ʿٴĀ, MĪRZĀ (ca. 1259-1337/1843-1918), a well-known court musician and master of the and (plucked long-necked lutes). His musical repertoire (ī) is considered to be the main source of contemporary Persian classical music as taught in conservatories and universities in Iran.
Mīrzā ʿAbdallāh was part of a family of musicians. His father, ʿAlī-Akbar Farāhānī of Arāk, came to Tehran and became a prominent court musician and performer on the during the reign of Moḥammad Shah and Nāṣer-al-dīn Shah (J. During, p. 142). Gobineau during his visit to Tehran about 1855-58 witnessed ʿAlī-Akbar’s performance and counted him among the great artists of the world (Gobineau, p. 441). After the early death of ʿAlī-Akbar, his nephew and student Āqā Ḡolām-Ḥosayn became his successor as a performer in the court. Āqā Ḡolām-Ḥosayn also became the stepfather to ʿAbdallāh and Ḥosayn-qolī, the two younger sons of ʿAlī-Akbar. ʿAbdallāh studied the first with his older brother Ḥasan (Ḵāleqī, I, p. 102). He and his younger brother Ḥosayn-qolī eventually studied with Ḡolām-Ḥosayn and became successful court musicians.
The students of Mīrzā ʿAbdallāh include Mahdī-qolī Hedāyat, who transcribed the ī of another student, Mahdī Ṣolḥī. This ī, known as “Radīf-e Montaẓam-al-ḥokamāʾ” is one of the major sources of the published Maʿrūfī ī (Ḵāleqī, I, pp. 106-07; idem in Ѳǰ, p. 19). The ī of another student, Ebrāhīm Qahramānī, has been recorded by Nūr-ʿAlī Borūmand and used for music instruction in Tehran University. Other influential students include Sayyed Ḥosayn Ḵalīfa, Abu’l-Ḥasan Ṣabā, and Ḥāǰǰ Āqā Moḥammad Īrānī Moǰarrad. Of Mīrzā ʿAbdallāh’s four children, Aḥmad ʿEbādī is known as a master performer on .
Mīrzā ʿAbdallāh collected and organized the melodies of his contemporaries and added them to the ī of his father. Colonel ʿAlī-Naqī Vazīrī transcribed this ī, working with Mīrzā ʿAbdallāh over a period of one and a half years (Ḵāleqī, II, pp. 44-46). He freely taught this ī to all his students, regardless of their ability. He did this in reaction to the guarded attitude of musicians toward teaching others, an attitude which he felt was endangering the Persian music tradition.
The music tradition that is taught in the National Conservatory and Tehran University has been attributed to Mīrzā ʿAbdallāh (Ḵāleqī, I, pp. 102, 442; Khatschi, p. 1; Zonis, pp. 39, 190); and also to ʿAlī-Akbar (During, p. 142; Ney-Dāvūd, interview, 1976). Mīrzā ʿAbdallāh’s ī is the oldest documented version of the seven 岹ٲ system. This system, developed in the nineteenth century, is thought to be a rearrangement of the older twelve 峾 system. The tradition is known by Mīrzā ʿAbdallāh’s name due to his extensive work in collecting, arranging, and teaching his ī. The present published version of the ī collected by Mūsā Maʿrūfī is based on the ī of Mīrzā ʿAbdallāh and Āqā Ḥosayn-qolī and two of their students, Mahdī Ṣolḥī and Darvīš Ḵān (Ḵāleqī, 1340, p. 19).
Existing works of Mīrzā ʿAbdallāh include the Vazīrī transcription of the Dastgāh Čahārgāh, the ī of Montaẓam-al-ḥokamāʾ, and the ī of Qahramānī. “Rāk-e ʿAbdallāh,” one of the ū&Dz; (pieces) of the Dastgāhs of Māhūr and Rāstpanǰgāh, is found in both the vocal and instrumental ī and may be attributed to him. In addition, there are a number of recordings of his performance listed in the 1906 Catalogue de Disques Persans de la Companie The Gramophone and Typewriter Ltd. (pp. 3, 14, 30). Some of these recordings are still extant.
Bibliography:
J. During, “Ēléments spirituels dans la musique traditionelle iranienne contemporaire,” Sophia Perennis 1, no. 2, Autumn 1975, pp. 129-54.
J. A. Gobineau, Trois ans en Asie, Paris, 1905.
R. Ḵāleqī, “Moḵber-al-salṭana Hedāyat: dānešmand-e mūsīqī-šenās,” Ѳǰ-ye Rādīo Īrān 61, Šahrīvar 1340 Š./1961, pp. 18-19, 30.
Idem, Sargoḏašt-e mūsīqī-e Īrān I, Tehran, 1333 Š./1954; II, 1335 Š./1956.
Kh. Khatschi, Der Dastgah, Regensburg, 1962.
M. Maʿrūfī, Radīf-e haft 岹ٲ-e mūsīqī-e Īrānī, Tehran, 1973.
E. Zonis, Classical Persian Music, Cambridge, Mass., 1973.
(M. Caton)
Originally Published: December 15, 1982
Last Updated: July 15, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 2, pp. 177-178
M. Caton, “Abdallah, Mirza,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/2, pp. 177-178; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abdallah-mirza (accessed on 21 January 2014).>
