Arif Mirzayev

Arif Abdulla oglu Mirzayev was born in Baku, then in the Azerbaijan SSR, on 10 April 1944, into a family with deep musical traditions. He studied composition at the Uzeyir Hajibeyov Azerbaijan State Conservatoire, now the Baku Music Academy, in the class of Gara Garayev, completing his studies in the 1970s.

As a student he looked to Moscow for performers and audiences, and some of his early works were first heard there and on radio. On moving into his fourth year he presented his Sonata for Violin and Piano in Memory of his Mother (1969), later called the Leipzig Sonata, which combined neo-romantic writing, a twelve tone passacaglia and a Bach style toccata.

After graduating, Mirzayev composed prolifically and appeared as a popular song writer and improvising pianist. His song Footprints in the Snow, to words by Rasul Gamzatov and performed by the Estonian singer Jaak Joala, took second place at the All-Union pop song competition in Tallinn in 1979. In the 1960s and 1970s he also wrote organ pieces such as a Classical Fugue and a Meditative Rhapsody, cycles of piano preludes, a Jazz Concertino for two pianos dedicated to Vagif Mustafazadeh, the orchestral Mugham Shur, a string quartet in memory of his father, choral works and an Ave Maria for voice and organ. He joined the composers' unions of Azerbaijan and Russia in 1979.

His Organ Symphony in Memory of J. S. Bach, also described as ornamental mugham, chorale and polyphonic variations, was written in 1984 for the tercentenary of Bach's birth and established his reputation. He developed a concept he called polystylistics, uniting the tonal language of mugham with European baroque and German classical polyphony and with sacred music from Islamic, Protestant and Catholic traditions. Azerbaijani sources credit him as the founder of the country's religious memorial and organ music. His works included the mourning mass January Passion and a Lullaby for the Children of Khojaly. He was nominated for the State Prize of the Russian Federation in 2000 and 2002 and became a member of the New International Bach Music Union in Leipzig in 1994.

From 1999 to 2003 he trained twice at the Tchaikovsky Moscow Conservatory, studying organ history with Natalia Malina and organ performance with Sergei Dizhur. He then went to Germany to continue as a church organist.

In 2004 Mirzayev moved to Fulda in Hesse, Germany, with his wife Tamara. In a 2015 interview he described Fulda as a Catholic centre and a city of churches and cathedrals, where he was often invited to perform, and said that Azerbaijan remained the country of his heart. He continued to compose and give concerts abroad, including performances in St Petersburg and in Azerbaijan.

Arif Mirzayev died in Fulda, Germany, on 10 November 2026, aged 82, after a long illness. His wife Tamara informed Firangiz Alizade, chair of the Union of Composers of Azerbaijan, and the union's press secretary Aysel Karim announced his death. The union expressed its sorrow and offered condolences to his family, and the news was carried by Azerbaijani outlets including Oxu.Az, Milli.Az and Hafta.az. No funeral arrangements had been published at the time of reporting.

Mirzayev is remembered as the composer who brought the pipe organ and large scale sacred polyphony into Azerbaijani music, and as a rare bridge between Eastern modal tradition and the music of Bach. He received the international medal Heirs of Johann Sebastian Bach and was named an Honoured Artist of Azerbaijan in 2011. The Union of Composers said his works had enriched the national musical treasury and that his memory would live on in the country's cultural history.