At the turn of the century, Paliashvili commenced working on his first opera "Abesalom da Etery". He was inspired in this by a folk legend, "Eteriany", which had been published in the Paskunji magazine (the fire bird, 1908) and rendered in the form of an opera libretto by Petre Mirianashvili, a teacher, writer and public personality of the time. The plot of the opera is based on a story of a prince who falls in love with a beautiful village girl. Believing in the sincerity of Absalom's feelings Etery marries him. At the same time, Murman, the closest friend of the prince and his visier also falls in love with Etery. Through malicious intrigues Murman destroys the happiness of the young couple. Parted from Etery Absalom falls ill and dies. Etery does not wish to live without Absalom and stabs herself to death. The opening night of this opera took place on February 21, 1919. It was produced by A. Tsutsunava and conducted by the author. The leading parts were performed by B. Zapliski (Absalom), who was soon substituted by Vano Sarajishvili; O. Bakutashvili-Shulgina (Etery) and Sandro Inashvili (Murman).