Nodar Mamisashvili

(1930 – 2022)

SELECTED WORKS

MUSIC FOR THE THEATER

1967 – “Bakhia Bachia” – Children’s Opera in 2 Acts

1963 – “Three Keys” – Ballet in 2 Acts

ORCHESTRAL MUSIC

1985 – Symphony No. 1 – “Dream”

1986 – Symphony No. 2 – “Man, Give Us Peace”

1989 – Symphony No. 3 – “Testimonies of Eternal Eternity”

1990 – Symphony No. 4 – “Spectres”

1990 – Symphony No. 5 – “Triptych”

1993 – Symphony No. 6 – “Sons of Cain”

1977 – Symphony for Large Symphonic Orchestra, Mixed Choir, Children’s Choir and Tape Recorder

1956 – “Tales” – Symphonic Fantasy

1959 – “Ice Obelisk” – Symphonic Picture

1961 – “Guria” (“Watercolors”) – Symphonic Suite

1963 – “Three Keys” – Symphonic Suite Based On The Ballet “Three Keys”.

1966 – Symphonic Sketches

1971 – 2 Pieces for Symphony Orchestra

1972 – “Celebratory Overture” – for Symphony Orchestra

1976 – “Singing Valley” – Symphonic Picture

1961 – Small Suite for Chamber Orchestra

1971 – 3 Pieces for Chamber Orchestra

1977 – Symphony N 2 – for Chamber Orchestra

1955 – Fantasy for Piano and Symphony Orchestra

1964 – “Pioneering” – Concerto for Piano and Chamber Orchestra

1973 – Concerto for Piano and Chamber Orchestra No. 2

1961 – Concerto for Oboe and Symphony Orchestra

1962 – Concerto for Trumpet and Symphony Orchestra

1967 – Concertino for Violin and Symphony Orchestra

1979 – Concerto for Piano, Woodwinds and Chamber Orchestra

CHAMBER-INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC

1964 – 6 Miniatures for String Quartet

1972 – Concertino for Piano Quintet

1958 – 24 Preludes for Piano

1961 – Ballad – for Piano

1962 – 2 Pieces for Violin and Piano

1963   3 Pieces for Harpsichord

1964 – Prelude, Chorale and Fugue for Piano

1965 – 3 Pieces for Cello and Piano

1966 – 3 Pieces for Harp

1967 – Chorale for Organ

1979 – “Lyric Diary Pages” – Piano Cycle

1979 – “Scherzo Barbaro” – for Piano

1980 – “Sad Triptych” – Piano Cycle

VOCAL MUSIC

1959 – 9 Moods – for Choir a Cappella

1968 – 3 songs – for Children’s Choir a Cappella – (text – A. Kalandadze, folk)

FILM AND THEATER MUSIC

MUSIC FOR RADIO SHOWS:

1956 – “Rabbit”

1957 – “Adventure of Nodar”

AUTHOR OF MUSIC FOR ABOUT 40 DRAMATIC PLAYS. BETWEEN THEM:

“Skapen’s Paintings”, “Living Portrait”, “Nana in the forest”, “Nettle”, “Gandegili”

FILMOGRAPHY

1960 – “Fast Train” – director – Nana Mchedlidze

1964 – “Agmafrena” – director – Nana Mchedlidze

1964 – “On the Road” – director – Nana Mchedlidze

1967 – “Big Green Field” – director – Merab Kokochashvili

1968 – “Color Change” – director – Lana Ghoghoberidze

1969 – “Grandmothers and Grandchildren” – director – Nana Mchedlidze

1971 – “Zoya Rukhadze” – director – David Rondel

1971 – “Fifteenth Summer” – director – Soso Chkhaidze

1976 – “Peak” – director – Merab Kokochashvili

1977 – “When mothers are not at home” – director – Pavle Charkvian

1978 – “The Green Island of Hope” – director – Omar Gvasalia

1981 – “Three days of hot summer” – director – Merab Kokochashvili

1981 – “Seven small stories about love” – director – Giorgi Mataradze

1987 – “Hey, Maestro!” – director – Nodar Managadze

2003 – “Variation on the theme of “Othello”” – director – Merab Kokochashvili

2005 – “Usui” – director – Merab Kokochashvili

ANIMATION

1958 – “Onavari” – director – Carlo Sulakauri

1976 – “Kvasanaki” – director – Ioseb Samsonadze, Bondo Shoshitaishvili

1977 – “Buzhzuna” – director – Otar Andronikashvili

1978 – “Eka and Tikan” – director – Otar Andronikashvili

1979 – “Devil’s Games” – director – Ioseb Samsonadze

1980 – “Dry beech” – director – Ioseb Samsonadze

1982 – “Behemoth and Dream” – director – Ioseb Samsonadze

1982 – “Roe and Meysre” – director – Giorgi Kasradze

1983 – “The bird will fly away” – director – Ioseb Samsonadze

1980 – “Kursha Gakoochda” – director – Gabriel Lavrelashvili

1987 – “Kerketi Kakali” – director – Ioseb Samsonadze

1991 – “Witness” – director – Bondo Shoshitaishvili

DOCUMENTARY

1981 – “The Road” – director – Merab Kokochashvili

2007 – “Georgian Mamluks in Egypt” – director – Merab Kokochashvili

2011 – “Cradle of Wine” – director – Merab Kokochashvili

SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS

“About the musical system of three-phase composition” – Publishing House “Khelovneba”, Tbilisi – 1978

Nodar Mamisashvili

(1930 – 2022)

Nodar Mamisashvili’s name invokes many associations today: composer, inventor (author of 49 inventions), scientist whose interests and research topics include astrology, cosmology, philosophy, psychology, physics, chemistry, geology, metallurgy, architecture… the list can be continued…

Today, it is generally known that Nodar Mamisashvili, as a composer and artist, was not given full arena for the realization of his creative and scientific ideas, and as a result, he is unknown to the general audience.

The composer’s name was first heard by the classical music-loving Georgian audience in the 1950s, when two of his works were performed: a scherzo for flute and a trio for voice, violin, and “arranged” piano. The latter was inspired by avant-garde music. One of the first products of the composer’s research into musical language, timbral sound, and shape.

Here begins the composer’s fascination for 20th-century music innovations. Information about which was difficult to get for a musician living in the Soviet Union at the time. Since the 1960s, when a new phase in Georgian culture began, Georgian artists have been liberated from self- imposed limits, and conditions for receiving information have been created, and Nodar Mamisashvili has found himself in the path of his interests. His interests included Arnold Schoenberg’s 12-tone dodecaphonic, atonal system, Olivier Messiaen’s “limited transposition” concept, and Pierre Boulez’s “integral serialism.” Mamisashvili develops his own system, which begins with the national kilo-intonation, under the influence of Schoenberg’s dodecaphony. It is worth mentioning that Mamisashvili composes works that combine tonal and atonal music at this time period. Three pieces for chamber orchestra, as well as compositions for viola and cello, were written using this method.

Among the works created during this period of time, symphonic sketches such as “Blue Dancing Women” and “Impressions” brought attention. These pieces evoked impressionist music’s association with the presentation of brief experiences, refined harmony, and texture. “The Impressionist style opened up new musical vistas,” the composer says, “and I grasped that opportunity with great enthusiasm.” Another compositional idea, “constructive sound play,” has come to the forefront in Mamisashvili’s work since the 1970s. Piano concertino for quintet is one embodiment of this. This composition was first played on November 21, 1973, at the Tbilisi Conservatory’s recital hall during the opening evening of avant-garde music. The quintet had a great impression on the audience, despite the fact that radical, negative emotions did not decrease. According to musicologist Nana Loria, “for the first time in Georgian musical realm, a composition was heard in which a strict numerical calculation was coupled to random and the performer’s free choice.” The constituent parts of the piano quintet-concert piece switched places adlibatum style, although the form retained it’s crystalline nature and inspired associations with a musical Rubik’s cube. This composition was also played in Dubno at that time, attracting the attention of young musicians and scientists.

The production of Nodar Mamisashvili’s children’s opera “Baqia Bachia” in the 1970s was a significant moment in Georgian cultural life.

“Bakhia Bachia” attracted the audience in with its unusual dramaturgical solution and the players’ lively, impressive personalities. The opera’s musical language was built on a synthesis of modern avant-garde and national music. There was also a mixture of tonal and atonal concepts here. The composer’s national origin   merged   several   discoveries.   Unfortunately,   The   only complete manuscript of “Baqia Bachia” was destroyed during the fire, of Tbilisi Opera House. Mamisashvili’s creative life was constantly defined by searches and discoveries. His interest in the subject of sound framework patterns in twentieth-century music led to the development of a three-phase compositional system. The composer theoretically created the “three-phase composing system,” which was published in (1978).

The “three-phase system’s” main force is acoustic, vertical perception, and structural synthesis. As one of the bases, the author used unique aspect of national folklore – the principle of Georgian polyphony. Mamisashvili’s creativity developed both rational, technical thinking and spiritual- mystical sensations. His creative and scientific studies are linked by a desire to understand the origins of the cosmos, humans, and eternal life. One can sense a desire towards the cosmic imagination of the world in the works of the 1980s; here, there is a symbiosis in the form of a sense of poetic mystery and rational thinking – a three-phase system. And it is not surprising that composer Eka Chabashvili used the term “astral romanticism” to describe this musical-artistic approach. Compositions in this style include, Symphony No. 5 for tape recorders, 3 pianos, tenor and soprano, Symphony No. 6 “Sons of Cain,” Symphony No. 7 – electronic “Cain in Space”, “Demon” poem for Harprichord, etc.

Because of technical difficulties, the performance of these compositions, are not known to the public. In contrary – the cycle of piano works known as “Lyric diary pages” gained popularity. The cycle, in which the author’s own vision is represented by the symbols of compositional thinking of various twentieth-century movements, as well as the textural-polyphonic principles of national folklore. The cycle’s final play, “Schertso-Barbaro,” was made an essential work in the repertoire of the Tbilisi International Piano Competition in 2003. The composer’s cello concert “Time of the Heart,” which was played at the “Music in Cosmos” festival in Switzerland in 2006, was highly appreciated.

In this period of time, Nodar Mamisashvili developed a variety spectrum of three-phase compositions, which he referred to as the unifying system of numerous sorts – Holo-system, holophony. Special performance conditions are required for works written in Holo-system. For this reason Mamisashvili also created the “Holo studio” project. The composer has composed in Holo-system for the majority of his pieces over the past few decades. Thesis papers were published regarding Mamisashvili’s Holo-system in Tashkent and Yerevan, and his student, composer Marina Adamia, presented it at an Edinburgh competition and gained success.

Nodar Mamisashvili composed music for plays, films, and animated pictures. He wrote songs based on his own poetry. Mamisashvili’s poetry pieces have lately been more widely known., which the author has linked with music and the so-called three-phase system: “Lyrics are the most closely related to my music. Three-phase composing system’s main components contradict the usual norms of splitting from series to phrases. The search for the appropriate pulsation stimulated my interest in the poem’s rhythmic structure and form, and thus poetic creativity became an essential part of compositional innovation.”

The harmonic placement of Georgian bells and the creation of the cathedral’s acoustic signal are two of Nodar Mamisashvili’s most significant achievements. His design is used to manufacture the bells of Tbilisi’s Trinity and Makhata Cathedrals. This was the result of his research into the relationship between Georgian hymn sounds and chimes. These explorations were represented in his compositions, such as the a cappella choral cycles “da ganantla kideni soplisani” (dedicated to Ilia Chavchavadze, 1986) and “Gantzdani, dausabamosa mzisa” (1980).

“I believe that every person is born with a national purpose, whether consciously or unconsciously,” said Nodar Mamisashvili, whose works demonstrate the variety and depth of his mission, which is to be studied in the future.

Musicologist
Tamar Tsulukidze
English Language Translator
Tamar Kharadze