Hormoz Farhat
Farhat in 1977 in Tehran
Born	(1928-08-09)9 August 1928 Tehran,Imperial State of Persia (now Iran)
Died	16 August 2021(2021-08-16) (aged 93) Dublin, Ireland
Spouse	Maria Baghramian
Academic background
Alma mater	UCLA Mills College
Academic work
Discipline	Persian traditional music
Institutions	University of Tehran Trinity College Dublin
Notable works	List of compositions The Dastgah Concept in Persian Music (1990) List of publications

Hormoz Farhat (Persian:هرمز فرهت; 9 August 1928 – 16 August 2021) was aPersian-American composer andethnomusicologist who spent much of his career inDublin, Ireland.^[1] Anemeritus professor of music, he was a fellow ofTrinity College, Dublin.^[2][3] Described by theIrish Times as a "gifted and distinctive composer ofcontemporary classical music,"his compositions include orchestral, concertante, piano and choral music, as wellstring quartets andchamber works.^[4] He also wrote numerous film scores, including that ofDariush Mehrjui's 1969 filmThe Cow.^[4] However, his musicological research dominates his legacy; his writings on themusic of Iran—a country which he insisted be called 'Persia'—were pivotal inethnomusicology, particularly his acclaimed 1990 studyThe Dastgah Concept in Persian Music.^[4]

Hormoz Farhat was born on 9 August 1928, inTehran, the capital city of what was thenImperial State of Persia, but renamed in 1935 asIran.^[5] His father Ebrahim Farat was a senior official at thePersian Ministry of Finance married to his mother Sedique.^[4] The Farhat family had descended from a long line of "secularised Muslims", many of whom werecivil servicemen like Ebrahim.^[4] His cousinShahin Farhat also became a composer.^[6] According to Farhat himself, his early exposure to Iranian music was limited to his father occasionally playing thetar.^[7] Instead, he recalls that his ""early musical outlook was mainly western", later filtered through the country's radio station that was established in 1939.^[7]

Farhat later moved to the United States and received aBA in music from theUniversity of California, Los Angeles, UCLA (1953), anMA incomposition fromMills College, California (1955), and a PhD in composition and ethnomusicology from UCLA (1965). He studied composition withDarius Milhaud,Lukas Foss, andRoy Harris.^[8]

In 1959, Farhat founded theMusic of Persia Performance Group atUCLA.^[9] During his years in California Farhat worked first as anassistant professor of music atCalifornia State University, Long Beach (1961–64) and then asassociate professor of music at University of California, Los Angeles (1964–69).

On returning to Iran^[10] he became a professor and head of the music department at theUniversity of Tehran,^[11] (1970–78) as well as the head of the Music Council in theNational Iranian Radio and Television Network (1969–78) andShiraz Arts Festival. He wasvice-chancellor atFarabi University in Tehran (1975–77). In 1972 and 1973, he was invited as a visiting professor of music toHarvard University.

Farhat moved toNorthern Ireland in 1979 as a seniorresearch fellow atQueen's University, Belfast and then to theRepublic of Ireland as the chair, professor and head of theSchool of Music inTrinity College Dublin (1982–95).^[12] Among his students at Trinity College wasDonnacha Dennehy, who became among the leading Irish composers ofcontemporary classical music.^[13] He was a guestlecturer at numerous institutions including universities ofMichigan,Illinois,Indiana,Princeton,Stanford,Berkeley,Glasgow,Edinburgh,Durham,Amsterdam,Cologne,Warsaw,Ljubljana,Copenhagen,Stockholm and TheSmithsonian Institution^[14] in Washington D.C. He was the external examiner at theUniversity of Durham School of Music (1991–1994) and theRoyal Irish Academy of Music (2001–2004 and 2011–2014).

Farhat died inDublin, Ireland, aged 93. In December 2021 theUniversity College Cork and theUniversity of Tehran jointly organised a virtual memorial for Prof. Farhat.^[15]

His compositions have been performed widely by, among many others, theBBC Symphony Orchestra andEnglish Chamber Orchestra^[16] and most recently by the pianistSoheil Nasseri inCarnegie Hall andMerkin Hall in New York^[17] as well as in theStrathmore Music Center.^[18]

• String Quartets, Nos. 1, 2 & 3: St Petersburg String Quartet & Arvand String Quartet (Ravi-Azar-Kimia Institute, 2007).
• Persian Autumn (piano work): Mary Dullea, piano (Divine Arts, 2020).

