Russian double annexation and the issue of religious consciousness in post‑soviet Georgian music

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the сonsequences of Russian double annexation in post-modern and post-avant-garde Georgian music. As a result of the research, it was determined that Russian annexation changed the natural path of development of Georgian music. It is a well-known fact that in order to establish a national composition school, first of all, it is necessary to rely on the roots of national professional music (which in any case originates from the church music of a particular nation) from a stylistic point of view. As Georgian Orthodox chanting was chased from the Georgian Сhurch, they were completely unknown to first generation of Georgian composers. That is why the first Georgian composers were not honored to be the founders of the national composition school, and this became a historical misfortune of the first Georgian patriotic artists. During second annexation, due to the regime’s rejection of the Christian religion, Georgian composers were unabled to address the stylistic-intonational characteristics of Georgian chants. During the Soviet period, the regime banned music with religious content, and the use of church genres, as well as religious themes or church hymns in any genre of music. After the collapsing regime, the requirement to ban church genres or religious music was canceled, and it turned out that composers are often interested in religious themes and intensively refer to the stylistic and intonation, and mode characteristics of Georgian chants. Compositions of Maka Virsaladze and Eka Chabashvili are clear examples of it.