Before immigrating to the United States,Sergey Rachmaninov visited Tbilisi three times and gave concerts in 1911, 1913 and 1915. For his first performance he brought his own instrument, German grand piano “Bechstein”, which since then stayed in Tbilisi. Later a well-known benefactor Stepane Mirzoev bought it, to keep it as a relic. In 1925 Mirzoev sold the grand piano to Tbilisi Conservatory for 25.000 Rubles and till today the instrument is kept in the museum of the Tbilisi Conservatory.

After becoming US citizen, Rachmaninov was proclaimed as “People’s enemy” by Soviet Government, therefore all his belongings lefts in Russia were destroyed.

Rachmaninov’s Bechstein in Tbilisi Conservatory museum

Fortunately no one suspected, that his Bechstein was still in Georgia, so the instrument was saved.In 1941, when Rachmaninov was “forgiven” by Soviets and forever praised as a great Russian composer and pianist, Moscow attempted to buy the Grand piano, but the teachers of the Tbilisi Conservatory refused to sell it.

First Georgian Opera Composers

Musical developments happening in the country, led Georgian musicians to a logical continuation — it was time to compose the first Georgian opera!

We can name couple of composers that were founders of Georgian classical music and played an enormous role in creating and developing the opera as a genre.

Zakaria Paliashvili was born in 1871 in Kutaisi in the catholic family. As a child he sang in the church choir and studied organ with Felix Mizandari, father of Aloiz Mizandari.

Zakaria Paliashvili (1871–1933)

In 1887 Zakaria moved to Tbilisi and joined the choir of Lado Aghniashvili. Later in 1891 he became a student of the Tbilisi Music School, where he took French horn lessons. In 1900–1903 Paliashvili studied composition in Moscow Conservatory with Sergei Taneyev.

After returning back to Tbilisi he was involved in many cultural projects, worked as teacher, organist, conductor, founded choir and orchestra, led the “Georgian Philharmonic Society” and society of Performing Operas in Georgian Language. Paliashvili was an admirer of Georgian folk music; he traveled in different parts of Georgia to collect the folk songs from peasants, wrote them down as a score and created one of the first album of Georgian Folk Music.

Zakaria Paliashvili — Ouverture of “Abesalom & Eteri”

Zakaria Paliashvili became director of Tbilisi Conservatory in 1919, but much earlier before that, already in 1910 he started working on his first tragic opera “Abesalom and Eteri”. The premiere took place in 1919, but the third act of the opera was performed 6 years before, in 1913, where a Georgian tenor Vano Sarajishvili shone in the leading role as Abesalom.

Vano Sarajishvili (1978–1924) Only for you (recorded ca. in 1912-15)

Vano Sarajishvili studied cello with his uncle Ivane Sarajishvili and choir and vocal studies in Tbilisi, St. Petersburg and Italy, he gave many concerts and sang in a number of famous opera houses in Europe. In 1908 he came back in Tbilisi and like Paliashvili got actively involved in cultural scene of the city. He quickly became the public’s favorite singer and got a nickname- “Nightingale of Georgia”.

K.Gorsky (pupil of Weniawski), Ivane Sarajishvili — uncle and cello teacher of Vano Sarajishvili, E. Kolchin and Ioseb Andronikashvili

His warm and elastic “bel canto” voice attracted the listeners. Sarajishvili sang a leading role in all Georgian Operas premieres in 1910 and had his carrier’s most fruitful years. After Bolsheviks invasion of Georgia, Communists Party reduced his salary at the opera house without any reason and started to repress him. In 1924 being in a deep depression, he got flu and passed away in the age of 45. Since 1948 Tbilisi Conservatory is named after Vano Sarajishvili and carries his name till today.

Dimitri Arakishvili (1873- 1953), another important Georgian composer, just as Paliashvili was very much impressed by Lado Aghniashvili’s choir when he heard it for the first time in 1890. In a few years Arakishvili moved to Moscow and studied composition, theory and conducting (1894 -1901) and became one of the most important scholars of Georgian polyphonic music (modern researchers use his works as examples till today). He returned back to Georgia in 1918 and dedicated his full time to education of new generation. He founded another conservatory in 1921, which was mostly concentrated on teaching string quartet, choir and opera. In 1924 both Conservatories in Tbilisi were united.

Dimitri Arakishvili (1853–1953)

Arakishvili is an author of numerous symphonic and opera works. His first opera “Saga about Shota Rustaveli” was written in 1904 and premiered in 1919.

Victor Dolidze (1890–1933) is the author of the first Georgian Comic Opera “Keto and Kote”. Parents of the composer wanted him to become a banker; therefore he studied economics in Kiev. But Dolidze’s heart was always beating for music, so he regularly took violin, theory and composition lessons. Before leaving to Kiev he even founded an Orchestra of Mandolins and Guitars, as he was a virtuoso mandolin player himself and a winner of Tbilisi Mandolin Competition. In 1917 Dolidze returned back home from Kiev and in a very short period of time he created three operas.

Audio excerpt from the opera “Keto & Kote” by Victor Dolidze

His comic opera “Keto and Kote” was premiered in the same year as Paliashvili’s “Abesalom and Eteri” and Arakishvili’s “Saga about Shota Rustaveli”- these three operas were foundation on which Georgian classical opera as a genre was based. All of these operas became very popular among the Georgians and are performed regularly till today.

Urban Music of Tbilisi

Tbilisi in the 19th century was a fusion of different cultures. Together with Georgians, you would find Armenians, Russians, Azeris, Kurds, Tatars, Persians, Greeks, Jews, Germans, French, English and Arabs living in Tbilisi at that time. The city welcomed and adopted everyone with their own culture or religion, which created a unique way of a lifestyle and people with this lifestyle were called “Real Tbilisians”

The music, which you would hear on the streets, was the result of this fusion and the core of Tbilisi’s Urban Music

As composer Dimitri Arakishvili would say: “the mix of cultures, created an artistic atmosphere in the city and with the influence of the beautiful nature, singing muses were visiting everyone”

Sazanda — Dimitri Ermakov (ca. 1890–1895)

Singing was heard everywhere. An open-air concert in the streets or in the yards was a typical happening for that time. But also in wine cellars or in bars, workers and entrepreneurs were gathering after a busy day and partying till the next morning. The appearance of musicians would transform a quiet street into the place full of life and excitement. People would immediately surround the artists or gather on their balconies to enjoy and even be part of the performance.

Another exotic sight was a party on a wooden ferry on the river Mtkvari (Kura). Ferry was loaded with food and wine and partying group of friends, enjoying the meal alongside the sweat sounds of Duduk or the playful music of Kintauri dance.

What did the music sound like and what were the popular instruments of that time?

It is known, that Georgia had many different kind of folk instruments, including wind, string or percussion, but most of them got lost in late medieval period, because of continues wars and the instrumental music was influenced by the occupying country’s lifestyle , mostly by Oriental culture.

Alexi Barnovi writes in his book “The Musicians of Old Tbilisi” (1974) , that many instruments were imported from Persia, Arabia and India.

For example Tar, Kemancheh and Bağlama (also known as saz) was adopted from Persia. Daire (tambourine) Zurna and Duduk from Arabia (although according to UNESCO duduk is indigenous to Armenia) and percussion instrument called Naghara (similar to Georgian Diplipito) came from India.

All of these instruments were used for centuries in Georgia, especially in Tbilisi, therefore they lost their original look or way of using, because local musicians in Tbilisi were developing them and were adopting them to a Georgian melody, rhythm and harmony.

For example the kemancheh was know as an instrument with three strings but a local musician Aleksandre Ohanezashvili added one more string and gave kemancheh more challenging technical abilities.

