DOCSLIB.ORG

Romualdas Apanavičius Polish Influence Towards of Playing The

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Romualdas Apanavičius Polish Influence Towards of Playing The Romualdas Apanavičius Polish influence towards (Vytauto Didžiojo universitetas) the Lithuanian traditions of playing the ethnic musical instruments Introduction lthough since the old times Lithuania and Poland have been related not Aonly by close neighbourhood but also by former common Statehood and Catholic belief, nevertheless the questions of ethnomusical reciprocities remain yet not analysed in the studies of researchers. The Polish influence towards Lithuanian traditions of playing the ethnic instruments was mentioned only by Albertas Baika who considered that the influence of Polish culture that penetrated into Lithuania after the Lublin union in 1569 has left its signs in instrumental music as well. The most characteristic examples are the dances of Polish origin Krakoviakas and Mazurka, and Oberekas with Mazurpolkė as well.1 Discussing rythmics of the Lithuanian folk songs Jadvyga Čiurlionytė supposed that the rythmical formulas consisting of three parts and belonging to the later period were borrowed from Poles.2 Comparing the rye-cutting songs that were sung on both sides of the border of both states, Rimantas Sliužinskas notices their common features and even identity although he docs not speak about the influences.3 1 Л. Baika, Kaimo armonikos, Vilnius 1994, p. 88. J J. Čiurlionytė, Lietuvių liaudies dainų melodikos hruoiai, Vilnius 1969, p. 250. J R. Sliužinskas, Lietuvių ir lenkų liaudies dainų sąsajos: ntgiapjutcs giesmės, Til tai, l'ricilas: mokslo darbai, t. 26: 2005, p. 217-230. Romualdas Apanavičius The author of this article refers to the data stored in the archive of Ethnomusic Institute4 gathered during the expeditions between 1987 and 2002 (1531 questionnaires and about 4000 records), and having compared them with the data given by other researchers tries to trace the Polish influence towards Lithuanian traditions of playing the ethnic instruments. Areas of spreading of the ethnic musical instruments Referring to the data from the museum exhibits, archives and historical sources it can be stated that the ethnic musical instruments5 in Lithuania in the 18th century - first half of the 20lh century were spread in two areas: 1) Northwestern and 2) Southern and Eastern. Though there were wind instruments -švilpynė (whistle), birbynė (reed-pipe, or a pipe with a horn), and trimitas (trompet) - used in the whole area of Lithuanian nation, in addition a multi-string instrument kanklės (Fig. 1) was known in the Northwestern Lithuania. 4 The Institute of Ethnomusic - the non-govcrnmcntal science institution, registered by Ministry of Jusiticc of Lithuanian Republic in 1992 as a public organization that unites researchers and teachers of ethnic music. The author was a director of the Institute in 1992- -2001 and he led expeditions in 1987-1996. 3 Musical instruments that arc related to the heritage of a nation or an ethnic group and that appeared together with a nation or an ethnic group. Polish influence towards the Lithuanian... Because this instrument had never existed in the Southeastern Lithuania, yet in 1992 the author of this article had named the Northwestern Lithuania as a "kanklės" culture area and the Southeastern Lithuania as a "wind-instrument" culture area6 (Fig. 2). 4 - Suvalkiečiai I ; I The "kanklės" culture is spread from the Northwestern Lithuania through all Latvia, Estonia, Northwestern Russia towards Finland and Carelia, and the "wind-instrument" culture is spread through neighbouring Poland, Byelorussia and Russia towards the Ural mountains. In the Northeastern part of Aukštaitija (the Northeastern part of "kanklės" culture in Lithuania) the collective instruments - skudučiai, ragai, daudytės - were used. Skudučiai is the collection of untied pipes that are similar to the Pan flutes, ragai are the group of wooden trompets numbering from four to six, and daudytės are two or three long wooden trompets. The polyphonic music - instrumental pieces and sung sutartinės - was performed with these instruments. Sutartinės consist of independent perplexing voices that gives consonances in intervals of seconds. The sung sutartinės were played by the Northeastern Aukštaitija Aw;Ä7dv-players as well. In other areas of spreading of kanklės - in the Western Aukštaitija, Žemaitija and Suvalkija - there were played the melodies of European dances and ethnic or literature songs with these instruments. * R. Apanavičius, Halių clnoinslivmaitolo^ija, Kaunas 1992, p. 10-17. Romualdas Apanavičius Traditions of usage of the ethnic instruments were related to the work, rites, and celebrations of village community. Instruments were used for the purposes of signalization, pasturage, hunting, calendar fests, and rarely during the wedding and burrial, also in the rites of the Catholic church.7 The playing of ethnic instruments became out of date in the 1920-1930-ties during the land reform in the Republic of Lithuania when villages started to be settled into single settlements. Community customs and playing the ethnic instruments disappeared together with disappearing of community pasturage, collective-type and other work traditions as well. In the 19lh century - beginning of the 20,h century in Lithuania, as well as in neighbouring countries, there appeared a tradition of playing not only ethnical but also modified instruments. Under the influence of European culture the shapes of ethnic instruments have changed: bodies of instruments became larger, more strings were added (for kanklės), more holes were made (for švilpynė, birbynė), the ways of production changed, new instruments of production came into tradition. Nevertheless the spreading and the aim of the modified instruments had almost no difference to compare with the traditional ones: they remained widespread in the same areas and they did not turn into instruments of leisure time and dance music. The spreading of the ethnic and modified instruments should be explained with the stability of other ancient traditions. Namely songs in the Northern and Western Lithuania were of multi-voiced style, and songs in the Southern and Southeastern Lithuania were of the mono-voiced style (Fig. 3). According to the data provided by the author, these styles are completely opposite and they could not emerge one from another because they are based on different scales of obertones of natural acoustic gama. That is why Lithuanian ethnic multi-voiced music as well as that in the whole world is based on the major key mode, and mono-voiced music is based on the minor key mode.8 Similar regional differences can be noticed when comparing the image ofkerdžius (pastor) - the main user of wooden trompct. The image of 7 R. Apanavičius, op. cit., p. 26-49; Kościół katolicki i litewskie ludowe instrumenty muzyczne, [in:] Polska i Litwa-duchowe dziedzictwo w Eunųiie, red. ks. M. Chmielewski, Homo meditans, t. XXVI: Lublin 2005, p. 259-269. * R. Apanavičius, Etninė muzika. Teorijos klausimai, Darbai ir dienos, 2001, t. 25, p. 7-38. Polish influence towards the Lithuanian... an old and partly handicapted but wise and full-minded pastor was known in the Western and Northern Lithuania while the image of the pastor with psychical disability was known in the Southern and Eastern Lithuania9 (Fig. 4). Fig. 4. Keixliius (pastor) in Lithuania: I - normal, 2 - not normal There exist a larger number of similar laws for spreading of folklore, mythology and ethnology matters and facts in Lithuania. 