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Khayyam, Omar x. Musical works based on the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Khayyam, Omar x. Musical works based on the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. W.H. Martin, S. Mason.
Encyclopaedia Iranica, Online Edition, July 15 2009

The enduring popularity of the verses in the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam is reflected in the large number of musical works they have inspired. Not all the works were small-scale pieces. One of the best-known large-scale compositions is Sir Granville Bantock’s (1868-1946) ‘Omar Khayyam’ (1908-10) for soloists, chorus and orchestra. It is a three-part work, setting all the 101 quatrains from FitzGerald’s fifth edition.

Omar with a smile. Parodies in books on FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám

Omar with a smile. Parodies in books on FitzGerald’s Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Jos Biegstraaten.
Persica 20 (2004), p. 1-37

In the spring of 1859 Edward FitzGerald had 250 copies printed of his Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám. Forty copies were for his own use, the remaining 210 were for sale in the bookshop of Bernard Quaritch, a London bookseller. No one was interested until 1861, when Whitley Stokes, a Celtic scholar, passed Quaritch’s bookstall and bought the book. He must have appreciated the contents, because he came back later and bought some additional copies. One of them he gave to Dante Gabriel Rossetti, who introduced the quatrains to other members of the Pre-Raphaelite circle, like Swinburne. The latter passed his admiration on to William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. It was the beginning of a period in which the Rubáiyát was to grow to an immense popularity in England.

FitzGerald, Rámí, and Umm Kulthúm: the Making of ‘Umar Khayyám in Arabic

FitzGerald, Rámí, and Umm Kulthúm: the Making of ‘Umar Khayyám in Arabic. Huda J. Fakhreddine.
Al-Abhath, 60-61 (2012-2013), pp. 87-110.

This article traces the journey of the Rubá’iyyát of ‘Umar al-Khayyám into Arabic literature via English and primarily the highly influential translation made by Edward FitzGerald. Ahmad Rámí’s translation, which was the first direct translation from Persian into Arabic, was nevertheless greatly informed by FitzGerald’s translating decisions.

The Arab ‘Umar Khayyám

The Arab ‘Umar Khayyám. M. Alsulami.
In: The great ‘Umar Khayyám. Leiden, Leiden University Press, 2012. pp. 73-84.

After their counterparts in the West had started collecting and translating the Rubáiyát of Khayyám during the nineteenth century, Arab intellectuals followed suit. A huge number of Arabic translations of Khayyám’s quatrains, and studies of his life, philosophy and literary works, were produced, and the broader interaction between Arabic and Persian literature was revived. In this chapter Alsulami focusses on translations from European languages, direct poetic translations from the Persian language and translations into Arabic dialects. He concludes with a brief discussion on Arab intellectuals’ reception of Khayyám.