Schahan Berberian

Schahan R. Berberian (Armenian: Շահան Ռ. Պէրպէրեան) (January 1, 1891 – October 9, 1956) was an Armenian philosopher, composer, pedagogue, psychologist, aesthetician, public speaker and author.

Berberian was born in Constantinople (now Istanbul, Turkey). Shortly thereafter, along with his parents Retheos and Zaruhi and his elder brother Onnig, Berberian moved to Geneva, Switzerland to escape the atrocities against the Armenians perpetrated by the Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II from 1894 to 1896.

Returning to Constantinople, Berberian enrolled at the Berberian School, which had been founded by his father Reteos Berberian, in Kadıköy, a district on the Asian side of the city. At that time, he started taking private lessons on the violin, but soon quit playing the "insufferable instrument" (allegedly throwing it into the fireplace to burn it). Instead he took up piano lessons although this venture was also rather unsuccessful.

Berberian graduated in 1906. The first job of the fifteen-year-old young man was to teach literature and natural sciences at his alma mater but in 1908, he left for Paris where he studied at the Sorbonne and the Collège de France, taking classes in philosophy and metaphysics with Henri Bergson, psychology with Georges Dumas and sociology with Émile Durkheim, thus receiving a thorough education in the liberal arts and obtaining a diploma to teach philosophy. At the same time he was able to quench his deep love for music by attending concerts and teaching himself composition.

In 1911, Berberian was obliged to return to Constantinople to become Principal of the Berberian School, and thus was unable to complete his doctoral thesis (entitled "The Pathological Method in Psychology"). In addition to his duties at the school, he became involved in the cultural life of the Armenian community in the city. During this period, he developed a close friendship with Komitas, spending long hours discussing with him various issues in the field of the arts.

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