Rustam and Zohrab

Rustam and Zohrab
Mugham opera by Uzeyir Hajibeyov
Program of the first staging
Librettist	Uzeyir Hajibeyov Azer Buzovnali
Language	Azeri
Premiere	12 November 1910 (1910-11-12) Azerbaijan

"Rustam and Zohrab" (in Azeri Rüstәm vә Söһrab) is the third mugham opera by Uzeyir Hajibeyov. It was composed in 1910 according to motifs of the poem "Shahnameh" by Ferdowsi, and written in Persian.^[1][2]

Hajibeyov shortened the mugham scene in this opera, devoting much attention to the author’s music.^[3] The existence of several versions of its libretto created an authorship controversy. This was investigated by M. Aslanov, who determined Uzeyir Hajibeyov as the primary author, as well as other poems initially attributed to poet and gazel writer Azer Buzovnali.

The opera premiered on November 12, 1910 in the H.Z.Taghiyev theatre in Baku, with Huseyngulu Sarabski as stage director and Hajibeyov as conductor. Huseyngulu Sarabski (Zohrab), Ahmed Agdamski (Tahmina), M. H. Teregulov (Keykavus) and others played the leading parts. The opera did not achieve success and Hajibeyov took it off the stage.^[4][5] After some revisions the opera was to be staged in March 1915 at a benefit performance of Muslim Magomayev, although it was eventually cancelled due to lack of popularity.

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