Aaron Avshalomov (
Russian: Ааро́н Авшало́мов;[1] 11 November 1894 – 16 April 1965) was a Russian-born Jewish
composer. His work included several ballets, two operas, a violin concerto, four symphonies and a flute concerto.[2][3]
Early life
Born into a
Mountain Jewish family in
Nikolayevsk-on-Amur, Russia, Avshalomov was sent for medical studies to
Zürich.[4] After the
October Revolution in 1917, which made further studies in Europe impossible, his family sent him to the United States.
Career
Less than a year later, he chose to move to China,[4] where he entered the world of
Shanghai's academia and, together with other Jewish musicians, who had fled the Russian
pogroms and
revolution, trained a number of young Chinese musicians in classical music, who in turn became leading musicians in contemporary China.[5][6] Between 1918 and 1947, he worked to create a synthesis of Chinese musical elements and Western techniques of
orchestral composition.[7] Among the first works of this type that he created was the opera Kuan Yin, which premiered in
Peking in 1925.[8] In the spring of 1935, at the invitation of
He Luting, he orchestrated the newly composed
March of the Volunteers by
Nie Er for the film
Children of Troubled Times (1935), making him the first to orchestrate what would become the national anthem of the People's Republic of China.
Avshalomov made his main livelihood at bookstores and libraries. He was the head librarian of the Public Library, Shanghai Municipal Council for 15 years from 1928 until 1943 when the Municipal Council was dissolved.[2] He conducted the
Shanghai Municipal Orchestra from 1943 to 1946.[9]
In 1947, he moved to the United States, where he already had spent three years in the mid-1920s.[4]
Compositions
Kuan Yin (opera named after
Guanyin, the bodhisattva of compassion; premiered in Peking in 1925)[4]
The Twilight Hour of Yan Kuei Fei (opera, 1933),[4] presumably after the 1923 eponymous book by A. E. Grantham.
The Great Wall (opera, 1933–41),[4] based on the legend of
Lady Meng Jiang.
Piano Concerto in G on Chinese Themes and Rhythms (1935)[10]
Flute Concerto
Violin Concerto
Symphony No. 1
Symphony No. 2 (1949, commissioned by
Serge Koussevitzky, premiered by the Cincinnati Sym, conducted by Thor Johnson)
Symphony No. 3 (1953, "To the Memory of Serge and Natalie Koussevitzky")
Four Biblical Tableaux (Queen Esther's Prayer, Rebecca by the Well, Ruth and Naomi, Processional)[7]
Family
While living in San Francisco, he married a fellow Russian émigré in San Francisco.[4] In 1919, his son,
Jacob Avshalomov was born, who became a composer and conductor, too.[11]
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ab"Aaron Avshalomov scores"(PDF). University of Maryland Libraries. August 2016.
Archived(PDF) from the original on 2017-08-11. Retrieved April 6, 2021.