Page 303 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2021. Opereta med obema svetovnima vojnama ▪︎ Operetta between the Two World Wars. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 5
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the (non-)ser iousness of cultur e: the case of the lithuanian oper etta
In the United States:
Užburtas kunigaikštis [The Enchanted Duke] (1913)
Šventoji naktis [Holy Night] 1913 (1916?)
Consilium facultatis (1915)
Vestuvės [Wedding] (1915)
Tarnaitė pamokė [The Maid Taught a Lesson] (1915)
Velnias išradėjas [Devil Inventor] (1915, two acts light opera)
Apvesdinkit ir mane [Find me a Wife, too] (1916)
Girių karalius [King of the Forest] (1916, one-act fantastic opera)
Lietuviškas milijonierius [Lithuanian Millionaire] (1916)
Elgetos duktė - karalienė [Beggar’s Daughter a Queen] (1917)
Pirmoji gegužės [The First of May] (1920)
Vaikas ar mergaitė? [A Child or a Girl?] (1922)
Vargonininko vestuvės [The Organist’s Wedding] (1923)
Prieglauda [An Asylum] (1924)
This is a curiosity and also a symptomatic fact. This means, on the one
hand, that the operetta did not find its raison d’être in the Lithuanian cul-
ture of this period. On the other hand, it means that Petrauskas must have
had very personal reasons for continuing this activity on his own and al-
most throughout his career.
One of his reasons was the fact that he lived abroad for a large part of
his life. He lived in the United States between 1907 (after his forced depar-
ture from Lithuania for political reasons) and 1930, with some interruptions
to make trips to France, where he studied composition with Charles-Marie
Widor,25 to Italy, where he improved his vocal technique with Angelo Masi-
ni (in 1911),26 and to Lithuania, where he staged some of his operettas in pro-
vincial theatres. Living mainly abroad, Petrauskas had an acute awareness
of the importance of national culture.
When he arrived in the United States, a large community of Lithuani-
ans, scattered in different large cities, had only parish choirs and folk-dance
groups for ‘cultural institutions’. Composing and staging operettas in these
culturally disadvantaged environments was part of the composer’s person-
al commitment to a collective cause, which he fought hard for. His activi-
25 Burokaitė, Mikas Petrauskas, 199.
26 Danutė Petrauskaitė, Lietuvių muzikinė kultūra Jungtinėse Amerikos Valstijose 1870–
1990 [Lithuanian musical culture in the United States from 1870 to 1990] (Vilnius:
Dailės akademijos leidykla, 2015), 283.
301
In the United States:
Užburtas kunigaikštis [The Enchanted Duke] (1913)
Šventoji naktis [Holy Night] 1913 (1916?)
Consilium facultatis (1915)
Vestuvės [Wedding] (1915)
Tarnaitė pamokė [The Maid Taught a Lesson] (1915)
Velnias išradėjas [Devil Inventor] (1915, two acts light opera)
Apvesdinkit ir mane [Find me a Wife, too] (1916)
Girių karalius [King of the Forest] (1916, one-act fantastic opera)
Lietuviškas milijonierius [Lithuanian Millionaire] (1916)
Elgetos duktė - karalienė [Beggar’s Daughter a Queen] (1917)
Pirmoji gegužės [The First of May] (1920)
Vaikas ar mergaitė? [A Child or a Girl?] (1922)
Vargonininko vestuvės [The Organist’s Wedding] (1923)
Prieglauda [An Asylum] (1924)
This is a curiosity and also a symptomatic fact. This means, on the one
hand, that the operetta did not find its raison d’être in the Lithuanian cul-
ture of this period. On the other hand, it means that Petrauskas must have
had very personal reasons for continuing this activity on his own and al-
most throughout his career.
One of his reasons was the fact that he lived abroad for a large part of
his life. He lived in the United States between 1907 (after his forced depar-
ture from Lithuania for political reasons) and 1930, with some interruptions
to make trips to France, where he studied composition with Charles-Marie
Widor,25 to Italy, where he improved his vocal technique with Angelo Masi-
ni (in 1911),26 and to Lithuania, where he staged some of his operettas in pro-
vincial theatres. Living mainly abroad, Petrauskas had an acute awareness
of the importance of national culture.
When he arrived in the United States, a large community of Lithuani-
ans, scattered in different large cities, had only parish choirs and folk-dance
groups for ‘cultural institutions’. Composing and staging operettas in these
culturally disadvantaged environments was part of the composer’s person-
al commitment to a collective cause, which he fought hard for. His activi-
25 Burokaitė, Mikas Petrauskas, 199.
26 Danutė Petrauskaitė, Lietuvių muzikinė kultūra Jungtinėse Amerikos Valstijose 1870–
1990 [Lithuanian musical culture in the United States from 1870 to 1990] (Vilnius:
Dailės akademijos leidykla, 2015), 283.
301
