PIANO PIECES BY A PROMINENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE AZERBAIJANI COMPOSITION SCHOOL OGTAY RAJABOV

The article is dedicated to the piano creativity of Ogtay Rajabov, a brilliant representative of the 20th-century Azerbaijani school of composition. It should be noted that O. Rajabov is the author of many pieces for piano, and among them, the genres written for young pianists have a special place. The article analyzes some of these pieces. They include some small miniatures such as “Barkarolla”, “Lyric dance”, “Joke”, “Thought”, “Lyric waltz”, “Naughty kids”, “Remembering the Past”, “Remembering my mother”, “Sad mood” and “My memories”. In his works, the composer was able to bring the world of children to life with great skill. The article provides a theoretical analysis of each piece and specifies the stylistic characteristics inherent in the composer’s piano music. In the works, the traits of O. Radjabov’s composing style, a kind of transfer of elements of folk music, the different images within a  small play, the rich imagination of the composer and many other things are highlighted. These works play an important role in the development of the technical capabilities, artistic thinking and aesthetic taste of the young performer. Here, the main characteristic feature is the variety achieved through dynamic nuances, the different development of the melody, the use of different registers, and other similar aspects. Such works are also extensive in terms of the subject matter. So, the images of various characters are reflected here. The purpose of the research is to analyze some of the small miniatures that hold a special place in O. Rajabov’s piano creativity work and set forth his stylistic features. The research methodology is based mainly on theoretical-comparative principles. The miniatures have been theoretically analyzed in terms of the means of expression of musical language and been characterized by its results. The theoretical and methodological basis of the research is constituted of works by Russian and Azerbaijani musicologists available in this field. The scientific novelty of the research lies in pioneering a study of the composer Ogtay Rajabov’s piano creation and his directly analyzed miniatures as a research object for the first time. That is to say, in this article, O. Rajabov’s piano works have been subjected to theoretical analysis for the first time. Conclusions. The contents commonality of the last four pieces, including the fourth one among the ten pieces we have analyzed, has united them somewhat in a series. As for such pieces as “Joke”, “Naughty kids”, “Lyric waltz”, “Barcarolle” and “Lyric Dance”, they mostly © Elmira Humbatova, 2021 Recieved 17.11.2020


Introduction
The study of various composers' works, which is a topical issue of Azerbaijani musicology, constantly updated and developed over time, determines the main directions of development of modern music. These issues, which are always characterized by new methods of analysis, while maintaining their scientific and practical significance, give a special impetus to the development of music criticism. These traditions are currently continued by young researchers. Researches conducted today not only draw great interest but also covers a wide range of issues. Otherwise, this article scrutinizes the creative activities of representatives of both the modern age and the twentieth century. Works of I. Nazarov (2020), V. Humbatov (2020) and many other researchers can be specified in this regard. Ogtay Rajabov, a representative of the Azerbaijani composition school, is no exception here.
The subject of the article dedicated to the piano creative work of O. Rajabov, one of the brightest personalities of the Azerbaijani composition school, is of current concern in terms of research and promotion of the compositional, pedagogical, journalistic and social functions of music. The rich creative legacy of O. Rajabov, the composer, pedagogue, research scientist, public figure, who combines these fields by nature in his creativity, is one of the relevant topics in the study of the composer's work.
Numerous musical works created by O. Rajabov, as well as pedagogical-methodical teaching aids, programs, responsible positions held by him, his dynamic activity in the country's musical life as a public figure, ensured the researcher's interests in his multifaceted creative activity. As a composer, pedagogue-researcher and public figure, O. Rajabov's grandiose creative heritage is important in terms of promoting the art of music in Azerbaijan, with its ethical and aesthetic content devoted to national roots, with the brilliant glorification of moral values.
The musical heritage created by O. Rajabov in small and large-scale genres is a valuable contribution to national art. The composer, who has won the hearts and minds of different audiences, regardless of their age and social status, has always preferred to glorify the highest feelings of the human spirit. The universe of images created in his works has given impetus to the formation of the young generation on the basis of moral values, by instilling in them pure and exalted love, patriotism, care and attention for children. He has gained the sympathy of the audience with pieces specially meant for minor musicians, with a musical language connected closely to the national roots, the application of simple and understandable methods and tech- ISSN 2616-7581 (Print) ISSN 2617 142 ПЕРСОНАЛІЇ niques, as well as their colourful and emotional themes rich in images. O. Rajabov, who was a student of such prominent masters as F. Amirov, J. Hajiyev, D. Kabalevsky, continued in his creative activity the artistic and aesthetic principles of his teachers and worked hard to move along the modern development of music art. Along with composing, his activity is characterized by important steps towards the development of music education, as well as pedagogical research that has led to successful results. In this respect, the study of this composer's creation is pertinent and important for the development of various fields of musicology. His inheritance needs to be investigated given the place of chamber music in a composer's creative activity, its special influence on the development of musical pedagogical direction and the series of numerous works created by O. Rajabov in this field. Some of these works have been substantially analyzed here for the first time as an object of special research, and its scientific and practical significance determines the degree of the pertinence of this subject.

