A valuable new publication dedicated to the rich legacy of the great composer Uzeyir Hajibeyli, the founder of Azerbaijani professional music and opera, has been added to the Presidential Library collection. Entitled “Uzeyir’s Genius in the Art of Music”, the publication is a collection of scholarly articles. 

The publication was prepared by the staff of the Research Laboratory for “The Study of Traditional Azerbaijani Professional Music and Its New Directions: Organology and Acoustics”, which has been operating at the Uzeyir Hajibeyli Baku Music Academy for more than 35 years. The scholarly editor of the publication is Professor Gulnaz Abdullazade, Vice-Rector for Science and Innovation at the Baku Music Academy and Honoured Art Worker.

The collection provides a comprehensive study of the great composer’s multifaceted activities, his scholarly and theoretical legacy, and his exceptional contributions to the development of Azerbaijani musical culture. In addition to analysing the dramatic features of Uzeyir Hajibeyli’s operettas and musical comedies, including “O Olmasın, Bu Olsun” (If Not That One, Then This One) and “Arshin Mal Alan” (The Cloth Peddler), the publication presents interesting scholarly research into songs written for the operetta “Arshin Mal Alan” that were never performed at the time and were subsequently forgotten. 
            
The study highlights the composer’s educational traditions, his creative collaboration with his successor Afrasiyab Badalbeyli, and his role in the establishment of the Azerbaijan State Conservatoire and the formation of national music education. It also examines, from a scholarly perspective, Uzeyir Hajibeyli’s work with the prominent composer Muslim Magomayev in collecting and transcribing Azerbaijani folk music, the practical significance of Western Azerbaijani folklore, and Hajibeyli’s connections with the musical environment of Nakhchivan.

The publication also devotes considerable attention to innovative trends in performance practice. In this context, it examines such noteworthy historical aspects as the innovations introduced by tar player Mirza Sadig Asad oghlu (Sadigjan) in tar performance, as well as the work of Gilman Salahov as a kamancha player in the first Azerbaijani Folk Instruments Orchestra to perform from musical notation, established by Uzeyir bey. Finally, the synthesis of the national and Western musical languages in the composer’s oeuvre is assessed and presented to readers within the framework of the concept of “musical bilingualism” in contemporary musicology.

This valuable scholarly resource, intended for musicologists, researchers, university lecturers and students, as well as a broad readership, is available for consultation at the Presidential Library.