Mukhtar Ashrafi Explained

Mukhtar Ashrafi
Native Name Lang:uz
Birth Date:29 May 1912
Birth Place:Bukhara, Russian Empire (now Uzbekistan)
Death Place:Tashkent, Uzbek SSR, Soviet Union
Occupation:Composer

Mukhtar Ashrafovich Ashrafi (15 December 1975) was a Soviet Uzbek composer. He was awarded the title People's Artist of the USSR in 1951.[1] He became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1941 was awarded the Stalin Prize in 1943 and 1952. He is known as the author of the first Uzbek opera “Buran” (together with Sergei Vasilenko) and the first Uzbek symphony.[2]

His daughter Muqadamma was a noted medievalist.[3]

Early life and education

Mukhtar Ashrafi was born on 29 May (11 June) 1912 in Bukhara.[4] He grew up in the family of his father, a famous Bukhara singer and musician Ashrafzhan Hafiza.[5] At the age of seven, Ashrafi began to play Uzbek folk instruments improvising on the dutar. In 1924, he entered Oriental Music School in Bukhara.[6] In 1928, Ashrafi graduated a dutar class in Bukhara and entered the Samarkand Institute of Music and Choreography.

From 1934 to 1936, he studied in a composition class of Sergei Vasilenko at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1934, Ashrafi wrote Komsomol and pioneer songs, and in 1935-1936, he wrote lyrical songs on the words of Ruzuli, working on his first opera at the same time.

Together with his teacher, Sergei Vasilenko, Ashrafi wrote the first Uzbek opera “Buran” that was staged in 1939, starting the history of Uzbek Opera and Ballet Theater.

In 1941-1944, Ashrafi studied composition at the Leningrad Conservatory.[7] In 1948, he graduated from the conducting faculty of the Leningrad Conservatory as an external student.

Career

In 1942, Ashrafi created the first Uzbek heroic symphony.[8] From 1943 to 1947, Ashrafi was a director of Alisher Navoi Uzbek Opera and Ballet Theater. Since 1944 Ashrafi was a teacher, and since 1953 - a professor at the Tashkent Conservatory.

In 1964-66 he was a director, artistic director and chief conductor of the Samarkand Opera and Ballet Theater, and since 1966 - a director, artistic director and chief conductor of the State Academic Bolshoi Theater of the Uzbek SSR in Tashkent.

From 1971 to 1975, Ashrafi was rector of the Tashkent Conservatory.

Ashrafi is the author of the books "Indian Diaries" (in Russian and Uzbek), "Music in my life", numerous articles in magazines and periodicals.

He died on 15 December 1975 in Tashkent.[9]

Awards and honours

In 1976, Tashkent Conservatory was named after him. On the occasion of the 70th birthday of Ashrafi, on 11 June 1982, a museum was opened in the house where he lived and worked from 1967 to 1975. In 2019, a memorial evening of Ashrafi was held in the assembly hall of the Union of Composers and Bastakors of Uzbekistan.[21]

Selected works

Operas
Ballets
Orchestral works

Controversy

Ashrafi was accused of plagiarism in 1959, and Dmitri Shostakovich concluded that the allegations were true.[22] [23] [24]

References

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Ashrafi, Muhtar . Sultanova . Razia . 2001 . 45041 .
  2. Web site: АШРАФИ МУХТАР АШРАФОВИЧ (Композитор, дирижер). 2021-01-15. tashkentpamyat.ru.
  3. Book: Kamoludin Abdullaev. Shahram Akbarzaheh. Historical Dictionary of Tajikistan. 27 April 2010. Scarecrow Press. 978-0-8108-7379-7.
  4. Web site: Мухтар Ашрафи. 2021-01-15. Кино-Театр.РУ.
  5. Web site: Мухтар Ашрафи и узбекская народная музыка. 2021-01-15. mus.academy. en.
  6. Web site: Союз композиторов и бастакоров Узбекистана - АШРАФИ МУХТАР. 2021-01-15. www.commus.uz.
  7. Web site: Мухтар Ашрафович Ашрафи (Mukhtar Ashrafi) Belcanto.ru. 2021-01-16. www.belcanto.ru.
  8. Web site: Неизвестный Ташкент: Мухтар Ашрафи и музыка на просторах музея. 2021-01-16. vot.uz. en-US.
  9. News: Ўзбекистон Компартияси Марказий Комитети, Ўзбекистон ССР Олий Совети Президиуми, Ўзбекистон ССР Министрлар Советидан. Sovet Oʻzbekistoni. 16 December 1975. uz. 1.
  10. News: Указ Президиум Верховного Совета СССР О присвоении почетных званий артистам Узбекской ССР. 8 December 1951. Sovetskoe iskusstvo. ru. 1.
  11. Encyclopedia: Oʻzbekiston milliy ensiklopediyasi. Ашрафий Мухтор Ашрафович. uz. Ashrafiy Muxtor Ashrafovich. 1. 2000. Oʻzbekiston milliy ensiklopediyasi. Tashkent.
  12. News: А) Музыки. Literatura i iskusstvo. 21 March 1943. ru. 1.
  13. News: Ж. Музыки. Pravda Vostoka. 18 March 1952. ru. 2.
  14. News: 17 April 1970 . Адабиёт, санъат ва архитектура соҳасида Ҳамза номли Ўзбекистон ССР давлат мукофотларини бериш тўғрисида . On awarding the state awards of the Uzbekistan SSR named after Hamza in the fields of literature, art and architecture . Sovet Oʻzbekistoni . 1 . uz . 90.
  15. News: 8 December 1951 . Указ Президиума Верховного Совета СССР О награждении орденами и медалями работников литературы и искусства Узбекской ССР . Sovetskoe iskusstvo . 1 . ru . 98.
  16. News: Указ Президиума Верховного Совета СССР О награждении компоситора Ашрафи М.А. орденом Ленина. Pravda Vostoka. 14 June 1972. ru. 1.
  17. News: Награждение строителей Большого Ферганского канала имени тов. И. В. Сталина. Pravda. 24 December 1939. ru. 1.
  18. News: Указ Президиума Верховного Совета СССР О награждении орденами и медалями СССР работников искусства и литературы Узбекской ССР. Pravda Vostoka. 19 March 1959. ru. 1.
  19. News: О награждении работников Узбекского музыкального театра и Узбекской филармонии — участников декады Узбекского искусства в Москве. 1 June 1937. Pravda. ru. 1.
  20. News: 26 January 1944 . Указ Президиума Верховного Совета СССР О награждении орденами и медалями колхозников, колхозниц, работников сельского хозяйства, промышленности, науки, културы и искусства Узбекской ССР . Vedomosti of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR . 2 . ru . 3.
  21. Web site: Насыбуллина. Гузель. 2019-06-14. Вечер памяти Мухтара Ашрафи состоялся в Ташкенте Всемирный конгресс татар. 2021-01-16. ru.
  22. Book: Shostakovich Reconsidered. Toccata Press. 1998. Ho. Allan Benedict. Feofanov. Dmitry. 268.
  23. News: Testimony: The Memoirs of Dmitri Shostakovich. Rowman & Littlefield. 2004. 199.
  24. Book: Hakobian, Levon. Music of the Soviet Era: 1917-1991. 2016. Routledge. 122.

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