The Persian Dutch Network is pleased to announce that, for the first time, it has published the complete score of the Special Anthem for the 2,500th Anniversary of the Founding of the Persian Empire.
Composed in 1971, the autograph score, with its defaced title page, was recently rescued from an archive in Tehran. Curated and compiled by musicologist Pejman Akbarzadeh, the score is now published with a detailed and richly illustrated preface.
HISTORY
In 1971, in Tehran, the Ministry of Culture and Arts commissioned a number of composers to create an anthem for the celebrations marking the 2,500th anniversary of the Persian Empire. The composition by Youssef Youssefzadeh, with lyrics by Hedayatollah Nayersina, emerged as the winning entry and served as the official anthem at Pasargadae and Persepolis during the controversial celebrations held in October of that year.
The anthem was performed regularly by several Persian choral ensembles, accompanied, among others, by the Tehran Symphony Orchestra. However, following the 1979 Islamic Revolution, it faded from public memory and, after the death of its creators in exile, was altogether presumed lost.
Nearly half a century later, the autograph score, with a defaced title page, was rediscovered and forms the subject of the present volume. Alongside an examination of the anthem’s political and ceremonial functions, as well as its surviving recordings, this study offers new insights into a little-explored dimension of musical life in late Pahlavi Persia (Iran), drawing on previously unpublished historical sources.
To purchase the book contact info (at) persiandutch.com
Pejman Akbarzadeh speaks with London-based TV channel IRAN INTERNATIONAL about the book.
Keywords: Persia, Iran, Pahlavi, Anthem, 2500th anniversary, Cyrus the Great, Persepolis, Pasargadae
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