Georgia, January 30, 2024: 37 years have passed since the death of Georgian People’s Artist, Honored Artist of the Arts, Composer Sandro Mirianashvili.
The Museum of Cinema and Theater publicly announced the discovery of four unique documents. One of these documents is Strauss’s manuscripts, about which Primetime has discovered new, previously unknown details. This is the title card of the Austrian composer Johan Strauss, who is recognized as the “King of Waltz”, his own opera’s manuscript four tactics and autograph.
Sandro Mirianashvili was born on September 25, 1914, in Signagh. He got his secondary education at Saint Nino School in Signaghi. His first music teacher was Bidzina Kvernadze’s mother. Later, he received a musical education in Tbilisi – he graduated from his first music school.
Then, he continued his studies at Tbilisi State Conservatory. A successful and talented student from the second year – at the Moscow Conservatory and afterwards at the Leningrad Conservatory. He was attended by the Leningrad “blockade”, and a fourth-year student voluntarily enrolled.
Ketevan Mirianashvili, son of Sandro Mirianishvili:
Leningrad would be bombed; the blockade lasted 900 days. His Father voluntarily enlisted in the ranks of Leningrad defenders. One hundred twenty-five grams of bread stamps were given to each inhabitant. People were starving and freezing to death. Those who tried to save themselves with all they could had the last item out of their house instead of a loaf of bread.
So, with the price of a month’s bread stamp and his own life, his Father won Johan Strauss’s handwritten card. For the young composer, an incredible, unfulfilled dream was to have such a manuscript, and he, without hesitation, gave up the last straw.
A month-long worthless, he was found in the hospital morgue, where one woman found and saved her death. This lady became her future wife, our mother. After the war, Father came to Tbilisi and brought Strauss’s handwritten card. This card is a priceless relic for my Father and our family.
After his Father’s death, he and his elder sister, Rusudan, described my Father’s collections with the help of the staff of the Museum Department of the Ministry of Culture to return his Father’s house in Signagh and open a museum there; they sent the exhibition materials, with the accompanying list, to the Signagh Culture Department temporarily. Indeed, the removed exhibition material was placed in their Father’s house, but the misfortune of Georgia and the chaos of the museum shifted our attention to Ghana for many years…
Since then, no one has remembered, even the museum or the grave of Sandro Mirianashvili!!! This country is a mess. Everything follows each other, and no one has time for the museum. Someone broke into their house, threw museum exhibits in the street, made the state institution illegal and then changed it to their name by privatization.
His dad’s belongings have been stolen, and many are lost. Asmat Jebirashvili, the museum’s then-director, who survived this disaster, housed him in his home and cared for him like his son. In May 1998, signage winner Vazha Tsabutashvili and Kakheti’s trustee Medea Mezvrishvili bought another piece of garbage for the museum.
Along with many other items, Strauss’s card would fit in this exhibit material, but I need help finding it. The card was not included in the list of temporary items for exposition either! They were surprised when Thet recently heard on television, on December 27, that their family property, a relic of his Father’s Strauss card, was found in the Cinema and Theater Museum.
The property of Sandro Mirianashvili’s family, an object subject to any diversion and transfer to the state, was kept in the state museum for 24 years in an unknown way to them.
He expressed his heartfelt gratitude and said, “Thank you very much to Giorgi Kalandia for the help found and for removing the many years of burden that my and my sister’s families have to bear because of the disappearance of my father’s heir without a trace”.
The author of this invaluable card is Johan Strauss, who is also confirmed by the expert conducted by the Vienna Strauss Research Institute.
After Dimitri Arakishvili, Sandro Mirianashvili is the founder of Georgian modern romance and pop songs. He was the first to create ensemble songs (duet, trio, quartet). He was also the first to introduce Georgian folk musical instruments and piano in songs on the Georgian stage. Sandro Mirianashvili was the artistic director of the University of Georgia and Technical University for years.
In 2014, Sandro Mirianashvili would be 100 years since his birth… And 110 years in 2024. Composer Sandro Mirianashvili was buried in the Pantheon of Georgian Social in Tbilisi.
