (1970), "The Legend of Nasimi" vocal-choreographic poem (1977), “Azerbaijani engravings” for symphonic orchestra, camera compositions and a number of musics for films.
He was secretary of the Union of Composers of Azerbaijan (by 1956) and Union of Composers of USSR (by 1975). He was an active member of the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan SSR (by 1980) and deputy of the Supreme Soviet of Azerbaijan SSR. The book named “In a world of music” (1983) belongs to him.
Fikret Amirov died on 20 February 1984 and has been buried in the Alley of Honor in Baku.