Khadija Gayibova

Who was Khadija Gayibova?

Khadija Osman bey qizi Gayibova was an Azerbaijani female pianist.

Khadija Gayibova was born in the city of Tiflis. Her father Osman Muftizadeh was an Azeri Sunni Muslim scholar, while her mother hailed from the Teregulov family of Volga Tatar origin who settled in Tiflis in 1845. Gayibova was trained in piano playing while studying at the St. Nina Gymnasium for Girls between 1901 and 1911. After graduating at age 18, she married engineer Nadir Gayibov, son of the Mufti of the Caucasus and brother of Nigar Shikhlinskaya. For the next several years, she taught at the local Russian-Muslim school.

She became known as one of the first Azerbaijani musicians to perform mugham on piano. In 1919, Gayibova moved to Baku with her family. She was one of the founders of the Azerbaijan State Conservatory in 1920. After Sovietization, she became head of the Department of Oriental Music in the Azerbaijan People's Commissariat for Education. During this period, Gayibova organized short-term piano and drama classes for women. In 1927, she was admitted to the Azerbaijan State Conservatoire specialiasing as a composer.