Avksenty Tsagareli (February 9, 1857 – August 12, 1902) was a Georgian

Georgians

The Georgians are an ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America....

 playwright particularly known for his comedies. He was described in the Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Great Soviet Encyclopedia

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia is one of the largest and most comprehensive encyclopedias in Russian and in the world, issued by the Soviet state from 1926 to 1990, and again since 2002 .-Editions:There were three editions...

as "one of the finest representatives of realistic drama."

Tsagareli was born in the village of Digomi (near Tiblisi) and initially studied at a seminary

Seminary

A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...

. 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

South Caucasus

The South Caucasus is a geopolitical region located on the border of Eastern Europe and Southwest Asia also referred to as Transcaucasia, or The Trans-Caucasus...

 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 and in 1978 as a film for Soviet television directed by Georgy Tovstonogov

Georgy Tovstonogov

Georgy Alexandrovich Tovstonogov was a Russian theatre director, the leader of Saint Petersburg Bolshoi Academic Theatre of Drama , which now bears his name.-Biography:...

. The play also served as the basis for the libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 of Victor Dolidze

Victor Dolidze

Viktor Isidorovich Dolidze Viktor Isidorovich Dolidze Viktor Isidorovich Dolidze (ვიქტორ ისიდორეს ძე დოლიძე (1890–1933) - Soviet Georgian composer.Victor Dolidze was born 18 (30) July, 1890 in the city of Kutaisi Province Ozurgeti in a poor peasant family.He studied at Tiflis commercial school...

's 1919 comic opera, Keto and Kote

Keto and Kote

Keto and 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 Khanuma. Considered the first Georgian comic opera, Keto and Kote premiered in Tbilisi on December 11, 1919...

.

Tsagareli's other works include:

• Other Times Now (1879)
• Tsimbireli (1886)
• You Will Leave With What You Came With (1902)

External links