Purpose of the research
The main purpose of the article is to analyze a number of miniatures reflecting the characterising features of O. Rajabov's piano creative work and to highlight its stylistic features.

Recent research and publications analysis
A monograph on the composer's creative activity, the composer that was very active both as a creator and a pedagogue-researcher, was published by R. Imanov in 2014 (Imanov, 2014). The author touched upon almost all areas of the composer's multifaceted creative activity and noted its distinguishing features. This monograph gives a piece of brief information about each work representing the musical heritage of O. Rajabov. The monograph consists of 8 chapters. It should be noted that R. Imanov's book Ogtay Rajabov, as the first and only large-scale monograph on the composers's creative work, is important for the investigation and popularization of his works.
Certain pieces created by the composer have been analyzed in various research works which include information on individual stylistic features specific to different areas of his creation, such as professor T. Seyidov's monographs on Azerbaijani piano music (Seyidov, 1992), as well as L. Rzayeva's modern piano works (Rzayeva, 1990), piano series for children in A. Abbasova's compositions (Abbasova, 2017), N. Gadimova's candidate dissertations on mode, texture, style and interpretation features of Azerbaijani composers' piano works (Gadimova, 2007), F. Aliyeva's style search in creation legacy of Azerbaijani composers (Aliyeva, 1996). The monographs on stages and new ways of development serve as valuable scientific sources.

