The Reception of Chopin in Iran
Michelle ASSAY
Instagram, the most popular social media platform of the country, is filled with clips of young pianists showing off their musical abilities by playing those works most popular with Iranians, such as the ‘Revolutionary’ Etude and various Waltzes.
.Iran might not be the first country that comes to mind when considering the legacy of Chopin’s music. Yet his name has been, and remains, second only to Beethoven’s when it comes to the apex of classical music (Musighi Jahani [literally world music] as it is known in Persian). From the third-prize winner of the Chopin Competition (in 1960) to a new Tehran-based recent project of teaching his music to children with Down’s syndrome and autism, to a new 3D portrait of the composer created by an Iranian artist based on Chopin’s death-mask, Chopin’s music and image have remained an inseparable part of Iranian culture throughout the country’s upheavals and changes of regime and ideology. His music became a fixed part of piano pedagogy from the early years of teaching Western-style piano in the 20th century and especially from the 1940s, and it was among the first to return to public consumption, either on cassettes or as music played on TV, following the effective ban of Western music that ensued on the 1979 Revolution.
In 2010, Iranians marked the 200th anniversary of Chopin in style. Outside the country, BBC Persian published a feature dedicated to the ‘Year of Chopin’, in which the author, Ali Amini Najafi, invoked the hyper-romanticised narrative of ‘Music of feeling and emotion’, branding Chopin as the ‘quiet’ composer, and dramatically retelling the story of ‘The Heart of Chopin’. Only the French and Persian Wikipedia have a separate entry for the story of how Chopin’s heart was separated from his body and interred in his beloved Poland. The BBC article was in many ways symptomatic of Iran’s sentimentalised perception of Chopin as the symbol of quiet suffering, a popular image that has long circulated on Persian-language websites and media writings.
In Iran itself, the bicentenary celebrations centred on the leading arts and literature journal, Bukhara, which dedicated one of their ‘Evening of…’ series to the composer, curating a major event that included public lectures, presentations, and performances. Co-organised with the Polish Embassy in Iran, this occasion also marked the inauguration of a week-long exhibition of 50 Chopin-related posters at Gallery 66 in Tehran, chosen from the vast collection owned by Krzysztof Dydo, a Polish graphic artist, who has been developing his collection over three decades. The evening included presentations by the journal’s chief editor, Ali Dehbashi, who gave a celebratory account of Chopin’s life and works, focusing in particular on the composer’s funeral in Paris. Apart from details of the music performed at that ceremony, his speech was rich in imagery, including minute accounts of the clothes and physical appearances of guests. Other contributions were no less passionate and laudatory. Amir Asraf, a teacher at Tehran Conservatoire, called Chopin ‘an inimitable diamond on the glorious ring of world music history, who with his glow testifies to the glory and greatness of not only the history of arts but also the history of human civilization; this could be no other person than Frédéric François Chopin.’
Some of these speeches appear, in extended format, in the special issue of Bukhara which followed the bicentenary events. These are interspersed with a handful of translations and excerpts from other writings. Almost all are concerned with Chopin’s biography, offering details of various points in his life, without venturing into musical commentary or any new areas of research. The absence of any information pertaining to Chopin’s legacy in Iran is notable, as is any reference to Tania Achot-Haratourian, the Iranian pianist who in 1960 won third prize at the International Chopin competition, the highest international achievement by any Iranian pianist to date. Instead the journal is populated by various now-classic studies, such as the inevitable French ones – an excerpt from Cortot’s Aspects de Chopin and Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger on Chopin’s pedagogy – and English ones such as a translation of Gerald Abraham’s writing on Chopin’s musical style, along with excerpts from Wallace Brockway’s Men of Music and Camille Bourniquel’s 1957 biography. Among newer sources are an excerpt from Benita Eisler’s 2004 Chopin’s Funeral (again no source is referenced) and from Barbara Smolenska Zielinska’s writings on Chopin. There is also a report from the bicentenary celebrations themselves, with excerpts from speeches, and photos and names of presenters, including musicians performing at the event.
Among the speeches, that of the Polish Ambassador to Iran, Julius Gojo, stands out for introducing the only political note of the evening, contextualising Iran and Poland’s love for Chopin within the countries’ dictatorial pasts (of course no reference could have been made to the then-current situation in either country): ‘Iran and Poland share a similar history. We, too, have been under the boots of dictatorship for years, and have fought for our freedom. We too believe we are a unique nation, and like you, we are proud of our history. … Chopin is known all around the world. But he is even more especial to us, because he is Polish.’
Alongside his poetic and Romantic image, Chopin’s Polishness is indeed one of the most dominant features of the composer within the Iranian context. Especially in documentaries and projects relating to Polish refugees in Iran, Chopin features as an ineradicable symbol of Poland and the pain of exile.