9 R. Apanavičius, Pirmykštės bcmlivomaičs išrinktasis? Keixliius ir jo įvaizdis buiiirčs Eumpojc, Darbai ir dienos, 1999, t. 11 (20), p. 81-93. Romualdas Apanavičius European musical instruments European musical instruments10 started to appear in Lithuania after the 16lh century although certain data exist that smuikas (violine) could be used already since the 14lh century." Since the 16lh century cimbolai (cymbals), dūdmaišis (bag-pipe), lyra (lyre)12 have been mentioned, since the 17lh century - bandūrėlis (mouth-trommel), since the beginning of the 19lh century - citra (zittern), mandolina (mandolin), balalaika (Russian stringed instrument), gitara (guitar), since the middle of the 19lh century - basetlė (folk stringed bass instrument)13 and armonika (folk accordion).14 According to the data of expeditions the spreading of European instruments could be defined as following: smuikas was known and widely used in all Lithuania, cimbolai in the Southern and Eastern part, dūdmaišis in the Eastern part, armonika in the Western and Northern part of Lithuania. The spreading of violin was influenced by its usage as of the main melodic instrument in the instrumental ensembles and by a lively tradition of violin • production15 (Fig. 5). Fig. 5. Smuikas (violin) in Lithuania 10 The European musical instruments that have originated in a certain region and spread in Europe and in the other continents of the European culture as a mean of expres­ sion of intcrcullural relations. " G. Kirdicnė, Smuikas ir smuikavimas lietuvių etninėje kultūroje, Vilnius 2000, p. 9. 12 J. Bretkūnas, Biblia, tatai esti wissas Schwcntas Raschtas Lictuwischkai pcrgūlti- tas (manuscript), Karaliaučius, 1580, t. 6, p. 260. " M. Baltrėnicnė, R. Apanavičius, Lietuvių liaudies muzikos iusrumentai, Vilnius 1991, p. 156-163. 14 A. Baika, op. cit., p. 23. 15 G. Kirdicnė, op. cit., p. 88-95. Polish influence towards the Lithuanian... This instrument was equally accepted and used both in the Southeastern (where mono-voiced ethnomusic prevailed) and in the Northwestern Lithuania (where multi-voiced ethnic songs were sung). Almost an equal distribution of violin in two different areas of Lithuanian ethnic music shows that it had taken root in the tradition of playing which was mostly related to fests, entertainment and customs of wedding already before the 20lh century. Dūdmaišis was known mostly in the Eastern Lithuania (Švenčionys district) and it was played also in other parts of the country and even in the Lithuania Minor (the Northeastern part of East Prussia). Cimbolai were used mostly in the Southern and the Southeastern Lithuania (Fig. 6), in the area of mono-voice ethnomusic. Fig. 6. Spreading of cimbolai (cymbals) Armonika was used in the Northern and the Western Lithuania until the Second World War in the area of multi-voiced ethnomusic (Fig.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Performance of Musical Scale in Traditional Vocal Homophony: Lithuanian Examples
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Serbian Academy of Science and Arts Digital Archive (DAIS) Rytis Ambrazevičius Performance of Musical Scale in Traditional... DOI: 10.2298/MUZ1417045A UDK: 784.4(474.5) Performance of Musical Scale in Traditional Vocal Homophony: Lithuanian Examples Rytis Ambrazevičius1 Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre (Vilnius) Kaunas University of Technology (Kaunas) Abstract Acoustical measurements of pitches in a dozen songs exemplifying the Lithuanian traditional vocal homophony were carried out. Several phenomena were revealed. First, the entire scales experience gradual transposition (rise) from the beginning to the end of the song performances. Second, the transposition is supplemented with the gradual shrinking of the musical scales (the intervals become narrower). Third, the intonations of the scale degrees are dynamic, i.e. they depend on the musical (both melodic and harmonic) contexts. Fourth, the versions of musical scales work as certain markers for the idiolects (further studies could show if this might be extrapolated to the realm of dialects). All these insights raise issues about the per- ceptual qualities of the musical scales and their manifestations in the performance. Keywords Musical scale, vocal performance, homophony, Lithuanian traditional singing, acoustical measurements, pitch perception. Issue of musical scale Before we proceed to the elaboration of the methods and tech- niques of the acoustical measurements, and the analysis of their re- sults, let’s discuss the concept of the ‘musical scale’. Most probably, this concept seems to be entirely transparent to us. Yet, upon closer inspection we encounter several obstacles.
    [Show full text]
  • Principles of Music Composing: Muzikos Komponavimo Principai
    MUZIKOS PRINCIPLES KOMPONAVIMO OF MUSIC PRINCIPAI: COMPOSING: orkestras Orchestra šiuolaikiniuose in Contemporary kontekstuose Contexts XIX Lietuvos muzikos ir teatro akademija Vilnius 2019 ISSN 2351-5155 REDAKcinė KOlegija / EDITOrial BOarD Vyr. redaktorius ir sudarytojas / Editor-in-chief Prof. Dr. Rimantas Janeliauskas Redaktoriaus asistentai / Assistant editors Assoc. prof. Marius Baranauskas Aistė Vaitkevičiūtė Nariai / Members Prof. James Dalton (Bostono konservatorija, JAV / Boston Conservatory, USA) Dr. Bert Van Herck (Naujosios Anglijos muzikos konservatorija, JAV / New England Conservatory of Music, USA) Dr. Mark Konewko (Diedericho komunikacijos koledžas, Marquette’o Universitetas, JAV / Diederich College of Communication at Marquette University, USA) Prof. Dr. Antanas Kučinskas (Lietuvos muzikos ir teatro akademija / Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre) Assoc. prof. Dr. Ramūnas Motiekaitis (Lietuvos muzikos ir teatro akademija / Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre) Dr. Jānis Petraškevičs (Latvijos Jāzepo Vītuolio muzikos akademija, Latvija / Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, Latvia) Prof. Dr. Pavel Puşcaş (Muzikos akademija Cluj-Napoca, Rumunija / Music Academy Cluj-Napoca, Romania) Prof. Roger Redgate (Goldsmito Londono universitetas, Anglija / Goldsmiths University of London, England) Dr. Gundega Šmite (Latvijos Jāzepo Vītuolio muzikos akademija, Latvija / Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, Latvia) Assoc. prof. Dr. Mārtiņš Viļums (Lietuvos muzikos ir teatro akademija / Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre)
    [Show full text]
  • Lithuanian Music in America, 1870–1920
    LITHUANIAN MUSIC IN AMERICA, 1870-1920 Danute Petrauskaite, Klaipeda University, Lithuania hile it is known that small numbers of Lithuanians emigrated to W America as early as the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, massive emigration to the New World began only after the second half of the nineteenth century, especially after the abolition of serfdom (Michelsonas 3- 4). If the first arrivals in America included a number of nobility, a greater part of the later emigrants were peasants, mainly men, who later invited their sisters, wives or fianc6es to come to the New World. Among the reasons which persuaded people to leave Lithuania were the repressions which followed the anti-Russian uprising of 1863, the country's poor economic situation, the new Tsarist conscription law of 1874, and the suppression of the revolution in 1905. After 1859 Lithuanians flooded into America, creating proportionately one of Europe's largest diasporas. In 1899, about 275,000 Lithuanians lived in the United States, while on the eve of World War I the number increased to 500,000 (Michelsonas 14). After the war the number of newcomers from Lithuania significantly decreased, as a strict immigration quota was introduced by the US administration, according to which, only 382 Lithuanians could enter the country per year (Lietuviq enciklopedija 420). As a consequence, Lithuanians began searching for a better life in Canada, Brazil, and Argentina, although a number entered the United States illegally. Lithuanian emigrants did not initiate their cultural and musical activities immediately upon arrival. The first emigrants were mainly village people, not influenced by either the first Tsarist schools in Lithuania or the first Lithuanian-language newspapers.
    [Show full text]
  • Driving the Bow Fiddle and Dance Studies from Around the North Atlantic 2
    DRIVING THE BOW fiddle and dance studies from around the north atlantic 2 edited by ian russell and mary anne alburger Driving the Bow Fiddle and Dance Studies from around the North Atlantic 2 The Elphinstone Institute Occasional Publications 6 General Editor – Ian Russell 1. A�er Columba – A�er Calvin: Community and Identity in the Religious Traditions of North East Scotland edited by James Porter 2. The Bedesman and the Hodbearer: The Epistolary Friendship of Francis James Child and William Walker edited by Mary Ellen Brown 3. Folk Song: Tradition, Revival, and Re-Creation edited by Ian Russell and David Atkinson 4. North-East Identities and Sco�ish Schooling The Relationship of the Sco�ish Educational System to the Culture of North-East Scotland edited by David Northcro� 5. Play It Like It Is Fiddle and Dance Studies from around the North Atlantic edited by Ian Russell and Mary Anne Alburger 6. Driving the Bow Fiddle and Dance Studies from around the North Atlantic 2 edited by Ian Russell and Mary Anne Alburger Elphinstone Institute Occasional Publications is a peer-reviewed series of scholarly works in ethnology and folklore. The Elphinstone Institute at the University of Aberdeen was established in 1995 to study, conserve, and promote the culture of North-East and Northern Scotland. Driving the Bow Fiddle and Dance Studies from around the North Atlantic 2 Edited by Ian Russell and Mary Anne Alburger The Elphinstone Institute University of Aberdeen 2008 Copyright © 2008 the Elphinstone Institute, University of Aberdeen, and the contributors While copyright in the volume as a whole is vested in the Elphinstone Institute, University of Aberdeen, copyright in individual contributions remains with the contributors.
    [Show full text]
  • The Unaccompanied Choral Works of Vytautas Miškinis with Texts by Rabindranoth Tagore: a Resource Guide Nicholaus B
    Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2012 The unaccompanied choral works of Vytautas Miškinis with texts by Rabindranoth Tagore: a resource guide Nicholaus B. Cummins Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Music Commons Recommended Citation Cummins, Nicholaus B., "The unaccompanied choral works of Vytautas Miškinis with texts by Rabindranoth Tagore: a resource guide" (2012). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 3854. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/3854 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. THE UNACCOMPANIED CHORAL WORKS OF VYTAUTAS MIŠKINIS WITH TEXTS BY RABINDRANOTH TAGORE: A RESOURCE GUIDE A Monograph Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts In The School of Music By Nicholaus B. Cummins B.M., University of Mississippi, 2002 M.A., University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2004 August 2012 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would first like to thank my wife, Whitney Sims Cummins, for her love and support for me in this process. She has kept me motivated throughout the coursework and writing process. I am also very grateful to my parents and my family for being supportive of both my career and the process of earning this degree.
    [Show full text]
  • The Folk Fiddle Music of Lithuania's Coastal Regions
    studying culture in context The folk fiddle music of Lithuania’s coastal regions Gaila Kirdienė Excerpted from: Driving the Bow Fiddle and Dance Studies from around the North Atlantic 2 Edited by Ian Russell and Mary Anne Alburger First published in 2008 by The Elphinstone Institute, University of Aberdeen, MacRobert Building, King’s College, Aberdeen, AB24 5UA ISBN 0-9545682-5-7 About the author: Gaila Kirdienė is a senior researcher in ethnomusicology at the Institute of Musicology, Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, and a lecturer at the Department of Ethnomusicology. In 1990 she graduated from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in violin, and in 1992 in ethnomusicology. She is the author of over sixty works about folk music and fiddling. She leads the ‘Griežikai’ folklore group. Copyright © 2008 the Elphinstone Institute and the contributors While copyright in the volume as a whole is vested in the Elphinstone Institute, copyright in individual contributions remains with the contributors. The moral rights of the contributors to be identified as the authors of their work have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/. 3 The folk fiddle music of Lithuania’s coastal regions GAILA KIRDIENĖ here are five main ethnographical regions in Lithuania. Starting from the West, Tand going to the East and South they are the Klaipėda Region, Samogitia, Higher Lithuania, Dzūkija, and Suvalkija (or Sudovia) (see Figure 1).
    [Show full text]
  • Sutarkim Gerai
    SUTARKIM GERAI: DIALOGICAL RELATIONS OF LEGITIMIZATION BETWEEN LITHUANIAN STATE BUREAUCRACY AND POLITICAL AND CULTURAL MOVEMENTS THROUGH MECHANISMS OF FOLK MUSIC By Emily Daina Šaras Submitted to Central European University Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Supervisors: Professor Balazs Vedres CEU eTD Collection Professor Jean-Louis Fabiani Budapest, Hungary 2013 ABSTRACT This anthropological research project investigates the dialogical relationship between two entities: first, the official and expert organs of Lithuanian folk music, including the Lithuanian Executive Branch of Government, the Lithuanian Ministry of Culture, and various non-governmental folklore organizations and institutions that monitor and control the folk music genre through programming and funding; and second, the rising neo-Nazi folk youth movement as representative of many radical fringe groups which fall on the extremely conservative end of the political spectrum. The Lithuanian Ministry of Culture has featured the performance of dainos, or folk songs, in much of the country’s state-sponsored arts and culture programming over the last two decades of Lithuania’s independence. In recent years, a new trend of engagement with Lithuanian folk music is emerging among self-identifying neo-Nazi and Skinhead Lithuanians, particularly under the umbrella of youth-centered xenophobic organizations such as the Jaunoji Lietuva (Young Lithuania) radical political party. Their demonstrations and performances – namely, protests, gatherings, and marches that occur in central, public locations in many of Lithuania’s biggest cities – incorporate the singing of modified folk musical material as a strategic part of their events. Within the frame of an ethnographic study based in Vilnius, Lithuania, I aim to collect and order claims towards authenticity, authority, and expertise over folk music material, in so much as they relate to these aforementioned groups.