Main research material
In Ogtay Rajabov's creative activity, small-scale pieces are prevalent among his works written for the piano. The composer, comprising always a wide range of musical interests for the formation of the artistic and aesthetic taste of young pianists, PERSONALIA made use of different genres with 10 small pieces written for the piano, creating many colourful images. One of them is called Barcarolle.
Barcarolle means "a boat" in Italian and became known as the song of Venetian gondoliers (Brown, 2001). In instrumental music, this genre was first used by romantic composers. Barcarolle is a soft beat, with a 6/8 metre. Its main characteristic is that it has an ostinato rhythmic structure reminiscent of a boat swaying in the water.
In the piece we have analyzed, the composer presents the same rhythmic ostinato in the four-bar introduction, taking into account this aspect. The piece begins in Andantino cantabile tempo, 6/8 metre and p nuance. The boundaries of the simple 3-part form with reprises are specified particularly with tempos. The outer parts have calmer and meditative character. It illustrates the calm movement of the boat on the water surface and the pensive look of the gondolier who steers it. In the middle part appears sort of a small wave in water and one can sense swelling with emotion, uplifted feelings.
In the middle part, the tonality changes and shifts to an E-flat minor (F-sharp major is specified as the main tonality). Interestingly, although the composer specifies three bemols as a key signature, the music itself is based on E-flat minor intonations. This is because the sound "g" is replaced by the sound "ges". The characteristic rhythmic structure of the piece is also altered. Syncopated accompaniment is replaced by dotted tuplets and p sounding by f.
In the reprise, the musical material is transferred to a lower register and the main melody is played on a bass line by crossing hands. Gradually moving notes up an octave, it raises to the position of the first part.
The second piece is called "Lyric dance". The piece is written in a simple two-part music form with Andante tempo, with a 6/8 metre and without reprise. The 4-bar introduction is based on the A major tonic sounds. The themes that constitute its basis have the character of instrumental introductions presented at the beginning of songs and dances.
The first sentence of the period begins from the fifth bar. The first intonations of the melody include A major DD chords. The harmonic composition of the first sentence consists of characteristic chords used for harmonizing folk songs. In this regard, DD 3/4 given immediately after the tonic chord in the fourth bar can be a good example: DD34-D56-T46-S7# 1-S-5 As is seen, this sentence ends with plagal cadence. The second sentence has a repetitive structure, but after the third bar, the direction of the melody changes and occurs a modulation to F-sharp Minor.
In the second sentence, the composer uses the intonations of F-sharp minor and F-sharp major simultaneously and as a result, the harmonic structure contains a chord configuration specific to both tonalities. Alternation of contrasting dynamic nuances also takes place here. The sentence organization of repetitive themes creates various colours through these nuances and the contrast continues to the very end. The emotional sharping (raising) at the beginning of the second sentence is also marked with the tempo. The theme heard in the introduction is repeated at the end of the piece. The dynamic tension created by a small culmination that occurs at the end of the second sentence during repetition is replaced again by the initial mood by means of mp, a tempo and the piece ends in pp nuance.

ПЕРСОНАЛІЇ
The next piece that is called "Joke" is written in Allegro moderato tempo and 4/4 metre. The polyphonic texture is applied here. The piece is composed in the character of two-voice polyphonic pieces. The five-bar subject is initially given in the lower voice (two-voice texture). Although its tonal height belongs to E minor in the first bar, traditional chromatisms are heard with the second bar. With its developing, we see A minor and C major orientations. In the second sentence of the seven-bar interlude that is sounded following the subject, the themes of the subject are used. In this case, D sounds of E minor are included in the accompaniment. However, the second scale degree flatted again at its end, serves as the 6th scale degree for A minor and begins the next passage of the subject in this tonality. The second passage is given in a bass voice. As a part of it, we can see a triphony within four bars.
It is noteworthy that the first counteracting given to the subject is not preserved here. And this point affects its further development. Thus, the orientations observed in the first passage of the subject do not take place here, on the contrary, there is more stability in the tonal plan. The arpeggio passages at the end of the piece bring a new character to its music. In the last bars, the composer uses the themes of the first interlude. The piece ends with the passage of the chromatic scale in higher voices and the natural E-minor scale in lower voices.
The fourth piece is called "Thought". The piece composed in Andante tempo and with 4/4 metre, we can see a polyphonic texture. But this time the composer uses a homophonic-harmonic texture. Its character reminds us of the small piano miniatures of the romantic era. The lyrical and sad melody played in a bass voice and E-minor tonality is the main subject of the piece.
The piece has a simple three-part form with reprises. The contrast between the parts is caused by the timbre features of the subject. The subject is sounded in a bass voice and lower register in the outer parts, and in a higher register and the third octave in the second part. Dynamic contrast also shows up, namely, the first passage is played in the mp and the second passage in the f nuances. Each part creates its own periods.
The first period has one sentence. The main content of the sentence is realized within six bars, while the next three bars act as a link connecting it to the other period. It should be noted that the subject is based on harmonic E-minor intonations. Its harmonic composition is presented as t-II 56 -S 6 -III-III 2 -VI-D 2 b5 -D 34 -VI-II 2 -VII 56 -S 7 . The last t chord expresses the beginning of the second period. The second period consists of eight bars. Its first five bars are related to the passage of the subject. But this time the subject ends in D cadence and moves on to the next connecting bars. This time D of D-minor refers to a small direction. At the end of the passage, we can see tempo reducing (ritenuto). This is a preparation for the start of the subject for the third time. In the reprise, the subject is presented in a slightly shortened form. But its structure and harmonic language show stability. Note that the form of this piece can also be assessed as a 3-sentence period.
The fifth piece is called "Lyric waltz". The lyrical mood is continued in this work. However, the sad and meditative mood observed in the previous piece is replaced by a dancing mood. The piece is composed in Andante tempo and ¾ metre.
The period form shows up here again. The subject presented in the D-minor tonality undergoes development and locates in the 6th scale degree of E-minor in the first ISSN 2616-7581 (Print) ISSN 2617 145 PERSONALIA cadence. The next development of the subject begins in E-minor tonality and prepares the culmination of the piece facing various-directed orientations with chromatisms. Culmination takes place in the ff nuance, with E flat major tonic sounds. Then follows a small ending which has a character of a coda. It is based on the D-minor themes and in the last numbers are presented St-VII56→ T56 (C)-S harmonic composition. The play ends with the S (D-major) chord.
The next piece is called "Naughty kids". The piece written in Allegro tempo expresses the whimsical fantasy of a child's world. "Azerbaijani composers try to create clear musical images in accordance with child psychology and based on nationality in the language of music" (Abbasova, 2017, p. 59). The first four-bar phrase acting as the main subject sounds three times in different versions all along with the piece as if describing the repetition of the same childish mischievousness. In each passage, the accompaniment part in the first bar sounds in the same manner, but it develops in a new direction, starting with the next bar. In the third passage, the composer changes the direction of the melody as well. This is for preparing the small culmination that takes place at the end of the piece. The musical staff, which demonstrates a dynamic variety, is presented at this time with the highest ff nuance.

