Alan Hovhaness

Alan Hovhaness Chakmakjian and his father, a chemistry professor at Tufts College (University) were next door neighbors to my family. They lived at 5 Blossom Street and we lived at #9 in Arlington, Massachusetts. Alan’s mother had passed away five years before I was born. Ours was a relationship that continues, even after Alan’s death in 2000, with his widow, Hinako. She and I talk at least monthly by telephone. In the late 1930’s and early 40’s Alan came to our home to teach my two older sisters, one on the piano and the other on the violin. The pianist became quite accomplished and for several years Alan sent her hand-written copies of his compositions. The violin-playing sister lost interest early and mercifully gave it up. (My father told Alan it was like listening to her strangling a cat.)

Together with our neighbors, my family was aware of Alan’s musical talent. In good weather he would give his Sunday afternoon “three-window” concerts for the neighborhood. To do so he would open the three living room windows facing his front porch. Sitting at the grand piano with the only thing in the room other than the piano bench and a large photograph of his mother which hung on the wall, Alan would start playing. He played the standard classics, and his own compositions and concluded the concert with two or three popular tunes which he knew the neighbors would enjoy. Usually 20 to 30 neighbors would sit on the porch, the front steps and the lawn listening to him play. It was something we all looked forward to and enjoyed.

My father passed away when I was 13 and Alan’s father (whom we all called “Professor”) became a surrogate father to me. He gave me a small allowance to keep his yard clean and was a strong influence on my school performance. By then Alan had completed his attendance at Tufts and the Conservatory in Boston and was living in Boston. He had also secured work as choir director at St. James Armenian Church in nearby Watertown. He visited his father frequently, and the two of them enjoyed taking walks of 5 miles (or longer) together to lakes nearby. The extent and status of Alan’s music was driven home when several of us accompanied the Professor to Boston’s Symphony Hall to experience an evening of Alan’s work conducted by Serge Koussevitsky. It was a most memorable evening, what with Alan being introduced to a full house and, in turn, his pointing out his father sitting in the first balcony just off to the side of the stage. It was the only time I ever saw the Professor in tears. He was so proud of his son!

It’s extremely hard to recall in any chronological order the memories I have of Alan and his father. As a child, I played with Alan’s daughter, Jean, who grew up to become a talented musician. At that time, she lived in New Hampshire with her mother, who was then separated from Alan. (They were subsequently divorced.) Jean visited her grandfather every month for several days at a time. The Professor was heartbroken when Jean and her mother moved to California when her mother remarried.

There are some headline events that may be of interest. I recall Jacqueline Kennedy inviting Alan to the White House for dinner. That created quite a buzz in the Boston newspapers. I also recall his 80th birthday celebration at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Alan was called up onto the stage while being serenaded by the late folk singer Richie Havens singing “Here Comes the Sun” and one of the Beatles Paul McCartney was standing nearby cheering. The audience was replete with celebrities, performers, political, and even religious figures. Alan later said that even the critics had nice things to say about that evening.

In closing there are a few things I’d like to mention. Alan’s very first recording label was called POSEIDON. That was also the name of the ship on which his father escaped with his life during the Armenian genocide. The Chakmakjian family experienced some form of discrimination when they first settled in the Boston area and this caused them to move to Arlington when Alan was around four years of age. What a blessing to the community and the neighborhood.

Finally, I was informed by the late pianist virtuoso, Martin Berkofsky, that when Alan died in the year 2000, BBC London played two uninterrupted hours of Alan’s recorded music and they did that in his honor.

I have a couple of things that I’d like to show. The first is a CD album and it is called Alan Hovhaness: an interview with master composer. It was done on March 13, 1984 and in it Alan discusses his personal life beginning when he was in elementary school and he goes forward from there. It is interesting, he talked about being bullied when he was at school because he was certainly different. He also talked about getting Judo lessons from one his classmates in exchanges for piano lessons. Anyway that album which I am holding is available from the Library of Congress, Robbins Library of Arlington, and the Armenian Cultural Foundation in Arlington, Massachusetts and the Arlington High School. It is our daughter’s work. It was part of a winning essay she won sponsored by the Arlington Historical Society She did this in 1985. She subsequently graduated from Boston University, Pennsylvania State Medical College and now practices medicine in Johnstown, Pennsylvania where she lives with her husband and two sons.

The final thing I’d like to share with you is a treasure. This is page 69 of Mount St. Helens Symphony No. 50. This is Alan’s favorite symphony. It is a gift from him for my 52nd birthday and it says as much in the back “To my Arlington neighbor and lifelong family friend.” So, any one who wants to see it can find their way to Wachusett Avenue in Arlington where I will show it to them. And that concludes my remarks.

Pasquale Tassone studied at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan, has an honors diploma from the Chigiana Academy in Siena, Italy and a Ph D from Brandeis University. In 1999, E.C. Schirmer published his arrangement of the Ave Maria (SATB) from Verdi’s Otello. He was first a prize-winner, with his Laudate Dominum, in Catholic University’s composition contest in celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Benjamin T. Rome School of Music (1999). Laudate Dominum was premiered at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC in April 2000. In October 2003, he was a resident at the Atlantic Center for the Arts, where he worked with the composer, Olly Wilson. In June 2004, some of Tassone’s choral music was performed at the Artama Choral Festival in the Czech Republic A CD featuring Ricardo Odriozola and Einar Røttingen performing his Trittico for Violin & Piano, among other works was released in March 2011. In January 2013, Tassone was named a Finalist, 2012 EAMA Prize. He has recently finished his first opera, Seven Rabbits on a Pole, the opening scenes of which, can be seen on YouTube or Vimeo. More on Pasquale Tassone can be found at migidamusica.org.