DEATH OF ARMENAG SHAHMOURADIAN

Armenag Shahmouradian had huge success in Paris as opera singer, but he became more famous as one of the most conspicuous representatives of the musical school founded by Gomidas Vartabed.

He was born on April 7, 1878, in Mush (Western Armenia). His singing talents as a member of the church choir, which he joined at the age of eight, attracted the attention of Bishop Nerses Kharakhanian. The bishop took him under his wing and sent him to the Seminary of the monastery of St. Garabed in Mush to get his education, but the narrow confines of the monastery were not suited for the young boy, who returned home quite soon.

This time, Bishop Kharakhanian sponsored him to go to Holy Echmiadzin, where he was admitted to the Kevorkian Seminary. Here he became a soloist in the choir formed by music teacher and well-known composer Kristapor Kara-Murza. The latter’s successor, the young Gomidas Vartabed, was attracted by Shahmouradian’s extraordinary voice and highly qualified singing, and taught him for a year and a half, helping him improve his musical talents. Shahmouradian was let go from the seminary for participating in a student agitation against the conservative leadership of the seminary. However, Catholicos Megerdich I (Khrimian Hayrig) interceded to have him admitted at the Nersisian School of Tiflis (Tbilisi), from where he graduated in 1896.

Shahmouradian participated in the demonstrations of the Armenians of Tiflis against the Hamidian massacres, and was arrested and jailed by the Russian authorities, which later delivered him to the Ottoman authorities. Shahmouradian reached Kars, where his only relief was singing, which attracted the interest of Turkish consul Fuad Bey, who sent him as “free exile” to his hometown Mush. He taught there for two years at the St. Garabed Seminary, and then moved to Erzerum, where he taught music, Armenian language, and Armenian history at the co-ed school there, and was the founding director of its choir.

Through the intercession of the school’s leadership, he was able to obtain a Lebanese laissez-passer with the pretext of going for medical attention. However, instead of Lebanon, he embarked on a French ship and reached Paris in 1904. His musical talents were well appreciated there, and French world-famous singer Paulina Viardot taught him for free for two years.

In January 1911 Shahmouradian debuted in Charles Gounod opera Faust in the main role at the Grand Opera of Paris. He was met with acclaim by the press and the public, and he repeated his role for a month by public demand. He was considered the “most captivating” tenor of France in those days. He went on a concert tour in Cairo, Tiflis, Constantinople, and Baku in 1912-1913.

He moved to the United States in 1914 and in the following years he gave concerts in New York, San Francisco, Detroit, and Fresno, as well as in European (London, Manchester, Brussels, Antwerp, Geneva, and Zurich) and Asian (Tehran, Bagdad, Calcutta) cities. In 1930 Shahmouradian returned to Europe, settling in Paris with poor health and in bad financial shape.

After returning from a tour to America in 1935, Shahmouradian was found to have the first signals of mental disturbance, like his teacher and mentor Gomidas Vartabed, who had passed away in the same year. He was transferred to a sanatorium in 1938, and died on September 14, 1939, at the age of 61, at this home in Arcueil, one of the suburbs of Paris, where he was buried at the local cemetery.