Avksenty Tsagareli (

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 ...

: ავქსენტი ცაგარელი; Russian: Авксентий Цагарели) (February 9, 1857 – August 12, 1902) was a

playwright particularly known for his comedies. He was described in the ''

Great Soviet Encyclopedia The ''Great Soviet Encyclopedia'' (GSE; ) is one of the largest Russian-language encyclopedias, published in the Soviet Union from 1926 to 1990. After 2002, the encyclopedia's data was partially included into the later ''Bolshaya rossiyskaya e ...

'' as "one of the finest representatives of realistic drama." Tsagareli was born in the village of Digomi (near

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the Capital city, capital and the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia, lying on the ...

) and initially studied at a

seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological seminary, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called ''seminarians'') in scripture, theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as clergy, ...

. He worked as an actor from 1878 to 1883 (the period when one of his best known plays, ''Khanuma'', was first staged) and then as an employee of the

Transcaucasian The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...

Railroad until 1899. In the last two years of his life, he worked as a stage director in Tbilisi, where he died at the age of 45. Tsagareli was married to the Georgian actress Nato Gabunia (1859–1910).

Works

Tsagareli's romantic comedy, ''Khanuma'', first staged in 1882, is still performed today. In 1927 it was adapted as a silent film directed by the Georgian filmmaker

Alexander Tsutsunava Alexandre Tsutsunava ( ka, ალექსანდრე წუწუნავა; born – 25 October 1955) was a Georgian theatre and film director. His film ''Christine'', based on a story by Egnate Ninoshvili, ( ka, ქრისტ� ...

and in 1978 as a film for

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

television directed by

Georgy Tovstonogov Georgy Aleksandrovich Tovstonogov (russian: Георгий Александрович Товстоногов, – 23 May 1989) was a Russian-Georgian theatre director. He was the leader of the Gorky Bolshoi Drama Theater which was renamed after ...

. The play also served as the basis for the

libretto A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or Musical theatre, musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the t ...

of Victor Dolidze's 1919 comic opera, ''

Keto and Kote ''Keto and Kote'' (Georgian: ქეთო და კოტე, ''Keto da kote'') is a comic opera in three acts, by the Georgian composer Victor Dolidze who also wrote the libretto based on Avksenty Tsagareli's 19th-century romantic comedy ''K ...

''.Egorova, Tatiana (1997)
''Soviet film music: an historical survey''
(English translation by Tatiana A. Ganf). Routledge, pp. 89-90. Tsagareli's other works include: *''Other Times Now'' (1879) *''Tsimbireli'' (1886) *''You Will Leave With What You Came With'' (1902)

References

External links

* 1857 births 1902 deaths Male stage actors from Georgia (country) Writers from Tbilisi 19th-century dramatists and playwrights from Georgia (country) {{Playwright-stub