Arif Malikov was an Azerbaijani composer. He graduated from the Baku Conservatory as a music composer in 1958. He shot to fame in 1961 when his first major composition Legend of Love was staged at the Kirov State Academic Theatre of Opera and Ballet in Leningrad and received nationwide acclaim. The ballet has been staged in several countries in Europe and is regarded as one of the finest works emerging from the former Soviet Union. The ballet Legend of Love is based upon the legend of "Farhad and Shirin", a story of unrequited love that was immortalized by Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet. Malikov went on to write music for two more ballets, including Yer üzündə iki nəfər and İki ürək dastanı, five symphonies & eight symphony poems. He also wrote scores for a large number of films and plays, and was familiar with practically all genres of music composition.