Hovhaness & Saroyan - Bari Bari

William Saroyan and Alan Hovhaness had a great deal in common. Both were of Armenian descent. Both were highly respected by their peers. Both were incredibly prolific. They were also friends and collaborators on a number of projects.

Hovhaness was born Alan Vaness Chakmakjian in 1911 in Somerville, Massachusetts. He was gifted musically and started composing at the age of four. By high school, he had composed operas and symphonies, though he would later destroy these and other early compositions. He began to gain fame in the 1930s, at nearly the same time as Saroyan's star was rising in the literary world.

Alan changed his last name from Chakmakjian to Hovhaness following the death of his mother in 1930. He often said that he changed it because no one could pronounce “Chakmakjian” correctly, though his daughter would later claim that he did so to avoid sounding too Armenian.

In 1934, Hovhaness traveled to Finland and visited with famed composer Jean Sibelius. The Finnish composer had been one of Hovhaness’s greatest inspirations on his journey to composition. This visit would establish a twenty-year correspondence between the two. William Saroyan, who named Sibelius’s Finlandia as his favorite classical piece of music, visited the legendary composer as well in 1935.

It’s not entirely clear when and how the two of them met. They were in correspondence by 1939, when Saroyan wrote lyrics to a song called Memories of Heaven, which he sent to Hovhaness to set to music. The two remained in contact and in 1941 they came together again to create a song: Bari Bari.

At this point in their careers, the two Armenians were quite successful, with Saroyan having published his first eight collections, seen his first three plays produced on Broadway, and won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Hovhaness had been working as an organist at St. James Armenian Apostolic Church, and that led him to an interest in Armenian music. This actually predated his “Armenian period,” where his work was consciously exploring his Armenian roots.

Saroyan had written and published several poems. He sent the lyrics to Bari Bari to Hovhaness in late 1940. The original letter between the two does not seem to have survived, or at least is not available in the public archives. In the William Saroyan papers at Stanford's Green Library, a bound reproduction of the original lyrics exists. It is undated, but according to letters in the correspondence, Hovhaness had it made at Blue Print Duplication Factory in New York City. In a letter to Saroyan dated August 24th, 1941, Hovhaness says:

“As soon as I get my copy back, I’ll get hold of some kind of voice and make you a record.”

On September 7th, 1941, Hovhaness responded to a letter from Saroyan (also not in the archives) with the following:

“You will receive records soon I hope. I am training a young girl to sing Bari Bari. I hope you will be pleased with it.”

When he received the record, Saroyan was absolutely delighted. In a letter to Hovhaness dated September 16th, he wrote:

“The record of Bari Bari has just come and I have just finished listening to it ten or eleven times. Well, it is not easy to tell you how pleased I am. I am thrilled and delighted. The music is wonderful. I shall listen to it over and over again. Victoria Samuelian’s voice is pure and joyous to hear. (I have just interrupted the writing of this letter to listen to the song again—three times.) Thanks very much. I am as happy about the circumstances of being in touch with you, and of being privileged to work in these small forms with you, as it would be possible for me to be happy about anything.”

The name Victoria Samuelian would have been pretty much unknown at that time, but she was about to break out with performances of La Traviata at Boston Symphony Hall in 1945, and appearances on Arthur Godfrey’s Talent Scouts on television in 1950.

Saroyan suggested getting one of the record companies to press the record and release it in Armenia. It seems that, with Saroyan and Hovhaness so busy with other projects, it never came to be. The first professional recording of the song was done in 2013, sung by Hasmik Harutyunyan and Aleksan Harutyunyan.

 Saroyan did not give up on getting Bari Bari made into a record. There are several letters to and from Columbia Records executive George Avakian about getting Alan recorded and released in general, and Bari Bari in specific, between 1951 and 1953. 

"A long time ago I did some words in Armenian (using phonetic English to approximate the English sounds of words) and Alan put these words to music. As I remember it, one was called Bari,  which was very delightful in the music..."

Avakian, one of the most powerful figures at Columbia, was initially interested in recording and releasing Alan's works, specifically recorded by European orchestras for release outside the US but it seems that Alan was already on his way on his own, with recordings of his compositions coming out with MGM Records.