ISSN: 2226-6348
Open access
This article provides a practice-led overview of the interpretative challenges and intertextual dimensions of Arno Babajanian’s Violin Concerto in A Minor (1948). Although the work remains underrepresented in the global violin repertoire, it presents a compelling synthesis of Armenian folk idioms and Western classical forms. Drawing on performance-based research and intertextual theory, the study examines how cultural references embedded in the concerto influence interpretive choices. By integrating insights from Armenian musical traditions, historical recordings, and personal performance practice, the article offers a reflective framework for re-engaging with Babajanian’s concerto. It argues that understanding the concerto's intertextual elements enhances its interpretive richness and supports its reintroduction into contemporary performance contexts.
Amatuni, S. (1985). Arno Babajanyan: Instrumental'noe tvorchestvo, issledovanie [Arno Babajanian: Instrumental works, the research]. Sovetakan Grokh.
Atayan, R. (1965). Armianskaia narodnaia pesnia [Armenian folk song]. Muzyka.
Atayan, R., Kerovpian, A., & Grigorian, A. (2001). Komitas Vardapet. In The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed., Vol. 13, pp. 763–765). Macmillan.
Bakhtin, M. M. (2010). The dialogic imagination: Four essays. University of Texas Press.
Baldano, M. N., & Varnavskiy, P. K. (2016). National in form, socialist in content: The Buryat nation in the Soviet ideological discourse. Tomsk State University Journal, (412), 40–49.
Beard, D. J., & Gloag, K. (2016). Musicology: The key concepts (2nd ed.). Routledge.
Clark, K. (2013). Shostakovich's turn to the string quartet and the debates about socialist realism in music. Slavic Review, 72(3), 573–589.
Cook, N. (1994). A guide to musical analysis. Oxford University Press.
Cook, N. (1999). Analysing performance and performing analysis. In N. Cook & M. Everist (Eds.), Rethinking music (pp. 239–261). Oxford University Press.
Cook, N. (2001). Between process and product: Music and/as performance. Music Theory Online, 7(2), 1–31.
Cook, N. (2013). Beyond the score: Music as performance. Oxford University Press.
Cook, N. (2017). Music, performance, meaning: Selected essays. Routledge.
Cook, N. (2021). Music: A very short introduction (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press.
Coroiu, P. M. (2021). A perspective on the concerto genre in the 20th century. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Bra?ov, Series VIII: Performing Arts, 14(Suppl), 49–56.
Dreyfus, L. (2022). Beyond the interpretation of music. In Topics in musical interpretation (pp. 84–109). Routledge.
Goehr, L. (1992). The imaginary museum of musical works: An essay in the philosophy of music. Clarendon Press.
Hakobyan, H. (2013). Babajanyan: Osobennost' interpretatsii [Babajanian: Peculiarity of interpretation]. Izvestiya, (162), 126–135.
Hakobyan, H. (2014). Skripichnyy kontsert v tvorchestve kompozitorov Armenii vtoroy poloviny XX veka [Violin concertos of Armenian composers of the second half of the 20th century]. Izvestiya, 2, 422–426.
Harutyunyan, H. H. (2021). Alexander Spendiaryan and traditional music of Alexandrapol. In Integration of education, science and business in the modern environment: Summer disputes (Abstracts of the 3rd International Scientific-Practical Online Conference, August 11–12, 2021, Dnipro, Ukraine) (p. 81). Dnipro, Ukraine.
Hatten, R. S. (2004). Interpreting musical gestures, topics, and tropes: Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert. Indiana University Press.
Hatten, R. S. (2018). A theory of virtual agency for Western art music. Indiana University Press.
I?A?nkelevich, I. I. (2016). The Russian violin school: The legacy of Yuri Yankelevich. Oxford University Press.
Klein, M. L. (2005). Intertextuality in Western art music. Indiana University Press.
