Fuzuli Cantata
Here, Jahangirov captured the atmosphere and lyrical philosophical ideas of Fuzuli's era with a high emotional tone.
For nearly 500 years, Fuzuli's miracle in poetry has found its musical expression in Jahangir Jahangirov's creative work.
In this work, the composer skillfully brings to life Fuzuli's ghazals "About Words", "Shabi-Hijran", and "It bored me to death" through the language of music.
The composer is able to convey the feelings that Fuzuli first translated into words and skillfully enters the world of the great poet's emotions and thoughts of the 16th century.
[3] Jahangir Jahangirov showed a greater inclination towards vocal-instrumental music and mass song genre in his creativity.
[5] Later, Jahangir Jahangirov continued his style with young composers, and ten years before his "Fuzuli" cantata, he wrote a vocal-symphonic poem called On the Other Side of Araz for soloist, choir, and symphonic orchestra.
[3]The "Fuzuli" cantata was first performed at a festive night dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the poet's memory in April 1959 at the Azerbaijan State Opera and Ballet Theater.
[7] The cantata, rich in literary-aesthetic and folk music performers, became popular in Azerbaijan shortly after its presentation.
Fuzuli's poems have been the poetic basis of mugham composition since the 16th century, creating an inseparable connection between words and music.
Small poems, such as couplets or ordinary three-part forms, are considered to be the poetic basis of the cantata.
The philosophical idea and belief of the work is represented by generalized emotional images created by the composer.
The accurate distribution of accents, which is a key element of the meter, enables the improvisational finiteness of the musical expressions through the repetition of each couplet.
[13] In the second section, the soloist's lyrical-sorrowful song "Məni candan usandırdı" (She made me tired of life) plays a leading role in creating the image of the poet who is missing his beloved.
In the middle section, which constitutes the climax, the soloist conducts a dialogue in a unique style that starts with the expression "Shabi-Hijran" (The night of sorrow).
[13] In the section of the cantata, the influence of mugham styles in the development of melody and music is particularly noticeable, and Jahangir Jahangirov skillfully uses them.
The principle of variant diversity, which takes its source from mugham, creates a certain degree of bilateral development sensation.
[16] The cantata is concluded with a small fugue-like coda dedicated to Fuzuli based on the poem of Razul Rza.
Sometimes, through his interviews with the press and his appearances on television and radio, we learn that the author himself gave more importance to the elements I mentioned earlier while working on this piece.
In other words, he broke away from the mono-culturalism of Ashiq Cunun and performed a very necessary task for our nation, which has difficulty coming to a national consensus, by incorporating various reasons (such as the "atüstü" pentatonic scale, the religious elegiac and commemorative elements in its seating arrangements, and the "forty days and forty nights" regulation in its epic narrative) into his work.
[19] The section with the "Ney kimi" poem starts with a Maestoso nuance, and has a 4/4 meter and E-flat major tonality.
[19] This section features nuances such as mf, f, ff, espressivo, poco piu mosso, largo con forzo, crescendo, and diminuendo.
Here, after the orchestral introduction, the development of complete melodic lines from Fuzuli's poem "Meni candan usandirdi" is used.
When the soloist, the male singer, enters, the orchestra accompanies him with syncopated notes and the performance includes triplets and sextuplets.
The conductor's goal during the interchange between the soloist and the male choir is to accurately convey the artistic and aesthetic imagery of the piece.
"[22] The verses of the poem "Gel ey dövrün cəfasından" by the poet Rəsul Rza are used as the culmination of both this section and the entire cantata.
[22] The dramatic line in the work is derived from the poetic images and is reflected in the melodies created by the composer based on mugam intonations.
Journalist Flora Khalilzadeh noted this: Jahangir Jahangirov's "Fuzuli" cantata stood out for its content, tonality, emotional depth, and the improvisational motifs of mugham.
Especially, the beautiful voice and pleasant breath of Shovkat Alakbarova further enhanced the possibilities of expressing the deep emotions, joy and sorrow of the cantata.
For almost 60 years, Jahangir Jahangirov's "Fuzuli" cantata has been captivating the hearts of the listeners and touching their emotions.
[26] The song has also been performed by Güllü Muradova (2011), Farghana Qasimova (2016), Nuriyya Huseynova (2010), Shahnaz Hashimova (2018, with the support of the Gence State Philharmonic Folk Instruments Orchestra), and others.
