When he was seven years old, the family moved to Tbilisi, where his father, Fyodor, was appointed chief inspector of the Transcaucasus for sheep breeding.

In 1942, Tsintsadze began formal studies in the orchestra department of the Tbilisi State Conservatory with cellist Konstantin Minyar-Beloruchev, who died in January 1944.

[4] In 1949, Tsintsadze presented to the Union of Russian composers his second string quartet, two viola pieces (including one based upon the khorumi, a southwestern Georgian war dance), and romance settings of poetry by Aleksandr Pushkin.

Because of his adherence to the Soviet ideals of socialist realism through bright writing and a distinctly folk-influenced style, Tsintsadze enjoyed a positive reputation among Soviet-affiliated elites.

[4] This melding of Georgian national idioms and Russian history played favorably into the ideals of the Friendship of the Peoples, a Soviet social movement intended to celebrate diversity within the umbrella of the state.

The work does not use specific Georgian folk melodies, though its fourth movement incorporates the lezginka, a Caucasian dance popular in Jewish communities around Dagestan.

[5] Musicologist Tamara Livanova and composers Vano Muradeli, Mieczysław Weinberg, and Aram Khachaturian all felt that the third string quartet marked an important advancement in both Tsintsadze’s personal style and in the creation of a distinctly Georgian identity within Soviet classical music.

Narimanidze, however, felt that the music had strayed too far from the Georgian idiom that had initially attracted him to Tsintsadze’s sound.

[4] In his later string quartets, Tsintsadze experimented with polyphony and dissonance, both essential components of Georgian folk music, as well as with form.

Tsintsadze also composed a number of film scores during the 1950s and 1960s, including those for The Dragonfly (1954), Bashi-Achuki (1956), A Woman’s Burden (1958), Maia Tskneteli (1959), and A Soldier’s Father (1964).

Tsintsadze’s son Irakli, born 1964, is a composer in his own right who studied at the Tbilisi State Conservatory from 1976 to 1986, while his father was rector, and later with Theo Brandmüller.

3 (1969) Twenty-Four Preludes for violin, celesta, piano, bells and chamber orchestra (1978) Symphony No.

1 (1947) Two Pieces for viola and piano (1948) Khorumi, Georgian Dance Romance String Quartet No.

7 "To the Memory of Bela Bartok" (1970) Five Romances after Pjotr Grusinsky for high voice and piano (1974) String Quartet No.

9 (1978); dedicated to the memory of Dmitri Shostakovich Twelve Miniatures for string quartet (1978) Twelve Children Songs after Chuta Berulav for voice and piano (1979) Twenty-Four Preludes for cello and piano (1980) String Quartet No.