Korsyn, K. (1991). Towards a new poetics of musical influence. Music Analysis, 10(1/2), 3–72. https://doi.org/10.2307/854194
Kramer, L. (2021). What is (is there) musical intertextuality? In V. Kostka, P. F. de Castro, & W. A. Everett (Eds.), Intertextuality in music: Dialogic composition (pp. 13–31). Routledge.
Kristeva, J. (1980). Desire in language: A semiotic approach to literature and art. Columbia University Press.
Maqam World. (n.d.). Maqam World: The structure and tradition of Arabic maqam music. Retrieved April 3, 2021, from http://www.maqamworld.com/
Melikyan, N. (2020). Arno Babadjanian: An Armenian Composer in the Soviet Context (Doctoral dissertation, McGill University). eScholarship@McGill.
Nercessian, A. (2001). The duduk and national identity in Armenia. Scarecrow Press.
Nettl, B. (1987). The Radif of Persian music: Studies of structure and cultural context. Elephant & Cat.
Pahlevanian, A., Kerovpyan, A., & Sarkisyan, S. (2011). Armenia. Grove Music Online. https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.01272
Petrosyan, A., & Bobokhyan, A. (2015). Music in prehistoric Armenia. Journal of Literature and Art Studies, 5(4), 259–265.
Poladian, S. (1942). Armenian folk songs. University of California Press.
Rink, J. (Ed.). (2002). Musical performance: A guide to understanding. Cambridge University Press.
Safonova, E. L. (2020). O ispolnitel'skom stile Moskovskoy skripichnoy shkoly serediny XX veka [On the performing style of the Moscow violin school of the mid-20th century]. Musicology. https://doi.org/10.25791/musicology.06.2020.1130
Schwarz, B. (1965). Soviet music since the Second World War. The Musical Quarterly, 51(1), 259–281.
Shafiei, K. (2018). Intertextual perspectives on interpretation: A study of three Iranian composers’ piano works in the context of Persian music (Doctoral dissertation, Manchester Metropolitan University & The Royal Northern College of Music).
Shih, C. C., Li, P. C., Lin, Y. J., Wang, Y. L., Su, A. W., Su, L., & Yang, Y. H. (2017). Analysis and synthesis of the violin playing style of Heifetz and Oistrakh. In Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Digital Audio Effects (DAFx-17).
Simmons, W. (2006). Voices in the wilderness: Six American neo-romantic composers. Scarecrow Press.
Talbot, M. (2001). The finale in Western instrumental music. Oxford University Press.
Taruskin, R. (1995). Text and act: Essays on music and performance. Oxford University Press.
Tumayan, A. (2016). Armenian folk elements in Arno Babajanian's Piano Trio in F-Sharp Minor (Doctoral dissertation, Arizona State University).
Whittall, A. (2003). Exploring twentieth-century music: Tradition and innovation. Cambridge University Press.
Armen S. (2022, March 5). ?. ?????????? «??????? ??? ??????? ? ?????????», ??????? ?. ???????, ??????? ?. ??????? [A. Babajanian "Concerto for violin and orchestra", conductor V. Gergiev, violin G. Kazazyan] [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nULLapMS-gc
Kazazyan, H. (2020, August 12). Babajanyan Violin Concerto in A minor – Haik Kazazyan, Armenian State Symphony Orchestra, Sergey Smbatyan [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tA1GhnjZPzs&t=4s
Musica Colta. (2018, December 28). A. Babadjanian Violin Concerto / Kogan, Leningrad PO, Mravinsky / Live 1949 [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsSGyPEN1Us
Musaeva, M. (2025). Intertextuality and Interpretation in Arno Babajanian’s Violin Concerto in A Minor: A Practice-Led Overview. International Journal of Academic Research in Progressive Education and Development, 14(2), 1333–1355.
Copyright: © 2025 The Author(s)
Published by HRMARS (www.hrmars.com)
This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this license may be seen at: http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode