Meliton Balanchivadze ( ka, მელიტონ ბალანჩივაძე; 24 December 1862 – 21 December 1937) was a

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

opera singer, composer and a celebrated member of Georgia's cultural scene, both under the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

and during the country's independence. Two of his sons,

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

and Andria, had illustrious careers, the former as a pioneering choreographer in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, and the latter as

Soviet Georgia The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц� ...

's leading classical composer.

Career

Born in the village of Banoja and trained at the seminaries of Kutaisi and

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million p ...

, Balanchivadze began an operatic career at the Tbilisi Opera House in 1880. In 1882, he founded a Georgian folk ensemble and organized the first ever folk concert in Tbilisi in the next year. From 1883 to 1886, he travelled to various parts of Georgia, collecting folk songs and training folk choirs. From 1889 to 1895, he studied at

St. Petersburg Conservatory The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory (russian: Санкт-Петербургская государственная консерватория имени Н. А. Римского-Корсакова) (formerly known as th ...

where one of his teachers was the composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. Between 1895 and 1917, he toured Russia giving concerts of Georgian folk music. After the 1917 Bolshevik coup, he returned to his native Georgia, where he taught and composed. He authored the first original Georgian opera, ''Tamar the Wily'', later renamed into '' Darejan the Wily'' (თამარ ცბიერი, დარეჯან ცბიერი)—first performed by Russian artists at the Hall of the Russian Nobility Council in 1897 — as well as numerous choral works, as mass, and other church services.Mikaberidze, Alexander (ed., 2007)
Balanchivadze, Meliton
. ''Dictionary of Georgian National Biography''; accessed 6 September 2007.

Family

Balanchivadze was married twice. By his first marriage, to Gayane Eristavi, he had two children. One of them, Apollon, was a colonel in the White Russian forces, notably serving in the

Ice March The Ice March (Russian: Ледяной походъ), also called the First Kuban Campaign (Russian: Первый кубанскій походъ), a military withdrawal lasting from February to May 1918, was one of the defining moments in the ...

of 1918. He married, secondly (probably in 1905 or 1906), to Maria Nikolayevna Vasilyeva, a St. Petersburg native. The couple had three children: * Tamara, a painter, died 1943, during the blockade of Leningrad *

, emigrated to the United States and became an influential ballet choreographer * Andria became a leading composer in Soviet Georgia

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balanchivadze, Meliton 1862 births 1937 deaths 19th-century opera singers from the Russian Empire 20th-century Russian opera singers Classical composers from Georgia (country) Male classical composers People from Kutais Governorate People from Kutaisi Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Saint Petersburg Conservatory alumni