(b 1887; d 1979). Iranian teacher, composer, conductor and writer. He began music lessons at the age of 15, learning the tār and the violin with prominent masters in Tehran including Darvish Khan (1872–1926) and Aqa Hossein Qoli (c1851–1915). In 1918 Vaziri travelled to Europe to continue his musical studies. He spent three years in Paris and two years in Berlin studying harmony, theory, composition, counterpoint, piano and singing. On his return from Europe in 1923 he became principal of the Madresseh-ye Āli-e Musiqi, the first music school in Iran, and subsequently devoted much of his time to developing and expanding the provision of music education in Iran. Several of his pupils became prominent musicians.
In order to make performances of classical music more widely available, Vaziri organized and conducted public concerts featuring orchestras of Iranian instruments. In his arrangements of traditional melodies and his own compositions he used western classical-style harmonies which had not previously been heard in Iranian music; he believed that Iranian music needed to adopt some elements of European music in order to survive in the 20th century. Staff notation had been introduced to Iran by Europeans in the 19th century, but Vaziri was the first Iranian to advocate its wider use within the classical tradition. His Dastur-e tār (1913) included materials from the teaching repertory (radif) of Mirza Abdollah (1843–1918), technical exercises, Vaziri’s own compositions and extracts from pieces by European composers such as Schubert, Beethoven and Rossini. In this and in Dastur-e violon (1933) Vaziri introduced terms and symbols for the koron and sori pitches of Iranian music, and these have become standard within the tradition.
Vaziri’s westward-looking stance was typical of the prevailing attitude in the early and middle years of the 20th century when European music was regarded as more ‘scientifically’ grounded than Iranian music (see Iran, §I, 2). His significance lies in the diversity of his work and in his endeavours to revitalise Iranian music; he has had a lasting influence on many aspects of musical life in Iran in the 20th century.
A.N. Vaziri: Dastur-e tār (Berlin, 1913, 2/1936)
A.N. Vaziri: Dastur-e violon (Tehran, 1933)
A.N. Vaziri: Musiqi-e nazari (Tehran, 1934)
R. Khaleqi: Sargozasht-e musiqi-e Iran [A history of Iranian music], ii (Tehran, 1954, 2/1983)
S. Behroozi: Chehrehā-ye musiqi-e Iran [Profiles of Iranian musicians], i (Tehran, 1988), 64–8
LAUDAN NOOSHIN