Reception of the Warsaw Autumn Festival in Lithuania: Cultural Discourse and Political Context* Rūta Stanevičiūtė Lietuvos muzikos ir teatro akademija Email:
[email protected] * This publication has been co-financed from the funds of the Research Council of Lithuania (project “Nylon Curtain? The Correspondence of Lithuanian Musicians in the Cold War Cultural and Political Contexts”). Reception of the Warsaw Autumn Festival in Lithuania: Cultural Discourse and Political Context Musicology today • Vol. 14 • 2017 DOI: 10.1515/muso-2017-0006 ABSTRACT of modernisation has been emphasised by musicians from the countries of Poland’s other neighbours.1 This article aims to offer a broader understanding of the Lithuanian On the other hand, one can trace ebbs and tides in reception of the Warsaw Autumn festival in relation to the modernisation the reception of the Warsaw Autumn in Lithuania. of national music in Lithuania since the late 1950s – early 1960s. Based on a micro-historical and comparative approach to the network of That can best be demonstrated through an analysis individuals and events, it is intended to explore the shifts of reception of festival reviews in the Lithuanian press and through through analysis of musical criticism, composers’ work and discourse, the comparison of different texts, comments by, and and artistic exchange between the Lithuanian and Polish new music interviews with Lithuanian composers from different scenes. The author discusses the cultural and political factors which periods. It should immediately be noted that in the Soviet affected the changing role of the Warsaw Autumn festival and its impact on the modernisation processes in Lithuanian music.