Example №1
As for the second passage, after repeating the first two bars, the direction of the melody changes and new directions appear. Accordingly, the piece creates a 3-sentence repetitive period form. The unstable tonal plan restores C-major at the beginning of each sentence and the last bar is located in its tonic sound.
The seventh piece is called "Remembering the past" and continues the mood of "Thought". "In accordance with augmentation of image assortment of music, the musical thematics in works of the mentioned period changes; the range of genres expands; new types of genres such as etudes, frescoes, moments, moods etc. come into view" (Seyidov, 1992, p. 221).
Here the principle of polyphonic texture and presentation of the subject in different voices show up again. In both plays, the subject is given first in a lower, then in a higher register and three passages can be observed. Here the composer made use of chromatism to a greater extent. This has led to the creation of the traditional

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ПЕРСОНАЛІЇ unstable tonal plan. The first sounds already create a dissonance sounding, followed by enharmonic chromatism acting as an application of the natural state of the same sound with alteration in different parts, and patterns demonstrating atonality of stability in dissonance intervals. As in the first bar, the cadence is located at the flatted interval 7 in the last bar. The next piece called "Remembering my mother" acts as a logical continuation of the current mood. Given that both plays are associated with past memories, they have common content. However, although unlike the previous piece there are chromatisms and alteration sounds here, the tonal centre (E minor) makes itself evident.
Continuous development of the melody and its gradual movement to the lower register and culmination moment that finally takes place, bring the piece closer to the sixth number. The melody delivered to a lower voice was observed in most of the pieces we analyzed earlier. Its initial passage occurs this time in a bass line. However, the melodic line raising gradually and moving in an upward direction passes from the tenth bar to the right-hand part. It should be noted that raising is also observed in dynamic tones. The music that begins in p nuance gradually is raised up to mf, f and ff . The stable and unstable organization of the rhythm in right and left-hand parts creates a syncopation and gives the music a recitative-declamatory character. As a consequence, a person who remembers his mother experiences different emotional states. Dynamic contrast in the ending, based on the intonations of the first bar is noteworthy.
The next piece called "Sad mood" continues to some extent the story of the same hero. The sad and melancholic situation that takes place in the previous piece moves along here. The piece is written in Adagio tempo and 6/8 metre. The chordal texture dominates in this work. The composer actively used this type of texture in his rhapsody for piano as well. The first two bars sound the theme from F. Chopin's C minor prelude in a rhythmic version. Whereas the music of this prelude is written in the form of a mourning anthem, O. Rajabov tries to use it as a quote somehow to express the pain and sorrow of a person who lost his/her mother. Comprising the period, this theme is subjected to a more stable and clear tonal centre than in other pieces. Tonic and dominant chords of D-minor, as well as the subdominant, are used in accordance with classical traditions.

