Toradze David

Toradze, David (Guguli) (April 14, 1922, Tbilisi – November 6, 1983, ibid.), composer. People's Artist of Georgia (1961).

Between 1937 and 1939, he studied at the composition (S. Barkhudarian's class) and piano (A. Virsaladze's class) departments of Tbilisi State Conservatory, and from 1939 to 1941, at Moscow Conservatory (R. Glière's composition class). From 1953, he was an instructor at Tbilisi Conservatory (becoming a professor in 1973), and from 1962 to 1968, he served as the first deputy chairman of the Georgian Composers' Union.

Toradze primarily worked within the musical-theatrical and symphonic genres. His prominent works include the operas The Call of the Mountains (1947) and Bride of the North (1958), as well as the operettas Natela (1950) and The Avenger (1952). His contributions to ballet are particularly notable, encompassing Gorda (1949)—the most frequently performed Georgian ballet in the national repertoire—For Peace (1953), and Mtsiri (1977). A television film created based on Mtsiri achieved great success at an international competition in New York, earning the main prize in 1978. Furthermore, Gorda and Bride of the North were presented at the Decade of Georgian Art and Literature in Moscow in 1958, and Gorda was additionally performed during the theater's tours in Hungary (1966) and France (Paris, 1966).

Toradze also composed two symphonies: Symphony No. 1 (1946) and Symphony No. 2 Praise to Nikortsminda (1968), the latter being a prominent example of contemporary Georgian symphonic music. He also composed a choral symphony titled Georgian Folk Chants (set to the poems of G. Tabidze, 1974), a piano concerto (1983), and African Sketches for an estrade orchestra (1962). Beyond theatrical and symphonic compositions, Toradze created  pop songs  and numerous film scores. His cinematic contributions include the music for Obstinate Neighbors, Paliastomi, Meeting with the Past, and The First Day, The Last Day.

He received multiple state awards among the Stalin Prize (1951). He is buried in the Didube Pantheon of Writers and Public Figures.

 

Literature: ლონდარიძე  ე., დავით თორაძე, თბ., 1993; ტორაძე  გ., მუსიკის სამყაროში, თბ., 2010; Хучуа П., Советская опера и балет, წგ.: Грузинская музыкальная культура, М., 1978.

G. Toradze