explores Azerbaijanian musical culture, a subject previously unexamined by American and European scholars. This book contains notations of performance—a fusion of traditional poetry and musical improvisation—and analysis of hybrid genres, such as -operas and symphonic by native composers. Intimately connected to the awakening of Azerbaijanian national consciousness while ruled by the Russian Empire and the USSR, is inseparable from the contexts in which it is produced and heard. Inna Naroditskaya provides the historical and political contexts for and profiles the musicians, musical genealogies, and musical institutions of Azerbaijan.