    [Show full text]
  • Tocc0200dbook.Pdf
    BRONIUS KUTAVIČIUS: ‘IF THERE IS NO MYSTERY, THERE IS NO MUSIC’ by Linas Paulauskis Bronius Kutavičius (b. 1932) studied composition with Antanas Račiūnas at the Lithuanian State Conservatory (now the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre) in 1959–64 and then setttled into a long career as a teacher. He has been honoured with numerous local and international awards for his work, among them the Lithuanian National Arts and Culture Prize, the highest artistic distinction in Lithuania. Kutavičius’ music has a pervasive air of mystery. Like a shaman, he knows perfectly how to mesmerise his audience and involve them in his rites; and like an architect, he builds precise constructions – scores that often look like mandalas in their configuration of geometric shapes: squares, crosses, stars, circles and the like. There is nothing complicated in his musical language: he works mostly with simultaneously repeating simple melodic and rhythmic patterns of differing length, thus producing a continuously shimmering rotation in texture. These constructions are easy to analyse in terms of structure and form, but they do not reveal where the mystery lies. Neither does the theatricality of much of his music (having the performers sitting on the floor in a circle or moving around the audience would be a superficial effect if used for its own sake), or frequent references to ancient folk-culture, history, mythology and religion. The images of the distant past must somehow bridge the gap in time to speak to a modern audience, and Kutavičius makes that connection in his own special way. Mystery and time are concepts vital to the composer himself: ‘What does a magician do? Practically nothing, except wraps himself in mystery.
    [Show full text]
  • JEWISH Cultural Heritage in Lithuania Contents
    JEWISH Cultural Heritage in Lithuania Contents VILNIUS / 4 KAUNAS / 14 The Baltic Sea KLAIPĖDA / 19 ŠIAULIAI / 22 TELŠIAI / 25 UKMERGĖ / 28 OTHER PLACES IN LITHUANIA / 30 Alytus / 30 Veisiejai / 31 Biržai / 31 Darbėnai / 32 Druskininkai / 32 Joniškis / 33 Kėdainiai / 35 Marijampolė / 36 RUSSIA Molėtai / 37 Alanta / 37 Pakruojis / 38 Linkuva / 40 Rozalimas / 40 Palanga / 40 POLAND Panevėžys / 41 Plungė / 42 Šeduva / 44 Valkininkai / 45 Degsnės / 45 Zarasai / 46 Žagarė / 46 Žiežmariai / 47 Žasliai / 47 LATVIA BELARUS Places to visit Key 1. Points of interest Regional roads Holocaust sites Passenger railway route Airport Trunk roads Port From the country’s capital of Vilnius to the very smallest towns, Jewish heritage is an integral part of Lithuanian culture. As we travel through cities or towns, we find buildings that once housed Jewish shops, artisan workshops, schools, banks and synagogues. The vast architectural heritage testifies to the rich cultural and spiritual life of the Jewish community that once thrived here. It is believed that Jews had already settled in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) in the late 14th century. The experienced merchants, craftsmen and financiers actively contributed to the development of the country. During their history in Lithuania of more than 600 years, the Jews left a unique culture of literary works, religious texts, music, folklore and art. To this day, the Litvaks – Jews with roots in the GDL – take pride in their name, which is associated in the Jewish world with extraordinary erudition and a long tradition of education, religion and art as well as a distinctive way of thinking. Young people used to come from all over the world to study in Lithuania, which was famous for its yeshivas.
