Tovmas Terzian

Tovmas Terzian studied at Murad-Raphaelyan College. Training under Eghia Temirchipashyan, Krikor Zohrab and Erukhan is recorded. The recorded working language is Armenian, Classical Armenian and Italian. Lord Byron and Alphonse de Lamartine are recorded as an influence. Residence is recorded at Constantinople. Employment is recorded with Getronagan Armenian High School. Works named in the authority record are Arshak II.

• Name — Tovmas Terzian • Born — 1840 • Birthplace — Istanbul, Ottoman Empire • Died — 1909 • Place of death — Istanbul, Ottoman Empire • Occupation — Poet, playwright, and teacher • Education — Moorat-Raphael College

Tovmas Terzian was born in the Pera district of Constantinople on October 21, 1840. His father, Hagop Rossi, was a Catholic Armenian tailor from Smyrna and his mother, Anna, was a Corsican citizen of France. The family mainly spoke Greek at home, as well as Italian, French and Turkish; Terzian did not learn Armenian as a child. It was frequently—and incorrectly—believed that Terzian was ethnically Greek. After attending the Sakızağacı Mekhitarist school, he attended the Moorat-Raphael College in Venice, Italy from which he graduated in 1858. Upon returning to Constantinople, he dedicated himself to teaching. He taught at the Nersesian, Nubar-Shahnazarian, and Getronagan schools. His students included famous Armenians such as Reteos Berberian, Minas Cheraz, Yeghia Demirdjibashian, Krikor Zohrab, Yerukhan, and other writers and teachers. Tovmas Terzian was fluent in English, Armenian, French, Italian, Classical Greek, Latin, Turkish, and Greek.

• Illustration — The poster of Tovmas Terzian's tragedy Sandukht Tovmas Terzian is famed mainly for his poetry and plays. He wrote the libretto for the first Armenian opera, Arshak II, composed by Tigran Chukhajian. Terzian wrote the libretto in Italian and then translated it into Armenian. It was published as a bilingual edition in Constantinople in 1871. The libretto is based on the life of the 4th-century Armenian king Arshak II. The libretto doubles as a play, and it was performed as a play for the first time at the Italian theater of Constantinople's Naum Theatre. When the opera Arshak II was staged in full for the first time in Soviet Armenia in 1945, a different libretto, written by Armen Gulakian, was used. In 2001, Arshak II was staged at the San Francisco Opera, using an Armenian translation of Terzian's Italian libretto and Chukhajian's original score, prepared by Haig Avakian and Gerald Papasian. The opera was performed with Terzian's original Italian libretto for the first time at the Yerevan Opera Theater in March 2024.

The authorities additionally record the headings Tovmas Terzyan, Tovmas Hakopi Terzyan, Terzyan, Tovmas Hakopi, Thovmas Terzian and Thovmas Hakopi Terzian. His recorded languages were Armenian, Classical Armenian, Italian and French. One child is recorded: Edward Terzian.