Hormoz Farhat Explained

Hormoz Farhat
Birth Date:9 August 1928
Birth Place:Tehran, Imperial State of Persia (now Iran)
Death Place:Dublin, Ireland
Alma Mater:
Workplaces:
Discipline:Persian traditional music
Spouse:Maria Baghramian
Notable Works:List of compositions
The Dastgah Concept in Persian Music (1990)
List of publications

Hormoz Farhat (Persian: هرمز فرهت; 9 August 1928 – 16 August 2021) was a Persian-American[1] composer and ethnomusicologist who spent much of his career in Dublin, Ireland. An emeritus professor of music, he was a fellow of Trinity College, Dublin.[2] [3] Described by the Irish Times as a "gifted and distinctive composer of contemporary classical music," his compositions include orchestral, concertante, piano and choral music, as well string quartets and chamber works.[4] He also wrote numerous film scores, including that of Dariush Mehrjui's 1969 film The Cow.[4] However, his musicological research dominates his legacy; his writings on the music of Iran—a country which he insisted be called 'Persia'—were pivotal in ethnomusicology, particularly his acclaimed 1990 study The Dastgah Concept in Persian Music.[4]

Life and career

Hormoz Farhat was born on 9 August 1928, in Tehran, the capital city of what was then Imperial State of Persia, but renamed in 1935 as Iran.[5] His father Ebrahim Farat was a senior official at the Persian Ministry of Finance married to his mother Sedique.[4] The Farhat family had descended from a long line of "secularised Muslims", many of whom were civil servicemen like Ebrahim.[4] His cousin Shahin Farhat also became a composer.[6] According to Farhat himself, his early exposure to Iranian music was limited to his father occasionally playing the tar. Instead, he recalls that his ""early musical outlook was mainly western", later filtered through the country's radio station that was established in 1939.

Farhat later moved to the United States and received a BA in music from the University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA (1953), an MA in composition from Mills College, California (1955), and a PhD in composition and ethnomusicology from UCLA (1965). He studied composition with Darius Milhaud, Lukas Foss, and Roy Harris.[7]

In 1959, Farhat founded the Music of Persia Performance Group at UCLA.[8] During his years in California Farhat worked first as an assistant professor of music at California State University, Long Beach (1961–64) and then as associate professor of music at University of California, Los Angeles (1964–69).

On returning to Iran[9] he became a professor and head of the music department at the University of Tehran,[10] (1970–78) as well as the head of the Music Council in the National Iranian Radio and Television Network (1969–78) and Shiraz Arts Festival. He was vice-chancellor at Farabi University in Tehran (1975–77). In 1972 and 1973, he was invited as a visiting professor of music to Harvard University.

Farhat moved to Northern Ireland in 1979 as a senior research fellow at Queen's University, Belfast and then to the Republic of Ireland as the chair, professor and head of the School of Music in Trinity College Dublin (1982–95).[11] Among his students at Trinity College was Donnacha Dennehy, who became among the leading Irish composers of contemporary classical music.[12] He was a guest lecturer at numerous institutions including universities of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Princeton, Stanford, Berkeley, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Durham, Amsterdam, Cologne, Warsaw, Ljubljana, Copenhagen, Stockholm and The Smithsonian Institution[13] in Washington D.C. He was the external examiner at the University of Durham School of Music (1991–1994) and the Royal Irish Academy of Music (2001–2004 and 2011–2014).

Farhat died in Dublin (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dublin), Ireland, aged 93. In December 2021 the University College Cork and the University of Tehran jointly organised a virtual memorial for Prof. Farhat.[14]

Music

Overview

His compositions have been performed widely by, among many others, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and English Chamber Orchestra[15] and most recently by the pianist Soheil Nasseri in Carnegie Hall and Merkin Hall in New York[16] as well as in the Strathmore Music Center.[17]

Selected recordings

Selected compositions

Orchestral works

Chamber music

Piano music

Vocal music

Motion picture scoresScores for feature films by prominent Iranian film directors Dariush Mehrjui: Gaav (The Cow, 1969), Postchi (Postman), and Aagha-ye Haaloo (Mr. Naive, 1970); and Nasser Taghvai: Aaraamesh dar hozoor-e digaraan (Tranquility in the Presence of Others, 1972); and Saadegh Kordeh (Sadeq the Kurdish, 1973). In 1970, Farhat was awarded The Golden Plaque for Best Music for the score of Mehrjui's internationally acclaimed film Gaav.[20]

Selected publications

Books:

Persian Translations:

Articles

References

Sources

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: 4 June 2018 . Present Past: Notes from the Life of a Persian/American Composer in Ireland . Ibex Publishers . 9781588141415 .
  2. News: 9 May 2018 . Former Trinity Chair of Music, Composer Hormoz Farhat, honoured in homeland Iran . .
  3. News: Kayhan Life Staff . 25 August 2021 . Remembering Hormoz Farhat, Celebrated Iranian Composer and Musician . KayhanLife . 24 November 2021 .
  4. News: 9 October 2021 . Hormoz Farhat obituary: Gifted composer and much-loved teacher at TCD . . 24 November 2021 .
  5. News: De Bréadún . Deaglán . Deaglán de Bréadún . 29 August 2021 . Obituary: Hormoz Farhat, professor of music at Trinity College and a renowned composer and author . . 24 November 2021 .
  6. News: 4 May 2018 . Composer Hormoz Farhat honored in homeland Iran . . 24 November 2021 .
  7. Web site: Hormoz Farhat . 20 September 2018 . Contemporary Music Centre . 24 November 2021 .
  8. Web site: Highlights from the Ethnomusicology Archive: Music of Persia ensemble. 12 May 2014. UCLA.
  9. Web site: به عبارت دیگر: گفتگو با هرمز فرهت. BBC Persian. 11 October 2010 .
  10. Web site: آخرين شب از 'هفته موسيقی ايرانی' در راديوی بی بی سی. BBC Persian.
  11. https://www.cmc.ie/news/08172021-1616/hormoz-farhat-1928-2021 Obituary
  12. Encyclopedia: Gilmore . Bob . Bob Gilmore . 2009 . . Dennehy, Donnacha . . Oxford . 10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.2082335 . subscription .
  13. Web site: Archived copy . 2 June 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140728000005/http://fis-iran.org/en/comment/reply/2322?mode=print . 28 July 2014 . dead .
  14. Web site: A Tribute to the Late Professor Hormoz Farhat. 14 December 2021. UCC.
  15. Web site: Persepholis: Discovering the Music of Iran @www.classicalsource.com.
  16. Web site: Speed and Mideast Echoes Add to a Pianist's Palette. 8 September 2011. The New York Times.
  17. News: Pianist Soheil Nasseri, brooding over Beethoven at Music Center at Strathmore. 8 June 2010. The Washington Post.
  18. Web site: BBC – (none) – Performance on 3 – BBC Symphony Orchestra. BBC.
  19. Web site: Music Composition Centre : Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin, Ireland. Trinity College. Dublin.
  20. Web site: Cinema Celebrities (English).
  21. Web site: "Rhapsody Mazandarani" for Orchestra: New Publication from Persian Dutch Network. 23 May 2020 . PDN.
  22. Web site: Search Results – "Iran: past, present and future".
  23. Book: Farhat, Hormoz. 444316548. The evolution of style and content in performance practices of Persian traditional music. 1 January 1997. 33. 81–89. Cambridge University Press . 978-0-521-54206-7.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Hormoz Farhat".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.