Analysis of the 13th symphony of Azer Dadashov with the title “Ad Victoriam (Towards Victory)”

Abstract

A.Dadashov is a People's Artist of the Republic of Azerbaijan, laureate of the "Humay" national award, and one of the talented representatives of our national composition school. He has a different creative style and unique handwriting, which arouses great interest in the music community, and the ideas and thoughts he expresses present him as a modern-thinking person of his time. A.Dadashov was a student of the world-famous G. Garayev and as is known, G. Garayev raised a great generation of composers. The composer inculcated the secrets of this art without interfering with the creativity of his students, approached each of them individually and tried to bring out their unique creative faces, and also succeeded in training musicians with a modern spirit and common sense. A. Dadashov referred to the recommendations and advice of his beloved teacher, relied on the traditions created by the genius U. Hajibeyli, enriched them with a new form and modern writing style, and at the same time created his own unique style. The symphony genre is of particular importance in his activity. He is the author of seventeen symphonies and most of the symphonies have program music, and some of them do not have. In his symphonies, the love for the homeland and the people plays an important role. Starting from the late 1980s, the composer's symphonic creations tend to the world of new themes and images, and in his symphonies, he addresses universal themes that reflect tragedy. In the symphonies "January 20", "Catharsis", "Reminiscence", as well as "Shusha", the composer talks about the bloody pages in the history of our nation - "Bloody January", the Khojaly genocide, the sad and tragic fate of hundreds of thousands of our refugees. A.Dadashov's Symphony No. 13 was performed for the first time in 2019 at the Azerbaijan State Philharmonic by conductor Mustafa Mehmandarov. "My name is Victoria!" the named piece was intended for a large symphony orchestra and composed as a one-movement symphonic example. In the symphony, the idea of "Toward Victory" was reflected by the composer, and an interesting example was presented using the principle of contrasting dramaturgy. This article also reviews the composer's symphonies.