Orchestral works

• Sinfonia Concertante, for seven solo instruments, soprano and orchestra
• Mazandarani Rhapsody, for orchestra
• Theme and Variations
• Sinfonietta
• Three Songs of Sa'di, for soprano and orchestra
• Fantasy and Fugue, for string orchestra
• Concerto Grosso, for piano and string orchestra
• Flute Concerto
• Clarinet Concerto
• Sougue, elegy for orchestra
• Nouveau rivage andLa Nuit éternelle, two orchestral pieces after the poem "Le Lac" ofAlphonse de Lamartine.^[19]

Chamber music

• 6 string quartets
• 3 wind trios
• Duo for Violin and Viola
• Divertimento for Saxophone Quartet (published, Chicago: Leblanc Music Publishers, 1966)
• Piano Quintet
• Partita for Wind Quintet

Piano music

• Theme and Variations
• Persian Suite (4 pieces)
• 2 Sonatas^[20]
• Four Suites
• Four Concert Études
• 24 Essays
• Five Bagatelles

Vocal music

• Two Songs on Poems by Sa'di, for soprano, violin and harp (1957)
• Be Yad-e Neyshapur [In Memory of Neyshapur]; a "chain" of seven songs on Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam (1959)
• Three Persian Songs, for soprano, flute, cello and piano (1962)
• several pieces for a cappella choir

Motion picture scoresScores for feature films by prominent Iranian film directorsDariush Mehrjui:Gaav (The Cow, 1969),Postchi (Postman), andAagha-ye Haaloo (Mr. Naive, 1970); andNasser Taghvai:Aaraamesh dar hozoor-e digaraan (Tranquility in the Presence of Others, 1972); andSaadegh Kordeh (Sadeq the Kurdish, 1973). In 1970, Farhat was awarded The Golden Plaque for Best Music for the score of Mehrjui's internationally acclaimed filmGaav.^[21]

Books:

• The Traditional Art Music of Iran (Tehran: Ministry of Culture and Arts Press, 1973).
• Farhat, Hormoz (2004) [1990].The Dastgah Concept in Persian Music. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.ISBN 978-0-521-54206-7.
• Present Past: Notes from the Life of a Persian/American Composer in Ireland. Ibex Publishers, Bethesda, 2018.
• Rhapsody Mazandarani for Orchestra (Amsterdam: Persian Dutch Network, 2020).^[22]

Persian Translations:

• Counterpoint byKent Kennan (Tehran: University of Tehran Press, 1974).
• Dastgah dar Musiqi-ye Irani (a Persian translation by Mehdi Pur-Mohammad of "The Dastgah Concept in Persian Music") (Tehran:Part Press, 2002).

Articles

• "Old and New Values in Changing Cultural Patterns", inIran: Past, Present and Future (Aspen Institute, 1976).^[23]
• 64 articles inthe Persian encyclopaediaDaerattomaaref (Tehran: -e Farsi, 1976).
• The article on Iran in theNew Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (London: MacMillan, 1980).
• "Scales and Intervals: Theory and Practice", inIrish Musical Studies, ed. Gerard Gillen and Harry White (Blackrock County Dublin:Irish Academic Press, 1990).
• Ten articles inEncyclopaedia Iranica, ed. E. Yarshater.
• "Western Influences on Persian Music", inMuzikolski Zbornik (Musicological Annual) XVII (Ljubljana, 1991).
• "The Evolution of Style and Content in Performance Practices of Persian Traditional Music", in:Muzikoloski Zbornik (Musicological Annual) XXXIII (Ljubljana, 1997).^[24]
• Farhat, Hormoz (1 January 1998). "Music".Iranian Studies.31 (3/4):561–570.doi:10.1080/00210869808701932.JSTOR 4311189.
• 7 articles in the second edition of theNew Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (London: MacMillan, 2001).
• Lawergren, Bo; Farhat, Hormoz;Blum, Stephen (2001)."Iran".Grove Music Online. Oxford:Oxford University Press.doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.13895.ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0.(subscription,Wikilibrary access, orUK public library membership required)
• Farhat, Hormoz (2012)."An Introduction to Persian Music"(PDF).Catalogue of the Festival of Oriental Music. Durham:University of Durham.

• White, Harry (1988). "Musicology in Ireland".Acta Musicologica.60 (3):290–305.doi:10.2307/932755.JSTOR 932755.

• Caton, Margaret (Spring–Summer 1992). "Reviewed Work: The Dastgāh Concept in Persian Music by Hormoz Farhat".Asian Music.23 (2):168–171.doi:10.2307/834179.JSTOR 834179.

• String Quartet No. 2 by Hormoz Farhat
• An Interview with Hormoz Farhat (Video: BBC Persian TV)
• A Tribute to Hormoz Farhat (Contemporary Music Centre, Dublin, Ireland)
• Hormoz Farhat discography atDiscogs

• 1928 births
• 2021 deaths
• 20th-century classical composers
• Academics of Queen's University Belfast
• California State University, Long Beach faculty
• Iranian ethnomusicologists
• Fellows of Trinity College Dublin
• Iranian composers
• Iranian emigrants to Ireland
• 20th-century Irish classical composers
• 20th-century Irish male composers
• Mills College alumni
• People associated with Durham University
• Musicians from Tehran
• Pupils of Lukas Foss
• University of California, Los Angeles alumni
• Academic staff of the University of Tehran

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