Example №2
ISSN 2616-7581 (Print) ISSN 2617-4030 (Online) 147 PERSONALIA The small passage prior to the next period seems to resemble the echo of a lullaby. Although the first sentence of the second period is based on the subject of the previous period, the movement in its second phrase becomes dynamic to a certain degree. Harmonic D minor intonations are sounded more frequently here. In the second sentence, the first sentence of the first period is repeated and creates a simple two-part form with reprises. It should be noted that this piece has the most transparent harmonic language among the samples we have analyzed. This series is completed by "My memories" and appears as a logical continuation and a finale of the subject in general. In the piece written in Moderato tempo and 4/4 metre, is applied the texture type used in the previous example. Atonality is taken as a basic principle again and the various seventh chords arranged in relation to the chromatic second replace each other. The piece consists of two periods and has a simple two-part form. But the boundaries here are determined by the passage between the two periods. The first period consists of 18 bars and the second of 15. Due to the presentation of the passage with a solo melody accompanied by a polyphonic chord kept in the 6-bar volume of the passage together with the organization of the periods with polyphonic chords, this piece bears some resemblance to the church choral music. This piece corresponds to a mass for those who passed away and illustrates the hero's thoughts, sorrows as well as his/her finding spiritual comfort under the influence of music.

Conclusions
O. Rajabov's chamber-instrumental music is characterized by a world of interesting and colourful images, their peculiar interpretive features. It is obvious that the composer appeals to humanistic issues which are always important in human history. Regardless of their genres and volumes, the subject and image-emotional content of these works are dedicated to the sublime feelings of human virtue, the glorification of the anthem of patriotism and struggle, feelings of friendship and love, the pure and innocent world of children. For this very reason, O. Rajabov's viewing and listening audience and their affection know no boundaries of age. His music has its own place in the hearts of both adults and children. The main part of his music for piano is presented in collections for young pianists. In these collections are demonstrated the national features of O. Rajabov's composing style and a new approach to folk music. The main characterizing features of the miniatures included in the series of pieces are the vitalization of the rich fantasy of the children's world with various images, events and moods, as well as the simplicity of musical expression, forms, volumes, artistic and technical performance methods. "It is interesting that when Azerbaijani composers create a piano repertoire for children, there are two tendencies in the chosen method and approach. In some miniatures, we can see Garayev's beautification style while in others, the peculiarities of Amirov's creation legacy" (Seyidov, 2002).
The contents commonality of the last four pieces, including the fourth one among the ten plays we have analyzed, has united them somewhat in a series. As for the pieces like "Joke", "Naughty kids", "Lyrical Waltz", "Barcarolle" and "Lyrical Dance", they mostly are united within one content expressing in themselves the different moods and emotional states of children's world. Among the features that summarize and differentiate the pieces, there is the preferred type of texture, the methods of the subject development, use of polyphonic style etc. Particularly the contrast that occurs as a result of dynamic nuances when playing the subject in different registers, is observed in most of his pieces. "It is obvious from these piano pieces that the composer can easily feel the world of children" (Imanov, 2014, p. 178). The analyzed pieces serve as a valuable tool for the formation of a young pianist's aesthetic taste, as well as in the development of artistic and technical performance. ISSN 2616-7581 (Print) ISSN 2617