The present volume is the first-ever publication of any orchestral scores by the celebrated Persian composer and ethnomusicologist Hormoz Farhat.
Mazandarani Rhapsody was written in 1958. For the thematic content of the piece, the composer draws on three folk songs from Mazandaran, one of Persia’s provinces bordering on the Caspian Sea, which is rich in folk music and dance.
The Rhapsody was not premiered until 1970, when it was performed by the Tehran Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Farshad Sandjari. No recording of the piece exists.
Hormoz Farhat (b. 1928, Tehran) earned a BA degree from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where his composition teacher was Boris Kremenliev. He received an MA from Mills College, where he was a pupil of Darius Milhaud. Back at UCLA, Farhat obtained a PhD in composition and ethnomusicology. His composition teachers were Lukas Foss and later Roy Harris. His PhD dissertation, THE DASTGAH CONCEPT IN PERSIAN MUSIC, was later published by Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Professor Farhat has had a long career as an academic. In the 1960s he was a faculty member in the Music Department of California State University, Long Beach, followed by several years at the School of Music UCLA. In the 1970s he was back in his native Persia [Iran] as the Head of Music Department, University of Tehran. Since 1979 he has been in Ireland, first as a Visiting Senior Fellow of the Queen’s University in Belfast and from 1981 to his retirement in 1995 in the Republic of Ireland as the Professor and Head of the School of Music, University of Dublin, Trinity College.
Hormoz Farhat has written a sizable body of works including concertos for piano, for flute and for clarinet; six string quartets, numerous other chamber works, songs, choral pieces and 5 motion picture scores.
Academic institutions are welcome to add RHAPSODY MAZANDARANI to their collection. For more information please contact: info [at] persiandutch.com
BBC Persian TV’s Interview with Hormoz Farhat
Hormoz Farhat String Quartet No 2 ( 2nd Mov.)
UPDATE: Prof. Farhat died on 16 August 2021 in Dublin, Rep. of Ireland.
Funded by Houman Behzadi, Behrouz Jamali, Mazdak Khajehpour and Keyvan Yahya.
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