Castle of Light: a Snapshot of Latvian Choral Music Asas Thethe Nationnation Turnsturns 100100
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
CCastleastle ooff LLight:ight: A SSnapshotnapshot ooff LLatvianatvian CChoralhoral MMusicusic aass tthehe NNationation TTurnsurns 110000 bbyy MMarkark GGrizzardrizzard On a warm Saturday afternoon and days full of choral music. litical narrative with their neighbors in July of 2018, the trams in Riga, The 2018 celebration is slated to and a tradition of song festivals that Latvia, are all packed. A tram ap- be the most highly attended song UNESCO recognized in 2003 in its proaches a stop, but when it be- festival in history, partly because the Second Proclamation of Masterpieces of comes clear that no one is getting celebration is two-fold: 2018 marks the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Hu- off , the driver doesn’t bother to open the centennial year for Latvia, and manity. the doors, and the dozens of hope- the small nation has been marking ful riders on the street corner merely the anniversary with events around smile and wave. the world starting in 2017 and con- The Festival Begins On the tram, air is not circulating tinuing through 2021. Latvia shares One of the fi rst events of the 26th and the temperature is rising above its centennial year, and its song festi- Latvian Song Festival took place on 100°F, yet the crowded riders are all val heritage, with its neighbors, Es- Saturday, June 30, 2018: the high- smiles. As the tram zips through tidy, tonia and Lithuania; the choral cul- ly anticipated choir competition bustling urban districts, the entire ture and political inspiration of these known as Dziesmu Kari [Song Wars]. tram breaks out into song, “rum-ta, Baltic states have gained global rec- Throughout a long sixteen-hour rum-ta, rum-ta-ri-di-dee”: cheery lines ognition through James Tusty’s 2006 day, choirs met in the great hall of from a children’s folk song. Everyone documentary “The Singing Revolu- Latvia University to compete in is in a good mood, because they are tion” and the 2013 book The Power four categories: mixed choir, men’s headed to the Mežaparks outdoor of Song by Guntis Šmidchens. These choir, women’s choir, and senior arena for choir practice. The 26th works, among many others, provide choir. The hall was standing-room Latvian Song Festival has begun, powerful glimpses into the ways that only throughout a rotation of choirs and for this nation of singers, it’s a lot the political history of these nations performing three or four song sets to celebrate. Approximately 20,000 cannot be told without an under- each, and the atmosphere was tense; participants and 30,000 visitors have standing of the cultural identity as a lot had already happened to get gathered in Riga for the nine-day a “singing people.” While Latvians to this moment. Over the past three festival that features dancing, pa- celebrate their own heritage and years, each of these choirs had been rades, fairs, conferences, speeches, history, they share a cultural and po- evaluated by song festival virsdiriģenti CHORAL JOURNAL October 2019 Volume 60 Number 3 51 CCastleastle ooff LLight:ight: A SSnapshotnapshot ooff LLatvianatvian CChoralhoral MMusicusic as the Nation Turns 100 (literally “ruling conductors”) to de- sequently it was performed twenty A sparse minor landscape is termine three things: times throughout the day. As each established, and a delicate alto mel- choir interpreted this haunting slow- ody builds to an impassioned arrival 1) whether your choir qualifi es to boil of a piece, Plakidis’s sensitive (m. 32-38) on the text “Your roots join the festival’s mass choir treatment of the text by Latvian poet in your land, your feet in your gar- Vizma Belševica (1931-2005) could den” before patiently returning to 2) whether your choir qualifi es to easily be appreciated (Figure 1): calm and a resolute, pianississimo compete in the Song Wars fi nish. Hearing this work in live per- As long as the white wings of the formance, even the most vacuous 3) your amount of government stork glide over the Holy, foreign visitor must begin to under- funding As long as the glow of white wings stand that this Song Festival is about in blue current falls, more than concerts and parades: it is For the 2018 festival, 160 mixed As long as the blue streams in Zem- about a nation expressing its identi- choirs were initially evaluated, from gale fl ow, ty and sharing its collective story of Latvia’s population of approximate- Be calm, believe, know: your land struggle, loss, freedom, and peace. ly 2 million people. Of those choirs, will remain. 