In the history of any national culture, the works of art recognized as classical heritage and their authors enjoy special respect. Frequently, time makes its own amendments and the work recognized as a classic is re-evaluated, but for this, history should preserve its musical text or audio recording. The paper is dedicated to the 150th anniversary from the birth of Dimitri Arakishvili, a classicist of Georgian music, the founder of Georgian folkloristics, a pedagogue and public figure; discusses the editions of the classically recognized opera “The Legend of Shota Rustaveli” and the problematic issues of publishing its clavier.
The opera premiered on 5 February, 1919, during the short independence period of the First Democratic Republic of Georgia and boasted great reviews. Subsequently, the opera was staged several times, various editions were created including those of the author. It is included in all textbooks of Georgian music history as an example of Georgian classical music. But neither the clavier nor the audio recording of the opera has yet been published. And most importantly, the complete version of the opera score is nowhere to be found.
The paper tells about numerous editions of Arakishvili’s opera and the first clavier edition prepared on the basis of the manuscript in 2023..