Rustam and Zohrab
| Rustam and Zohrab | |
|---|---|
 Program from the first staging | |
| Genre | Mugham |
| Native title | Rüstәm vә Söһrab |
| Librettist | Uzeyir Hajibeyov, Azer Buzovnali |
| Language | Azeri |
| Premiere | Azerbaijan |
"Rustam and Zohrab" (in Azeri Rüstәm vә Söһrab) is the third mugham opera by Uzeyir Hajibeyov. It was composed in 1910 according to motifs of the poem "Shahnameh" by Ferdowsi, and written in Arabic prosody.[1][2]
Regarding its style, Hajibeyov shortened the mugham scene in this opera, devoting much attention to the author’s music.[3] There was some controversy regarding primary authorship, due to the existence of several versions of its libretto. This issue was investigated by M.Aslanov’s, who determined Uzeyir Hajibeyov as the its primary author of Rustam and Zohrab, as well as other poems initially attributed to poet and gazel writer Azer Buzovnali.
The premiere of the opera was held on November 12, 1910 in the H.Z.Taghiyev theatre in Baku, with Huseyngulu Sarabski as stage director and Uzeyir Hajibeyov as conductor. Huseyngulu Sarabski (Zohrab), Ahmed Agdamski (Tahmina), M.H.Teregulov (Keykavus) and others played the leading parts. The opera did not achieve great success and Hajibeyov took it off the stage.[4][5] After some revisions the opera was again staged in March 1915 at a benefit performance of Muslim Magomayev, however it was eventually cancelled due to lack of popularity.