Destruction of early works [edit] During the 1930s and 1940s, Hovhaness famously destroyed many of his early

works . He later claimed that he had burned at least 1000 different pieces, a process that took at least two weeks;[7] elsewhere he claimed to have destroyed around 5 00 scores totalling as many as a thousand pages.[8] In an interview with Richard Howard, he stated that the decision was based primarily on Sessions' criticism of his works of that period, and that he wanted to make a new start in compositi on.[7] Musical career [edit] "Armenian Period" [edit] Hovhaness became interested in Armenian culture and music in 1940 as organist fo r the St. James Armenian Apostolic Church in Watertown, Massachusetts, remaining in this position for about ten years. In 1942, he won a scholarship at Tanglewo od to study in Czech composer Bohuslav Martin's master class. During a seminar in composition, while a recording of Hovhaness's first symphony was being played, A aron Copland talked loudly in Spanish to Latin-American composers in the room; a nd at the end of the recording Leonard Bernstein went to the piano, played a mel odic minor scale and remarked, "I can't stand this cheap ghetto music."[citation needed] Apparently angered and distraught by this experience, he left Tanglewoo d early, abandoning his scholarship and again destroying a number of his works i n the aftermath of that major disappointment. The next year he devoted himself to Armenian subject matter[citation needed], in particular using modes distinctive to Armenian music, and continued in this vei n for several years, achieving some renown and the support of other musicians, i ncluding radical experimentalist composer John Cage and choreographer Martha Gra ham, all the while continuing as church organist. Beginning in the mid-1940s, Hovhaness and two artist friends, Hyman Bloom and He rmon di Giovanno, met frequently to discuss spiritual and musical matters. All t hree had a strong interest in Indian classical music, and brought many well know n Indian musicians to Boston to perform. During this period, Hovhaness learned t o play the sitar, studying with amateur Indian musicians living in the Boston ar ea. Around 1942, Bloom introduced Hovhaness to Yenovk Der Hagopian, a fine singe r of Armenian and Kurdish troubadour songs, whose singing inspired Hovhaness. In one of many applications for a Guggenheim fellowship (1941), Hovhaness presen ted his credo at the time of application: I propose to create a heroic, monumental style of composition simple enough to i nspire all people, completely free from fads, artificial mannerisms and false so phistications, direct, forceful, sincere, always original but never unnatural. M usic must be freed from decadence and stagnation. There has been too much emphas is on small things while the great truths have been overlooked. The superficial must be dispensed with. Music must become virile to express big things. It is no t my purpose to supply a few pseudo-intellectual musicians and critics with more food for brilliant argumentation, but rather to inspire all mankind with new he roism and spiritual nobility. This may appear to be sentimental and impossible t o some, but it must be remembered that Palestrina, Handel and Beethoven would no t consider it either sentimental or impossible. In fact, the worthiest creative art has been motivated consciously or unconsciously by the desire for the regene ration of mankind.[this quote needs a citation] Lou Harrison reviewed a 1945 concert of Hovhaness' music which included his 1944 concerto for piano and strings, entitled Lousadzak: There is almost nothing occurring most of the time but unison melodies and very lengthy drone basses, which is all very Armenian. It is also very modern indeed in its elegant simplicity and adamant modal integrity, being, in effect, as tigh t and strong in its way as a twelve-tone work of the Austrian type. There is no harmony either, and the brilliance and excitement of parts of the piano concerto were due entirely to vigor of idea. It really takes a sound musicality to inven t a succession of stimulating ideas within the bounds of an unaltered mode and w ithout shifting the home-tone.[9] However, as before, there were also critics:

The serialists were all there. And so were the Americanists, both Aaron Copland' s group and Virgil [Thomson]'s. And here was something that had come out of Bost on that none of us had ever heard of and was completely different from either. T here was nearly a riot in the foyer [during intermission] everybody shouting. A re al whoop-dee-doo.[10] Lousadzak was Hovhaness's first work to make use of an innovative technique he c alled "spirit murmur" &mdash, an early example of aleatoric music inspired by a vision of Hermon di Giovanno.[1] The technique involves instruments repeating ph rases in uncoordinated fashion, producing a complex "cloud" or "carpet" of sound s.[2]. In the mid-1940s, Hovhaness' stature in New York was helped considerably by memb ers of the immigrant Armenian community who sponsored several high-profile conce rts of his music. This organization, the Friends of Armenian Music Committee, wa s led by Hovhaness's friends Dr. Elizabeth A. Gregory, the Armenian American pia no/violin duo Maro Ajemian and Anahid Ajemian, and later Anahid's husband, pione ering record producer and subsequent Columbia Records executive George Avakian. Their help led directly to many recordings of Hovhaness' music appearing in the 1950s on MGM and Mercury records, placing him firmly on the American musical lan dscape. In May and June 1946, while staying with an Armenian family, Hovhaness composed Etchmiadzin, an opera on an Armenian theme, which was commissioned by a local Ar menian church. Conservatory years [edit] In 1948 he joined the faculty of the Boston Conservatory, teaching there until 1 951. His students there included the jazz musicians Sam Rivers and Gigi Gryce.