Legendary and unique Azerbaijani opera singer - Huseyngulu Sarabski, first performer of “Majnun”

Baku, February 2, AZERTAC We honor the memory of Huseyngulu Sarabski, who was a prominent Azerbaijani opera singer, actor, director, teacher, theatre figure, People's Artist of Azerbaijan, one of the founders of professional musical theatre of Azerbaijan. Sarabski, who has outstanding services in developing opera art in Azerbaijan, was born on March 20, 1879, in Baku. He played an exceptional role as a performer in the formation of the Azerbaijani mugham opera, which emerged at the crossroads of musical and theatrical traditions of East and West eventually becoming a unique phenomenon in world opera. The Azerbaijani opera singer Sarabski was actively involved in the cultural life of the republic. He has also made significant contributions to the promotion and development of the art of mugham. At the age of 12, Huseyngulu Sarabski for the first time watched a stage play by Mirza Fatali Akhundzade's comedy of "Adventure-Vaziri-khani-Lankaran" performed by amateurs dubbed as "Khan Sarabi" and it was then when he fell in love with this form of art and started dreaming about theatre performance and music. Huseyngulu, whose real surname was Rzayev, later took the stage name of Sarabski, which is also obviously associated with his first profound impression. Huseyngulu, whose first role was Rasul in famous Azerbaijani writer, playwright, Nariman Narimanov's play entitled "Dilin belasi (Talking too much can get you into trouble)" in 1902, later played a number of different roles in several plays of famous Azerbaijani writers and playwrights such as M.F.Akhundzade, N. Vazirov and A. Hagverdiyev. Sarabski’s repertoire included not only the national plays but also the dramatic pieces by Shakespeare, Heine, Schiller and Gogol which have been translated into Azerbaijani. It was the stunning mugham "Hijaz" that he performed while playing the role of an Arab traveler in prominent German poet and writer Heinrich Heine's play "Almansor" where his incredible performance attracted the attention of founding father of Azerbaijani composed classical music and opera Uzeyir Hajibayli, who was then working on "Leyli and Majnun" - the first opera in Azerbaijan and the Muslim East. Having realized the potential of Sarabski as an opera singer, who enjoyed a beautiful voice and extensive knowledge of mughams, Uzeyir Hajibayli invited him to play a lead role in his “Leyli and Majnun” opera. He came to perform this role more than 400 times during his career, the last time in 1941, four years before his death. In a speech at his funeral Uzeyir Hajibayli praised his talent and dedication and described him as a ‘school and model for other artists‘. Sarabski also played leading roles in such operas as "Shah Ismayil", "Ashig Garib" as well as Azerbaijani operettas “O olmasin, bu olsun” (If not that one, then this one) and “Arshin mal alan” (The Cloth Peddlar) which have lost none of their relevance today. In 1908, Uzeyir Hajibayli wrote his first opera Leyli and Majnun. The opera based on the tragic love story by the 15th century Azerbaijani poet Fuzuli. This would be the first of 7 operas and 3 musical comedies that Hajibayli composed throughout his life. In Leyli and Majnun, the uniqueness of the traditional music of mugham was incorporated into a Western genre with the use of instruments indigenous to both traditions. Sarabski was an important singer and actor who also worked as a director and teacher and received the title People’s Artist of Azerbaijan in 1932. The prominent Azerbaijani singers such as Sara Gadimova and Shovkat Alakbarova were among students of Sarabski, who also taught opera and mugham at the Azerbaijan State Conservatoire in 1940-1942. The legendary “Majnun” of the Azerbaijani stage – Huseyngulu Sarabski died on February 2, 1945.