    [Show full text]
  • De Profundis Clamavi Ad Te, Lietuva: Elements of Lithuanian Nationalism in Ciurlionis's De Profundis Cantata
    De Profundis Clamavi ad Te, Lietuvą: Elements of Lithuanian Nationalism in Čiurlionis’s De Profundis Cantata A thesis submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Music in the Division of Composition, Musicology, and Theory of the College-Conservatory of Music by Stephen Guokas B.M., Concordia College-Moorhead, 2013 March 2016 Committee Chair: Jonathan Kregor, PhD Abstract At the turn of the twentieth century, Lithuania received new freedoms from the Russian Czars, allowing for the creation of a distinct Lithuanian national identity The arts, especially music, played an important but as yet understudied part in the establishment of this national style, The Lithuanian composer Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875–1911) displays this nationalism throughout his mature compositions., and this thesis will address the Lithuanian national movement in relation to Čiurlionis and his music. Čiurlionis worked tirelessly to establish and promote Lithuanian music. He organized exhibitions, concerts, and composition competitions to inspire Lithuanian composers to employ material from their folk tradition within new works. He also detailed in two articles the musical characteristics of Lithuanian folk music and how a composer could use these characteristics in classical compositions. This thesis examines Čiurlionis’s use of his self-prescribed Lithuanian folk music characteristics within his De Profundis and considers the integration of this folk tradition within his own compositional style, as stated in his 1910 article, “About Music.”. Additionally, it explores Lithuanian nationalism in music at the turn of the twentieth century, addressing issues of authenticity and a “national” style.
    [Show full text]
  • The Report of the Meeting in Lithuania
    Comenius Multilateral School Partnerships’ Project “A Journey Through Changes of Life” 2012-2014 The Meeting in Lithuania “The Changes in Mass Media” 2014 03 30 - 04 04 THE REPORT OF THE MEETING IN LITHUANIA The aims of the meeting: to broaden the knowledge about Lithuania, Klaipeda and “Varpas” gymnasium to broaden the knowledge about changes in mass media to acquire the skills of working in the international workshops to create the 8th chapter of the e-book to design the e-portfolio to write the e-photodiary to improve the English language to improve IT skills to develop creativity to strengthen the connection between all the countries The participants of the meeting: Country Teachers Students Poland Marzena Skotnicka Marcin Sudoł Wioletta Piotrowska Dariusz Kępa Germany Andrea Stadler Lisa Knitter Alexandra Tomczyck Chiara Schnalke England Jackie Westerby Jade Mansbridge Sheila Burnage Olivia Ann Bagley Turkey Adnan Özsirkinti Furkan Yildirim Kasif Özcan Volkan Aydin Latvia Kārlis Strautiņš Martina Dege Roberts Rožkalns Alina Isajenko Portugal - - Greece - - Italy - - The team of “Varpas” gymnasium: The headmaster Valerijus Kuzliakinas The headmaster’s assistants: Zina Buivydienė Irena Pluškienė Neolė Jucienė Rima Stainienė The teachers of English: Aušra Čigienė Irena Lukošienė Dalia Vilijošiutė Odeta Gečienė The teachers of IT: Vaida Skliuderienė Gintas Andrijauskas The students – hosts: Andrius Endrėkus Andrius Armokavičius Rūta Lakiūnaitė Skaistė Venckutė Arina Dumčiūtė Liucija Paniuškytė Lukas Dvarionis Evaldas Snukiškis Santa
    [Show full text]
  • University of Florida Thesis Or Dissertation Formatting
    THE LITHUANIAN CHORAL TRADITION: HISTORY, CONTEXT, EDUCATION, AND PRACTICE By INETA ILGUNAITĖ JONUŠAS A DISSERTATION PRESENTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA 2010 1 © 2010 Ineta Ilgunaitė Jonušas 2 To the memory of Bronius Jonušas and his music “Heaven’s blessing earns he, who chooses music as his profession.” (Martin Luther) 3 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS When I left Lithuania, it was not so much to start a new life as to continue my old life, which revolved around music, in a new environment. I planned that I would attend an American university where I would continue my study of music and choral conducting to earn a master’s and doctoral degrees. My hope was to one day teach others to “make music” the way I had heard it most of my life in Lithuania. Now, after eight years of studying music in Lithuania and five years of graduate study in America, it seems that I have been blessed with the best of both worlds for having had the opportunity to learn from so many eminent Lithuanian and American “music makers.” In Lithuania, at the Vilnius Tallat-Kelpša Conservatory, while still a teenager, I was fortunate in being able to take my first lessons in conducting from Professor Vytautas Žvirblis, whose name will probably not mean much to anyone but the students who learned from his graceful hands. Later at the Lithuanian Academy of Music, I learned from Professor Vaclovas Radžiūnas, my major professor, and Jonas Aleksa, conductor of the Lithuanian State Opera.
    [Show full text]