Mshvelidze, Shalva

Born May 15 (28), 1904, in Tbilisi. Soviet composer. People’s Artist of the Georgian SSR (1958). Member of the CPSU since 1947.

Mshvelidze graduated from M. M. Bagrinovskii’s composition class at the Tbilisi Conservatory in 1930 and did graduate work at the Leningrad and Tbilisi conservatories under V. V. Shcherbachev. He wrote the operas Legend of Tariel’ (1946) and The Hand of the Great Master (1961), both presented at the Z. Paliashvili Tbilisi Theater of Opera and Ballet, the oratorios Kavkasioni (1949) and A Legend for the Ages (1970, dedicated to V. I. Lenin), four symphonies (1943, 1944, 1952, 1968), the symphonic poems Zviadauri (1940), Mindiia (1950), and The Youth and the Snow Leopard (1962), as well as symphonic suites, overtures, song cycles, and music for stage productions and films.

Mshvelidze has taught at the Tbilisi Conservatory (in 1942 he became a professor). From 1941 to 1952 he served as chairman of the Composers’ Union of Georgia. He was a deputy to the third convocation of the Supreme Soviet of the Georgian SSR. Mshvelidze received the State Prize of the USSR (1942, 1947) and the Z. Paliashvili State Prize of the Georgian SSR (1971), as well the Jawaharlal Nehru Award (India) for musical works on Indian themes and for a series of essays on Indian folk music (1973). He has been awarded the Order of Lenin, two other orders, and a number of medals.