Also the tradition of playing duduk as a trio was invented in Tbilisi by a famous singer Bagrat Bagramov. The first Duduc trio was called “Dasta”- each member of the trio had his own function, one was playing the melody, the other was accompanying the melody with bourdon bass and the third member was a doli (Georgian drums) player, who at the same time was a singer of the trio. Later in 1930’s duduki playing was assimilated with Georgian polyphonic three-voice singing and the the doli player/singer was replaced by the third Duduk.

Dasta — two zourna players and singer with “doli” (drums)

The harmonic and melodic background of the music, just like the instruments, was purely oriental. In his research, “Georgian National Songs”, composer and conductor Mikhail Ipolitov-Ivanov analyzes not only Georgian polyphonic songs but also songs indigenous to Tbilisi melodies. He clearly sees the influence of Arabic and Persian harmonies.

Many different kind of songs were created, which were accompanied by the above mentioned instruments For example “Mughamati”(in neighbor countries people call it “Bayati”) “Mukhambazi”, “Tansipi”, “Shikasti” and etc.

All of these songs were deferring from each other:

1. With the amount of syllables in the poem. Syllables had to be 7, 8, 11, 15 or 16. Some of the poems could also have a free structure

2. Mourning or festive music in minor and major keys.

3. Purpose and tradition of performing the songs.

For example “Dilis Saari” — The morning song, which was normally performed on the morning after the wedding and was played on Duduk, though some sources claim, that it was played on zourna. There is a little legend about this song:

Once a great king had a wedding and he invited famous zurna players to play on his celebration. The beauty of the bride impressed one of the Zurna players! In order to see her face once again, he played next morning under the balcony of the bride. The princes came out half asleep and enjoyed the sounds of sweet music. This is why the song is called “The Morning Song” (Dilis Saari). You would hear it during dawn, after the bohemian night in Tbilisi.

“Dilis Saari” played on duduks

“Bayati” or as Georgians would call “Mughamati” was based on Omar Khayyám’s poetry. The song had a specific structure, which was based on a 7 or 15 syllable poem and the main idea of the story was revealed only at the end of the poem. The song was mostly accompanied by duduks or by an ensemble called sazanda (sazanda setting: tar, kemenche, and daf with chianuri. Chianuri is a Georgian national string instrument, which was added to sazanda trio and transformed it into a quartet)

Also “Davi” — tune about a camel and his owner has a very special background: Once upon a time a tired camel kneeled in a sunny desert. The owner wanted to cheer him up and decided to play a tune on his salamuri (pipes, Georgian flute). The Camel got up and continued walking, but after some time he got tired again and kneeled. Now the owner started to sing for his camel. Camel got up again and they continued their long journey. The “Davi” song is built exactly the same way as the legend tells: first you hear an instrumental part and then the singing. “Davi” was very much loved by a famous writer and public figure Ilia Chavchavadze he would compare the kneeled camel to Georgia, as part of Russian empire and would say, that one day Georgia will rise up again and will continue its journey towards independence and development.

It is also worth mentioning that “Shikasta”, originally an Azeri song, coming from Karabakh region and sung on funerals by women, had a completely opposite meaning in Tbilisi. Men sang it during the parties or after the “Dilis Saari” (the morning song) during the sunrise.

Duduk and zurna players were popular more in lower class of the city and sazanda ensemble among the richer and noble society. Even in 18th century, when Georgia was defending itself from Ottoman and Iranian empires, oriental music and ashiks (love singers and troubadours) were very popular.

Sayan-Nova with his kemenche

King Erekle the II was impressed by the musicality of Sayat-Nova (famous Georgian born Armenian ashik 1712 or 1722- 1795, who could sing in Georgian, Persian, Armenian, Azeri and Turkish). Basically Sayat-Nova was the first artist, who created Georgian poetry accompanied by Persian melodies, which gave the birth of Tbilisi urban music and which developed very much in the second half of the 19th century.

As conclusion we can say that Tbilisi between 1870 and 1920 was a place of three completely different musical styles. The city’s tolerant atmosphere gave space to every culture and religion and those who acknowledged the tolerance of the city were called “Real Tbilisians”.