To Sergei Prokofiev

Dear Sergey Sergeevich,
Nina and I have just come back from the 100th presentation of “Cinderella”. It was an enormous pleasure. Allow me, dear Sergey, to congratulate you on this occasion and say that you are a wonderful composer. How dreamy is the music from “Cinderella”, how many pages from the ballet shimmering with talent. It’s difficult to express with words the pleasure (spiritual cleansing) one gets when listening to the music of “Cinderella”, when watching Ulanova’s marvelous portrayal and Wiliams’ staging. The Adagio in the second act, Cinderella’s searches, the watch and many other parts, how wonderful is all of it. And the valse. I have a lot to say, but it’s difficult to express through paper. Say hello to Mira Aleksandrovna,
With love,
Aram Khachaturian and Nina Makarova.
April 11, 1950, Moscow

To Dmitri Shostakovich

Dear Mitya,
I’m writing this letter with great excitement and joy. I’m writing not only to say happy birthday, but to express some of my thoughts about you. I’m grateful to fate for being your friend and your contemporary. I’m grateful to your outstanding works for elevating the level of Soviet music to unreachable heights. We are all striving to keep in line with you, though it’s impossible. You are our leader, and, want it or not, you are taking us after you. Your historical mission is inestimable. <...> I am pleased there is a person, the extension of my respect and admiration to whom humbles me. I rarely bother you, though I often feel the need to talk to you. My dear and honorable friend, congratulations on your fiftieth anniversary, I wish you happiness, I wish you to create more compositions. Be as mighty as you have always been. You’re not very old, but you have lived a great life. <...>
Hugs,
Yours A. Khachaturian.
September 24, 1956, Moscow

To David Oistrakh

Dear Dodik,
Life is interesting: people live next to each other, in the same town, even in the same house, but don’t manage to tell each other what they really think. Your note is the proof of your modesty. In my opinion, have you not liked my concerto, you wouldn’t have written such a wonderful cadence to it. I consider your cadence better than mine. Your cadence is a fantasy on my themes and is convincing in its form. Giving the elements and the rhythm of the first theme, you perfectly prepare the audience for perception of the reprise. I consider you an epochal violinist and artist. Your creative personality reflects our Soviet Era and leads our school of violin performers. That’s why it is an honor for me to have provoked your creative imagination.
Yours, Aram Khachaturian.

First Day of Tchaikovsky competition,
Big Hall of the Moscow Conservatory.
Dear Dodik, I continue taking ownership of your cadence. When I die, they will start announcing that the cadence is Oistrakh’s – a weak relief! <...>
A. Khachaturian.
March 24, 1958, Moscow

To Leonid Kogan

Dear Lyonya,
Once again, congratulations on brilliant graduation from the Conservatory. Don’t worry about the only low grade you have received. It will not play a role in determination of your musical fate. <...>
With love, Aram Ilyich.
July 21, 1948, Zheleznovodsk

* * *

<...> I am worried about our creative relationship. How will the rhapsody turn out? I already don’t like it. I think it’s conservative. You have to tell me everything you think about the rhapsody. I want the rhapsody dedicated to you to belong to the highest class of violin works of our times. <...>
Yours A. Khachaturian
July 23, 1960, Yalta

* * *

Dear Lyonya,
On your birthday, I’ve decided to give you something that’s very precious to me. It’s the first manuscript of our Rhapsody. When I started writing it, I was thinking of you. I have devoted the rhapsody to you with great joy and worthily: to you – the great violinist and artist of our times. <...>
All the best!
With love, Aram Khachaturian.
November 14, 1962