Background
He, his mother Eva and a brother survived.
He, his mother Eva and a brother survived.
He studied with Vardapet for two years, becoming familiar with Armenian church music and the Armenian notational system.
Born 7 September 1881 in Akn, historical Armenia – present-day Kemaliye – to a shoemaker"s family, Nicol Galanderian lost most of his family in the Turkish massacres of 1894-1896. In 1900 Galanderian began studies under the noted Armenian composer Komitas Vardapet at the Gevorgian Seminary. He studied the violin and guitar on his own and continued to explore music theory.
In 1910 he accepted a teaching position in Tiflis, Georgia, and in 1911 began his composing career with his first composition based on a text of Avedik Isahagian Yerger ou verker ("Songs and Wounds").
With the recognition of his work came an invitation to teach at the Hykazian School in Tehran, Iran, where he lived and composed the rest of this life. In 1913 he wrote a children"s opera and, beginning in 1924, many other compositions for children.
His work includes the operas Parvana (a lake in Georgia), Hovik ("Breeze") and Lalvari vors ("Lalvar"s Prey"). His compositions and manuscripts are in the archives of the State Museum of Art and Literature in Yerevan, Armenia.
He continued his compositional career until his death on 2 March 1944.