Death of Nikoghos Tahmizian (August 30, 2011)

Nikoghos Tahmizian was the foremost name of Armenian musicology in the second half of the twentieth century.  

He was born in Athens (Greece) on May 9, 1926. He received elementary education at the local Armenian school, followed by high school at the Melkonian Educational Institute in Cyrpus on a merit-based scholarship. After graduation in 1945, he received a fully funded fellowship for a seven-year academic course at the Music Conservatory of Brussels, Belgium.  

The repatriation movement of 1946-1948 changed his plans. He moved to Soviet Armenia and in September 1946 he was admitted to the Romanos Melikian Musical College of Yerevan, graduating in 1950. He was third French horn in the orchestra of the Yerevan Opera House (1947-1956). 

From 1950 to 1956 Tahmizian studied at the musicology department of the Komitas State Conservatory. He completed his graduate studies with a thesis on the views on music theory by 13th century monk Hovhannes Erznkatsi. He followed post-graduate studies at St. Petersburg State Conservator in 1956-1960. He met there and then married his wife Svetlana, a musician. 

After returning from Russian, Nikoghos Tahmizian became a senior researcher at the Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts (Matenadaran) in Yerevan (1960-1990), becoming the foremost expert in the musical field. He defended his first doctorate in 1962 on the history of Armenian music from the fifth to the eight centuries and his second doctorate in 1980 based on his monumental work Theory of Music in Ancient Armenia. 

In 1984 the government of Armenia awarded him an honorary title for his accomplishments in musical arts and in 1987 the music history department of the Komitas State Conservatory granted him the professorship of musical sciences.  

Throughout his career, Tahmizian published over a dozen books and around two hundred articles and essays in Armenian, Russian, English, French, and Polish. His research into the musical heritage of Armenia disclosed and analyzed the most crucial periods in the history of Armenian music and the contribution of famous figures from Mesrop Mashtots in the fifth century to Gomidas Vartabed in the nineteenth century. He also made important discoveries in the area of medieval Armenian notational system. 

He resided in Pasadena, California, from 1990 until his death on August 30, 2011, continuing his research and involvement in Armenian music history. In November 1993, he participated in the conference The Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia at the Crossroads, organized by the Eastern Prelacy.