Tovmas Terzian

Tovmas Hagopi Tersian (Armenian Թովմաս Հակոբի Թերզյան, * 1840 in Constantine Opel, Ottoman Empire, † 1909) was an Armenian poet, playwright and teacher.

Life

Tovmas Tersian was born the son of a Greek -speaking Armenian father and an Italian mother. After attending the local mechitaristische school, he went to Murad Raphaelian School in Venice on the island of San Lazzaro, from which he graduated in 1858. After he returned to Istanbul, he taught at the high school Nersesian, Nubar - Shahnazarian and Getronagan. Among his students were among Retheos Berberian, Minas Tscheras, Yeghia Demirdjibashian, Krikor Zohrab, Eruchan, and numerous other writers and teachers. Tersian learned in school Armenian, Italian, Latin, Greek, Turkish, French and English.

Works

Tovmas Tersian is known primarily for his poetry and his plays. His most important drama was Arshak II (1871 ), loosely based on the life of the Armenian king Arshak II of the 4th century. The drama, which was written both in Armenian, as well as in Italian, was designed as an opera libretto. The music for this opera was composed by Dikran Tschuchadschjan, the Italian version of the piece: used Arsace II.

Tersian never saw his pieces on the stage, neither in opera form nor as a pure play. The Soviet version of the opera Arshak II, which first appeared in 1941 on the stage of the Yerevan Opera House, was a success. However, it had apart from the title and the names of some characters have little in common with the original work of Tovmas Tersian.

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