# Gakavi Yerk (The Partridge's Song) (mm. 30–68), an original composition by Vardapet, has a simple melody which is first stated in the woodwinds and then repeated by the brass.
Originating from a line of musicians, he studied music from 1891 to 1895 at the Gevorgian Academy in Echmiadzin, near Yerevan, with Soghomon Soghomonian (later known as Komitas Vardapet), with whom he became friends and a long-time collaborator.
In an article published in 1971 by Armenian academician Levon Khachikyan, the author established that one of the sources Matthew used to write his work was that of an 11th-century vardapet named Hakob Sanahnetsi (Hakob of Sanahin).