Fan Stelian Noli was born on January 6, 1882. He became one of the most prominent figures of the Albanian nation.

Noli was a man of many talents. He worked as a writer, playwright, musician, politician, cleric, and diplomat. He translated more than 30 books and texts. These included religious books, prayers, and hymns. He knew and spoke about seven foreign languages.

His role as an Orthodox cleric was crucial. It shaped not only the Albanian Orthodox Church but also national identity and culture.

Noli led the June Movement of 1924. In the 1930s, he turned to another field: musicology. In 1935, he returned to one of his earliest passions, music. At the age of 53, he enrolled at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. He graduated in 1938. Before publication, he defended his monograph “Beethoven and the French Revolution” as his diploma thesis.

Through this study, Noli earned his first academic degree in music. His interest in music began in the church. In 1908, he founded the Albanian Orthodox Church in Boston. He became its true reformer.

Noli’s church reforms introduced Albanian into worship. His church sang in Albanian. Mixed choirs of men and women performed the hymns. They followed Western musical forms such as masses, oratorios, requiems, and madrigals. The hymns remained Orthodox in content. Noli translated them himself and had them sung entirely in Albanian.

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