Publisher's Synopsis
Khristaphor Stephan Kushnarian (1890-1960) also known as Kushnaryov was a Soviet Armenian composer and music historian. Trained in Tiflis and Leningrad, he managed to secure a professorship of Composition and Polyphony in 1939 at Leningrad Conservatory. From 1927-29 he directed the Institute of Theatre and Music in Leningrad, and between 1944-1949 directed folk song collecting expeditions in Erevan. Kushnaryan then acquired a research fellowship at the Armenian Academy of Sciences and became a teacher at the Institute of Music in Erevan. His principal work has been his study of Armenian monodic music - its origins and stages of development; its relations with Near Eastern music, and the distinguishing elements of Armenian monodic music.;Continuing the scholarly traditions of Komitas he has explained the mode system of Armenian monodic music. His other major work "The Origins of Armenian Music from its Beginnings to the XIXth Century" was published in 1963 in the volume "History of Armenian Music" (Erevan, 1963, in Armenian). Considered one of the most important works of Armenian musicologists, it remains one of the most authoritative texts on Armenian music, and is useful reading for the enthusiast of the music of the near-East.
