stylistic:tone, information:highlighting, linguistic:paraphrasing, quality:corruption
Turkey and Caucasus countries

In the Ottoman Empire (present-day Turkey) there was presence of Italian companies since the end of the 18th century. The first Turkish opera premiered at the Vienna Volksoper in 1918: Kenan çobanları, by Vedî Sabra. With the process of Europeanization initiated by Kemal Atatürk in the 1920s, opera became more widespread in the country: in 1929, Köyde bir facia, by Cemal Reşit Rey was premiered; in 1934, Ahmet Adnan Saygun received an official commission for an opera for the visit of shah of Persia, for which he composed Özsoy.

In Armenia, whose territory was divided between Turkey and Russia, opera enjoyed great popularity. The first Armenian opera was due to Tigran Chukhachean (Arshak Erkrod, 1868). Subsequently, Armen Tigranian (Anusha, 1912) and Alexander Spendiaryan (Almast, 1928) stood out.

In Georgia, Italian opera was introduced in the mid-19th century. The first Georgian composer of some renown was Meliton Balanchivadze, author of Daredžan Tsviery (Daredžan the Sly, 1898). Later, Zakharia Paliashvili (Abesalom da Eteri, 1919) and Iona Tuskiya, author of Rodina (Homeland, 1939) stood out.

In Azerbaijan there was a traditional genre of sung music, the mugam. Opera was introduced in the late 19th century: the first Azerbaijani opera Leyli and Medzhnun (1908), by Uzeyir Hajibeyov, is considered to be the first Azerbaijani opera. In 1910 the Tagiyev's Theater (now Azerbaijan State Academic Opera and Ballet Theater) in Baku opened, which promoted local opera, led by Müslüm Maqomayev (Shah Ismail, 1919).