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.Following the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of non-Aggression between the USSR and Germany, Poland was effectively divided between the two countries, and the Soviet authorities started a campaigning of cleansing their part of Poland from ‘class enemies’ by sending over a million to Siberia. After Hitler broke the pact and the USSR joined the allies, many detainees were sent as refugees towards Iran, which at that time was divided into two spheres of influence: the Soviets in the North and British in the south. Those capable of fighting were conscripted to the ‘Anders’ army under the leadership of Władysław Anders, himself a newly-released inmate of the Lubyanka. Within weeks, thousands of starving Poles, especially women and children, arrived in Iran, first at the Bandar-e-Pahlavi (today’s Bandar-e-Anzali) port by the Caspian Sea, and later in Tehran and Isfahan. Survivors have often told of the warmth and hospitality of Iranians as they were welcomed to the country. It did not take long for the Polish refugees, the majority of whom belonged to intellectually, industrially and culturally elite classes prior to their exile, to forge a distinct Polish culture in Tehran, in the process leaving an indelible mark on the cultural life of the city.
After four years most of the refugees were dispersed. In his poignant 1983 documentary film, The Lost Requiem, Khosrow Sinai traces the lives of the few who remained. A trained musician, Sinai interweaves his film with music as a thread that connects, reflects and comments on stories of suffering and survival. A central figure of his film is Anna Borkowska, a singer, actor and piano teacher, who becomes the personification of that music and those stories. She opens and closes the films with her rendition of a Polish song (in Persian, as a poignant symbol of the amalgamation of her two countries). Along the way, Chopin’s music becomes a leitmotif for solitude and loss, a messenger for the voices of those who survived and for their shared pain of exile. Excerpts, especially from Chopin’s Nocturnes, form the backdrop to images of desolation, as the camera hovers over the graves of those who perished and the tears of those who remembered them.
To this day, Chopin’s music continues to act as the sonification of the story of the Poles in Iran, as is the case in the short documentary report of the ‘Children of Isfahan’ project: exhibitions of historic photos of Polish refugee children homed and cared for in Isfahan. Held in Tehran and Isfahan in 2017 in collaboration with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, the exhibitions displayed previously unseen photographs discovered in a studio in Isfahan more than 50 years after the end of World War II.
Apart from the strong symbolism of Chopin’s music in these contexts, which also draws on the popularity and familiarity of some of his works, it is highly likely that it featured in the concerts and music-making activities that Polish refugees arranged in their quest to keep the memory of their homeland alive. My own first experience of playing (or trying to play) Chopin’s music as a young pianist in Iran was thanks to my early piano teacher, who was none other than Anna Borkowska, the above-mentioned heroine of Sinai’s documentary. Unaware of her story, and only knowing that she was a Pole married to an Iranian, we simply knew her as Mme Afkhami. She was the first teacher who, despite my more-or-less beginner’s status, encouraged me to explore Chopin’s music, playing the left hand of such things as the ‘Raindrop’ Prelude or the E-flat Nocturne Op. 9 No. 2 with me as I attempted to sketch out the melody.
Decades earlier it had been other immigrant musicians, often Russian or Armenian, who had promoted Chopin’s music (along with the rest of the Western Art Music canon), as they trained early generations of Iranian musicians. Names such as Kiti Amir Khosravi (Russian-born) and Tatiana Kharatian (Russian-Armenian), often appear, albeit in passing and with no details, in biographies of some of the most prominent Iranian composers. Javad Maroufi (1912-1993) was one such composer. He was introduced to Chopin by Kharatian, and his own piano music shows its unmistakable influence. Another story tells of how one of Iran’s leading music theoreticians came up with his methodology for teaching polyrhythm when his sister, another pupil of Kharatian, was faced with the task of playing Chopin’s Fantasie-Impromptu. Of the later generation, Alireza Mashayekhi (b. 1940), one of the first exponents of modern and avant-garde music in Iran, has incorporated the music of Chopin in his compositions, in particular his 1998 ‘Avec Chopin’ (Op. 130), which uses quotations from various works of Chopin, including the A-minor and E-minor Waltzes and the C-minor Ballade.
Many of these musicians, who often belonged to elite families, were sent abroad when young to study at leading European Conservatoires, before returning to Iran and promoting Western-style music through their compositions or performances. Emanuel Malik-Aslanian (1915-2003; Russian-born, Armenian-Iranian), one of Iran’s most prominent pianists and composers, for example, studied with Conrad Ansorge, himself a pupil of Liszt and later of Paul Hindemith. He has also told the story of how, unaware of the Fascists’ ban, he chose to play Chopin when in Berlin, at a concert attended by Hitler himself. Daughters of one of the founding theoreticians of Iranian music, Mehdi Barkeshli, Pari and Ariana, studied in Paris. They both enjoyed great success as pianists. Pari’s name, in particular, appears often on concert posters of the 1960s and 1970s, in recitals including works by Chopin.
But one pianist’s achievement has remained unsurpassed. Tania Achot-Haroutounian (1937-2022) was born in Tehran to Russian and Armenian parents. At the age of 14 she left Iran for Paris, where she studied with such renowned figures as Lazare Lévy. After taking part in the 1955 Chopin Piano Competition, she decided to train in the Russian school, moving to Moscow and studying with Lev Oborin (winner of the first Chopin Competition in 1927). The highlight of her illustrious career came at the 6th Chopin Piano Competition in 1960, where she was awarded third prize (after Pollini’s first and Irina Zarickaja’s second). Her connection with Iran admittedly would not go beyond a few concert appearances, including a performance of Chopin’s Second Piano concerto with the Tehran Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Morteza Hannaneh (another Western-educated musician) in 1953. In the 1960s she moved from Paris to Lisbon, where alongside her pianist husband, Sequeira Costa, she became one of the city’s most influential teachers.