33 were selected for a semifi nal com- Your roots in your land, your feet in petition that took place in early June, your garden, Nineteenth Century: and the top twenty performed in the As long as the white wings give holy A National Awakening June 30 fi nals. Performance sets must shade over your father’s roof. The fi rst Latvian Song Festival include one specifi c selection from took place in 1873, when Latvia the festival songbook: for the mixed (Vizma Belševica, was not yet a sovereign nation. At choir, the selection is Tava Saknes Tavā translations by Mark Grizzard) that time, much of modern Latvia Zemē [Your Roots in Your Land] by was part of the Russian Empire and Pēteris Plakidis (1947-2017). Con- dominated by a land-owning class of German nobility. Serfdom had end- ed earlier in the century, yet many ethnic Latvians continued to struggle as a peasant class. Some, however, had begun enrolling in universities in the 1850s, and a “National Awak- ening” by those known as the Young Latvians sought to promote Latvian language and culture in mainstream circles. In the summer of 1873, ap- proximately 1,000 performers gath- ered in Riga for two days of singing, with the fi rst day comprising mostly religious songs and the second day focusing on folk music. The anthem Dievs, Svētī Latviju! [God Bless Latvia] premiered; it notably gave a unifi ed name to Latvia but made no claim to political independence. Nonethe- Song festival crowds entering Mežaparks for a concert. less, this event helped galvanize a 52 CHORAL JOURNAL October 2019 Volume 60 Number 3 Castle of Light: A Snapshot of Latvian Choral Music asas thethe NNationation TurnsTurns 100100 CHORAL JOURNAL October 2019 Volume 60 Number 3 53 CCastleastle ooff LLight:ight: A SSnapshotnapshot ooff LLatvianatvian CChoralhoral MMusicusic as the Nation Turns 100 strengthened cultural identity, and Light, however, was centuries old: would be manifest when Latvians Latvian Song Festivals continued ap- when thirteenth-century invaders were again free and independent. proximately every fi ve years, grow- destroyed ancient castles in Latvian Auskelis’s poem was completed ing in attendance and participation. territories, folk tales sprouted about in 1873, and Vītols completed his At the 5th Song Festival in 1910, sunken castles and the possibility choral setting of it in one day. Ga- the Song Festival featured Gaisma Pils that a castle would rise if someone ismas Pils would go on to become [Castle of Light], composed in 1889 correctly guessed its name. For nine- the most-performed work at Latvian by Jāzeps Vītols (1863-1948) to an teenth-century Young Latvians in Song Festivals, and 2018 was no ex- 1873 poem by Miķelis Krogzemis search of ethnic pride, these castles ception. Well after midnight on June (1850-1879), a poet better known as took on new symbolic meaning as 30, 2018, after Song Wars results Auskelis. The topic of the Castle of a source of cultural strength that were announced and winners were . 54 CHORAL JOURNAL October 2019 Volume 60 Number 3 Castle of Light: A Snapshot of Latvian Choral Music asas thethe NNationation TurnsTurns 100100 determined, performers and audi- ence members sang the piece togeth- er, displaying both an inexhaustible love of singing and a fi erce unity of spirit. Gaismas Pils (Figure 2) is a Roman- tic tour de force. Impassioned, Schuber- tian chromaticisms and freedom of tempo bring to mind the expressive ideals of the late nineteenth century, when European audiences were cap- tivated by the exotic and the ancient. However, to hear twenty-fi rst-centu- The festival’s opening parade, fi nishing at the Freedom Monument. ry musicians sing these passages, one realizes that something very present that followed Latvia’s Declaration invaded France, a new ultimatum and very genuine is being expressed. of Independence on November 18, was handed to the Baltic states: their As the fi nal stanza tells of the ris- 1918. This monument was unveiled governments must resign. And with ing of the Castle of Light, the piece in 1935, a year in which the young that, these newly independent coun- builds to a fi nal cadence in major nation struggled under the author- tries had become occupied territo- that encapsulates the infectious hope itarian regime of Kārlis Ulmanis, ries within the USSR. and joy of this nation. and it would serve as a focal sym- What followed were years of trau- bol for the struggle and spirit of the ma and tragedy for the Latvian peo- Latvian people throughout a very ple; a “year of horror” commenced Modern Life in the Old City turbulent 20th Century. A brief ac- as Soviets implemented Stalinist On Sunday, July 1, locals, tourists, count of these events may be helpful practices, murdering and deport- and choristers poured into Riga’s to visitors in beginning to appreciate ing tens of thousands of Latvians. Old City district to enjoy the beau- what this monument and this festival During the war, Latvia was occupied tiful weather, to visit booths show- mean to the Latvian people.