Armenian Rhapsody No. 2

Armenian Rhapsody No. 2, Op. 51, was composed by Alan Hovhaness in 1944 during the portion of his life when he lived near Boston and began to reconnect with his Armenian roots. Hovhaness wrote this piece during his so-called "Armenian period" from 1943 to 1951, where he was heavily influenced by not only Armenian and other Middle Eastern music but also Indian music.

These three Armenian Rhapsodies were his first efforts in using his Armenian roots "as the source of a deeper and more individual creative voice". They are the only three pieces to include actual Armenian melodies from Armenian music (songs, dances, church chants, etc.). Critics have noted that these rhapsodies "display a sense of atmosphere and a fresh approach to modal polyphony that was not present in his earlier work".

Hovhaness wrote three rhapsodies, each with an opus number that was largely uncorrelated; he had just begun attempting to order his works, and began numbering though he did not yet have a system.