Sahakdukht

Sahakdukht (Armenian: Սահակադուխտ, "daughter of Sahak") (8th century AD) was an Armenian composer of religious hymns, poet, and pedagogue.[1]She was also a healer, using a type of music therapy.

Sahakdukht
Սահակադուխտ
OriginArmenia
Occupation(s)Ascet, poet, composer, pedagogue

Life

Few is known about her life. Her brother was the music theorist and Greek translator Stepanos Syunetsi. After his murder, she felt into a deep grief and decided to live an ascetic live to in a cave, in the Garni Gorge, near present-day Yerevan; there she produced ecclesiastical poems as well as liturgical chants. People would suffered from nervous disturbs searched her and, it is said that she played her lyre, hidden from sight behind a curtain, to help heal people from their problems. It is believed that she was the first to use some kind of music therapy for healing.[2][3]

Works

She wrote many Christian religious compositions, the only one to survive is Srbuhi Mariam ("Saint Mary"), a nine-stanza acrostic verse. The song was discovered and published by Armenian musicologist Norayr Pogharian in the Hask magazine, in 1951. It is believed that many of her hymns were dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Some are supposed to have helped to further shape the genre in subsequent centuries. Sahakduxt is also known to have taught lay music lovers and clerical students a number of sacred melodies. In addition to composing spiritual songs, she practiced pedagogy.

Tomb

After her death, her tomb became a site for pilgrimage.

References
  1. Stephen Cushman, Clare Cavanagh, Jahan Ramazani, Paul Rouzer. The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics: Fourth Edition. — 4. — Princeton University Press, 2012. — P. 83.
  2. Sahakdukht, Armenian Women
  3. The First Armenian Musician-Poet (Armenian)

References
  • Arzruni, Şahan. "Sahakduxt (fl. early 8th century). Armenian hymnographer, poet and pedagogue." New Grove (Norton) Dictionary of Women Composers. Julie Anne Sadie and Rhian Samuel, eds. New York-London: W. W. Norton & Company, 1995. pp. 400–401.
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