Afrasiyab Badalbeyli

Afrasiyab Badalbeyli
Afrasiyab Badalbeyli in the 1930s
Born	19 April 1907 (1907-04-19)
Died	6 January 1976 (1976-01-07) (aged 68)
Occupation	Azerbaijani musician

Afrasiyab Badal oglu Badalbeyli (Azerbaijani: Əfrasiyab Bədəlbəyli) (19 April 1907, Baku – 6 January 1976, Baku) was a Soviet Azerbaijani composer, with noble Iranian origins (he was the descendant of Bahman Mirza and Abbas Mirza, " conductor and music critic, author of the music and libretto of Giz Galasi (The Maiden Tower), the first Azerbaijani ballet and the first ballet in the Muslim Orient.

Afrasiyab Badalbeyli was born to Shusha natives Badal and Rahima Badalbeyli in 1907. At the time, the Badalbeylis were already becoming known as a family of great musicians. His father, Badal bey Badalbeyli was a mugham expert and a music teacher at a Russo-Tartar school in Baku; he also helped Uzeyir Hajibeyov, his cousin, to found the first musical theatre in Azerbaijan. Afrasiyab Badalbeyli's paternal uncle Ahmed Badalbeyli (Agdamski) was a renowned opera singer. Afrisiyab's brother Shamsi Badalbeyli later became a musical play director. In 1930, Afrasiyab Badalbeyli graduated from the Azerbaijan State University majoring in Oriental studies and continued his education at a music school affiliated with the Leningrad Conservatory, which he finished in 1938. He began working as a conductor at the Azerbaijan State Opera and Ballet Theatre in 1930. In 1931, he married ballerina Gamar Almaszadeh who accompanied him to Leningrad while pursuing higher education at a professional ballet school herself. This marriage however ended in divorce leading to Badalbeyli's subsequent marriages.