Richard G. Hagopian

Born: July 16, 1920, New York, NY
Death: March 31, 1971 
Years Active Recording: 1949
Label Associations:  Richard Hagopian Records

When most people hear the name Richard Hagopian, they might think of the master oud player and singer who has made an immeasurable impact on the modern history of Armenian music in America. While his work and impact deserves the fullest exploration, here we take a look at a lesser known musician by the same name. 

Richard G. Hagopian carved a unique path with his musical and educational career, stradling the worlds of the concert hall, Armenian music, and music education. Within this career he left us with only one commercially produced 78rpm record from 1949, but within the Museum’s collection, two unreleased lacquer records from 1951 have recently surfaced, bringing his known recorded output to a total of six songs.

Richard was born Dickran Garabed Hagopian on July 16, 1920 in New York City to Garabed Hagopian and Taolinda Mouradian. By 1938 the family was living in Cambridge, MA where Richard attended the Rindge Technical High School. There he studied violin, going on to study at the New England Conservatory of Music, where he sat as a first violinist in The Conservatory Orchestra of 1939. In 1942 he was employed by the National Youth Administration Symphony Orchestra, a short-lived endeavor of the National Youth Administration, which brought professional opportunities to young musicians. The program ended in order to devote more resources to WWII. Richard joined the war effort as well, serving as a Private in the Army from 1942-1943.

After his service, Richard took a position with the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra in 1945. Just a few years later, he made his way back home to the Boston area and established his own orchestra, which provided music for Armenian cultural events throughout the late 1940s and early 1950s. In 1949, as part of the group's promotional efforts, Richard established the label Richard Hagopian Records out of his Beacon St address in Somerville, MA. 

The first two songs presented here come from that 1949 record and represent the sole commercially released output of the label. On one side, the record is a medley of the Armenian dances Sareree Achtcheeg, Ouzoondara, and Shalakho. The other side is an arrangement of the traditional choral song Alakiaz, along with orchestral arrangement. Recently, two unreleased lacquer discs recorded in 1951 were found in the Museum’s collection and are shared here for the first time. The first disc includes an elegant instrumental arrangement of the famous song Anoush Karoun (Sweet Spring) led by a rich string section. We’ll be taking a deep dive into the story of this iconic song later this spring. The other side of this disc is Mashdi Pat or Mashadi Ibad, which is based on an operetta by Uzeyir Hajibeyov about a young couple whose relationship is threatened by an ill-fitted arranged marriage plan. The song was first recorded in New York City in 1927 by Setrak Sourabian and George Shah-Baronian and released on the Sohag label. In 1949 The Vosbikian Band also released a version of the tune. The second lacquer disc includes Sareree Verov Kenar, a work attributed to Komitas Vartabet and arranged by Hagopian for piano and violin. The second song on the record is titled Oh Beauty and is an upbeat medley based on the popular song Sheg Mazerov. The song was originally written by Hovsep Shamlian but in 1951 a version was written by William Saroyan and Ross Bagdasarian under the name Oh Beauty, and released along with the tune Come On-A My House. More traditional arrangements were recorded and circulated in the 1940s by groups including The Vosbikian Band and The Nor-Ikes. Hagopian takes elements from these various renditions of the time and blends them with a song recorded by The Gomidas Band under the name Hye Dugack (Armenian Boys), all while imparting his unique orchestra perspective to the tune. 

In addition to his performance and recording work Richard took up a career in music education. In 1965 he was serving as the Music Director for Watertown Public Schools and working along with other music educators in the area to publish papers and host workshops to expand the pedagogy for teaching young musicians both compositional and performance techniques. Sadly, Hagopian passed away at the early age of 50, on March 31, 1971, of a heart condition. Richard began his music education working with talented musicians and directors at institutions like the New England Conservatory; by the end of his career, Richard was able to give back to his community through his work as a music director and educator. While we are left with only a few audio recordings of Richard and his Orchestra, we are glad to expand that number of available recordings from two to six with the discovery of the unique records presented here.

A special thanks to the SJS Charitable Trust for their generous support of our work to digitize and share our collection of 78 rpm records.