History
Ali-Naqi Vaziri, one of the most prominent and influential musicians of the late Qajar and early Pahlavi periods, established a private music school in 1924, where he also created a school orchestra composed of his students, formed by a combination of the Iranian instrument of tar and some western instruments. Vaziri then founded an association named Music Club (Kolub-e Musiqi), formed by a number of progressive-minded writers and scholars, where the school orchestra performed concerts that were conducted by himself. [2] The Tehran Symphony Orchestra (Orkestr-e Samfoni-ye Tehrān) was founded by Gholamhossein Minbashian in 1933. [3] It was reformed by Parviz Mahmoud in 1946, and is currently the oldest and largest symphony orchestra in Iran. [4] Later, Ruhollah Khaleqi, a student of Vaziri, established the Society for National Music (Anjoman-e Musiqi-ye Melli) in 1949. [1] He wrote his musical compositions within the parameters of classical Iranian modes, some of which involved Western triadic harmony. [1] Many of Iran's folk songs have the potential of being adapted into major or minor tonalities, and therefore, a number of Iranian folk songs were arranged for orchestral accompaniment. [1]
Symphonische Dichtungen aus Persien ("Symphonic Poems from Persia"), a collection of Persian symphonic works, was performed by the German Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Iranian conductor Ali Rahbari in 1980. [5]
Loris Tjeknavorian, a celebrated Iranian Armenian composer and conductor, composed Rostam and Sohrab , an opera with Persian libretto that is based on the tragedy of Rostam and Sohrab from prominent medieval Persian poet Ferdowsi's epic poem Šāhnāme , in over two decades. It was first performed by the Tehran Symphony Orchestra at Tehran's Roudaki Hall in December 2003. [6]
