The Divine Musician

*A retelling for children, based on **Bahá'í Chronicles**, "Mirzá ‘Abd’u’lláh Faráháni, 'The Divine Musician.'"*

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Mírzá 'Abdu'lláh was one of the great musicians of Persia. He learned music from his father and his uncle, and his talent was so outstanding that he played at the court of the Sháh. He and his brother, Mírzá Ḥusayn-Qulí, are remembered as fathers of Persian music. He was also a Bahá'í, well known among the believers of Ṭihrán.

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He had a small music school in Ṭihrán. In those days many people in Persia looked down on music and musicians, and mobs often attacked the school, hurt the pupils and broke their instruments. Mírzá 'Abdu'lláh went on teaching.

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At that time Persian music was never written down. Melodies were kept in the memory of the players and passed from one generation to the next, and the old masters seldom taught their secrets even to their own pupils. When a master died, his music often died with him, and many old pieces had been lost in this way. Mírzá 'Abdu'lláh and his brother, who came from a family of master musicians, carried many of these old melodies in their memories.

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'Abdu'l-Bahá revealed a prayer for Mírzá 'Abdu'lláh, and in a Tablet He called him "Divine musician." In another Tablet He encouraged him to preserve the old melodies by writing them down in musical notes. 'Abdu'l-Bahá also wrote that "Music is regarded as a praiseworthy science at the Threshold of the Almighty."

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After 'Abdu'l-Bahá's advice, some of Mírzá 'Abdu'lláh's pupils were encouraged to go to Europe to learn how to write music down. Machines for recording sound also reached Persia. When he was sixty-five years old, Mírzá 'Abdu'lláh began to make gramophone records of his music. It took seven more years to write out all the pieces and make sure they were set down correctly.

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He never stopped teaching. Even when he was ill in bed, he went on teaching his pupils. He died in 1918, at the age of seventy-five.

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*This is a retelling for children. For the fuller account, see ["Mirzá ‘Abd’u’lláh Faráháni, 'The Divine Musician'"](/stories/bc-mirza-abd-u-llah-farahani-the-divine-musician).*

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