Horovel

Komitas (a.k.a. Soghomon Soghomonyan) was born on September 26 (on October 8 in the Old Calendar) 1869, in Kütahya (known also as Koutina) town, Ottoman Empire. Komitas’s ancestors migrated to Kütahya from Goghtn Province of Historical Armenia at the turn of the 17th century. His father, Gevorg Soghomonyan, and his mother, Taguhi Hovhannisyan, had delightful voices gifted by nature. The songs composed by them were loved in the musical life of Kütahya. Komitas’s mother passed away in 1870, and his father passed away in 1880. The paternal grandmother took care of the orphaned child and, after her death, the aunt looked after him. In 1876 – 1880, Komitas entered the 4 year Elementary School of Kütahya and then he continued his education at the college of Broosa, a city not far from Kütahya.

Komitas Vardaped was bold enough to conduct the choir and sing his own melodies, in Stabat Mater he reached to such emotional peak which almost entailed to tears and for which the audience gave ovation. Nothing was more heart touching than watching his modest and majesty bow to the audience applause, under the black high cowl of the monk.

               -Louis Laloy, French musicologist