21-09-2022
On September 21, within the framework of the traditional XIV Uzeyir Hajibeyli International Music Festival held on September 18-26 at the National Library, the presentation ceremony of the music collections of 21 Azerbaijani composers published in 2022 was held under the joint project of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the National Library under the theme "From our national musical treasure: from the fund of the National Library of Azerbaijan".
Director of the National Library, Professor Karim Tahirov opened the event and greeted the event participants. Later, the souls of all our martyrs who lost their lives for the liberation of Azerbaijani lands in the incident that took place on the border of the country in recent days were commemorated with a minute of silence.
He said that Uzeyir Hajibeyli was the founder of modern Azerbaijani musical culture and laid the foundation of the national school of composition and was the founder of the national opera of Azerbaijan, as well as the first opera in the East.
Prof. Karim Tahirov noted that the library has presented 21 sheet music collections to the Azerbaijani musical community this year and these publications dedicated to our genius composers are intended for students of children's music schools, students of higher music schools, and musicologists. The speaker talked about the music projects carried out by the library, informed about the cooperation with the International Petrucci Music Library, and pointed out that the notes and recordings of the works of great Azerbaijani composers are posted on the website of the Petrucci Music Library.
Rector of the Azerbaijan National Conservatory, professor, People's Artist Siyavush Karimi spoke about the special importance of the presented publications, thanked the National Library for this important work, and emphasized the significance of printing a large number of materials for folk songs and dances in the future.
Rector of ADMIU, Doctor of Science in Art Studies, Professor Jeyran Mahmudova first congratulated everyone on the National Music Day, spoke about the importance of the presentation and highly appreciated the contribution of the National Library to the music holiday, republishing the works of Azerbaijani composers for the first time, as well as thanked the management of the library for the exquisitely designed printing of his father Emin Sabitoglu's works.
The head of the Baku City Culture Department, Ibrahim Aliyev, said that there are a large number of music schools under the department and there is a great need for these resources in teaching, and he expressed his gratitude for the event and the invitation on the eve of the birthday of genius Uzeyir Hajibeyli.
Secretary of the Union of Azerbaijani Composers, Honored Art Worker, Professor Zemfira Gafarova noted that the National Library has done great work in the field of music, thanked the library management for the activity in the direction of keeping the works of Azerbaijani composers alive, and proposed the publication of collections dedicated to wind instruments in the future and wished success.
Baku Music Academy's vice-rector for scientific affairs, professor Gulnaz Abdullazade, said that she constantly monitors the activities of the library, thanked for the original projects and noted that the National Library has done a great job in both providing the publications prepared by the academy to the library and delivering them to the world through the library, especially she said that she considers the distribution of the electronic version of such publications to the world through the library's website is a particularly noteworthy.
Professor Nazim Kazimov, director of the College of Music under the Azerbaijan National Conservatory, wished success to the management and creative team of the National Library, emphasizing the great importance of these publications, which will be used in pedagogical practice, and that such collections of notes will be valuable visual resources for both music school students and college students.
The vice-rector for scientific affairs of the Azerbaijan National Conservatory, Professor Lala Huseynova joined all the congratulations and said that the issue of printing sheet music publications, which have been in a bad condition for many years, has now become systematic, all the publications of the conservatory have been presented to the National Library, which definitely plays the role of a kind of archive and noted the need to print materials for the Vocal Department. She also drew attention to the importance of publishing and selling the piano works of Azerbaijani composers, preparing Elsa Ibrahimova's songs in high quality, and printing the notes of Jahangir Jahangirov.
Alla Bairamova, director of the State Museum of Musical Culture of Azerbaijan, Doctor of Philosophy in Art Studies, thanked for this project implemented within the framework of the festival, welcomed the fact that these works have become a tradition, and emphasized that many books are always presented to the museum by the library and donated to the library a collection containing her article dedicated to musical motifs in Nizami's works published in the United States.
In the end, prof. Karim Tahirov expressed his gratitude to the staff of the Library's Sheet Music Publications and Recordings Department and People's Artist Sardar Farajov, who contributed to the preparation of the publications, and noted that in the future, collections of the works of individual composers and less published works will be published, and all the suggestions made by the speakers at the event will be taken into account, thanked the guests and participants.
At the end of the year, a cooperation agreement was signed between the National Library of Azerbaijan and the Baku Music Academy. Karim Tahirov said that he is sure that relations with the Baku Music Academy will further develop and strengthen after the signing of the cooperation agreement.
It should be noted that in accordance with the terms of the agreement, joint participation in international projects and programs of mutual interest, implementation of joint projects across the country, preparation and implementation of joint scientific events, celebration of anniversaries of outstanding composers and musicians, regular submission of the academy's publications to the National Library, presentation of new works of composers and musicians, organization of book exhibitions, etc. are planned.
In the end, the guests got acquainted with the collections of sheet music published within the framework of the "From our national musical treasure" project.