PERSONAL ARCHIVES OF AZERBAIJANI COMPOSERS (BASED ON THE MATERIALS OF THE INSTITUTE OF MANUSCRIPTS)

Abstract. The personal archives of literary and cultural figures who lived and created during the 19th-20th centuries are preserved at the Institute of Manuscripts named after Muhammad Fuzuli under the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences. Documents belonging to prominent poets, prose writers, artists, actors, and composers are carefully preserved in their archives. In the presented article, the archives preserved in the Institute of Manuscripts belonging to Uzeyir Hajibeyli, the founder of the Azerbaijani composer school and creator of the first opera in the East, editor, translator, and pedagogue, Muslim Magomayev, the first professional opera conductor, composer, and public figure, and Zulfugar Hajibeyov, a composer who made significant contributions to the development of Azerbaijani musical culture, are reviewed and analyzed. The archives of the mentioned composers contain handwritten musical scores of their works, biographies and personal documents, letters they wrote and received, materials from various individuals, photographs, printed books, and other documents. These documents are grouped by sections, and the folder in which each document is stored indicates the storage unit, volume, language, and alphabet in which it is written. The article provides information about the documents stored in sections and sub-sections, the importance of the archive in the study of the life and activities of each composer, his creative ties. The creativity of these outstanding composers, in particular Uzeyir Hajibeyli, has been studied from various angles, a large number of books and monographs have been written about them. But their archives have not been studied in a complex way. Although the archives of all three composers have been described and published, some shortcomings are noticeable in these books: some documents have been left out of the description, some documents have not been coded correctly, and the compilation has not been carried out properly. It should also be noted that some scattered documents have been properly grouped and presented in these books, mainly in the book titled “Description of Uzeyir Hajibeyli's archive”. It is impossible to imagine 20th-century Azerbaijani culture and the history of public opinion without Uzeyir Hajibeyli, Muslim Magomayev, and Zulfugar Hajibeyov. From the beginning of the last century to modern times, their works are performed on theatrical stages and win the sympathy of a wide audience. The archives of these personalities are rich in materials about their lives and activities, and many unexplored documents are still waiting for their researcher here. By revealing and researching them, it is possible to give new contributions to the culture of Azerbaijan.