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.The last three decades of the Pahlavi dynasty (1950s-1970s) saw an aggressive cultural Westernisation campaign, which turned Iran into an attractive destination (not least financially) for many visiting stars. A highlight of these activities was the annual Shiraz Arts Festival, which ran from 1967 to 1977 at the site of the ancient ruins of Persepolis and featured some exceptionally forward-looking and ambitious programmes. Designed to promote modernism in the arts and to celebrate East-West cultural exchanges, the Festival included as its guests Peter Brook, Maurice Béjart, Xenakis, Stockhausen, Penderecki and Artur Rubinstein. A brief video from Rubinstein’s appearance in 1968 depicts him enjoying the hospitality while trying out the piano on the main open-air stage. Another shows him playing Prokofiev’s March from The Love for Three Oranges, before being greeted by Farah Pahlavi, wife of the Shah. His recital also included Chopin’s ‘Heroic’ Polonaise and the Nocturne Op. 15, No. 2. The following year, Chopin’s music featured in recital programmes of both Martha Argerich (3rd Sonata) and Yvonnes Loriod (Barcarolle). The Festival was also a showcase of home talent, both in Persian traditional music and in Western Art Music, including a recital by Iranian pianist Novin Afrouz at the inaugural 1967 Festival, featuring Chopin’s Andante spianato et Grande polonaise brillante.
The 1979 Revolution and its ensuing cultural, ideological and social restrictions brought musical activities of the country to an abrupt halt, or at least pause, which was particularly severe during the lifetime of the leader of the Revolution and Iran’s first Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini. Following Khomeini’s death in 1989 there was a gradual, albeit fluctuating, ease of restrictions, which was particularly noticeable during the relatively moderate presidency of Muhammad Khatami (1997-2004). Khatami’s time saw a controlled return of Western Art Music activities and cultural exchanges. Apart from Revolutionary music and a carefully selective repertoire of Persian traditional music, Western Art Music was one of the earliest genres to make a gradual return to public spheres. The repertoire was carefully supervised, and any new project had to deal with a myriad of obstacles for obtaining the obligatory Javaz (permission) from the Ministry of Culture and Enlightenment. Chopin’s music, and indeed any instrumental music, does not suffer from the ongoing taboo on the female solo voice. But in early post-Revolutionary years even solo female instrumentalists were not exempt from segregation and censorship. More recently, female pianists have found a way (admittedly not always smooth) to perform to mixed audiences, as was the case at the Chopin celebrations of 2010 and another more recent all-Chopin recital by Matin Laudani, again co-organised with the Polish Embassy and celebrating Chopin’s birthday in 2022. The above-mentioned Iran-released CD recording of Mashayekhi’s ‘Avec Chopin’, also features a female pianist, Farima Ghavam Sadri.
While the days of tours and visits of world-class musicians seem to be over, from time to time foreigners have tested the waters, especially during the annual Fajr Festival (which commemorates the ‘victory’ of the 1979 Revolution). Headlines such as ‘Look! The Dutch pianist has brought Chopin to Iran’, referring to a concert by Nikolas Van Pouke at the 37th Fajr Festival in 2023, clearly point towards the ongoing prestigious position accorded to Chopin’s music. Chopin’s pulling power has not escaped local musicians either. Instagram, the most popular social media platform of the country, is filled with clips of young pianists showing off their musical abilities by playing those works most popular with Iranians, such as the ‘Revolutionary’ Etude and various Waltzes.
Not exclusively Chopin-related, but undoubtedly under the auspices of his music, are two poignant examples of music as a catalyst for healing and hope. For the past seventeen years, Iranian musician Ailin Agahi has used Chopin’s music (among others) to challenge preconceptions regarding neurodiversity. During this time, she has been working with young people with autism and Down’s syndrome, teaching them to read music and offering them a platform to be seen and heard. Chopin’s works, including waltzes in B-minor (Op. 69, No. 2) and A minor (Op. posth.) are among works she regularly teaches her ‘children’, as she calls them.
.And in June 2023, during the Sibiu Festival in Romania, Chopin’s music was the soundtrack to another powerful encounter. Israel’s representatives, the Revolution Orchestra, performed ‘Moods’, a dramatic work to a hybrid music that includes Chopin’s A-minor Prelude. On this occasion the Israelis befriended the Iranian theatre group, Saye (meaning shadow), as their leaders shook hands to enthusiastic applause. ‘Our countries are enemies; but we are friends’, said Sara Rasoulinejad, of the Saye Group. To which Revolution’s CEO Omer Reinhard Lackner replied: ‘As far as I’m concerned, we can make peace’. Thus music continues to connect, and Chopin’s plays its part.
