Page 109 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2023. Glasbena društva v dolgem 19. stoletju: med ljubiteljsko in profesionalno kulturo ▪︎ Music societies in the long 19th century: Between amateur and professional culture. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 6
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the significance of lithuanian societies for the development ...
Legal societies were also founded in other Lithuanian cities: Vilniaus
Kanklės (1905–1908) and Rūta [The Rue] (1909–1914) in Vilnius, Varpas [The
Bell] in Šiauliai (1908–1914), Aidas [the Echo] (1906–1914) in Panevėžys,
Žiburys [The Light] (1906–1914 in Marijampolė, Undinė [The Mermaid]
(1908–1914) in Druskininkai, and Kanklės (1910–1914) in Telšiai. They had
their own choirs, instrumental ensembles, drama circles, and some even
orchestras led by graduates or students from the conservatories of Warsaw,
St. Petersburg, and Moscow. They gave concerts, staged Lithuanian perfor-
mances, and were touring provinces with prepared concert programmes.
The goals of the societies were of a national scale: to encourage less edu-
cated people to get educated, to oppose the tsarist regime, and to foster the
hope of restoring the independent state of Lithuania. At the same time, they
provided the conditions for the new generation of Lithuanian composers
and performers to perform and grow. Thus, Mikas Petrauskas, in collab-
oration with the Vilniaus Kanklės, staged his first opera Birutė in Vilnius
in 1906; the composer’s brother Kipras, who sang in the premiere, later be-
came one of the most famous tenors of all time in Lithuania.
The first society of professional Lithuanian musicians was established
in 1907 and operated until the First World War. It was an organization of
church organists named after St. Gregory. Its founder, composer Juozas
Naujalis, understood that the church was “almost the only form of organ
ised music making and concentrated listening that introduced the people of
Lithuanian small towns and villages to professional music literature;”9 more-
over, he knew that organists lead both church and secular choirs as well
as worked at schools as music teachers, and therefore he decided that they
should be the first to get music education. To maintain the closest possible
contacts with them, he had been publishing the first Lithuanian music pe-
riodical Vargonininkas [The Organist] as well as the Vargonininko kalendo
rius [Organists’ Calendar] for several years in a row. In 1913, he legalised the
organ courses he had been teaching since 1892.10 Thanks to Naujalis, the so-
cial situation of the organists was taken care of, and the social class differ-
ences between the priest as a “master” and the organist as a “servant” were
sought to be eliminated. Although the goals had not been fully achieved,
the organists found the courage to fight for their own rights, and their pub-
lic and cultural activity as well as professional curiosity were awakened. As
9 Vytautas Landsbergis, “Vargonininkų gadynė” [The Times of Organists], Pergalė,
no. 9 (1976): 155.
10 Ona Narbutienė, Juozas Naujalis (Kaunas: Šviesa, 1989), 36.
107
Legal societies were also founded in other Lithuanian cities: Vilniaus
Kanklės (1905–1908) and Rūta [The Rue] (1909–1914) in Vilnius, Varpas [The
Bell] in Šiauliai (1908–1914), Aidas [the Echo] (1906–1914) in Panevėžys,
Žiburys [The Light] (1906–1914 in Marijampolė, Undinė [The Mermaid]
(1908–1914) in Druskininkai, and Kanklės (1910–1914) in Telšiai. They had
their own choirs, instrumental ensembles, drama circles, and some even
orchestras led by graduates or students from the conservatories of Warsaw,
St. Petersburg, and Moscow. They gave concerts, staged Lithuanian perfor-
mances, and were touring provinces with prepared concert programmes.
The goals of the societies were of a national scale: to encourage less edu-
cated people to get educated, to oppose the tsarist regime, and to foster the
hope of restoring the independent state of Lithuania. At the same time, they
provided the conditions for the new generation of Lithuanian composers
and performers to perform and grow. Thus, Mikas Petrauskas, in collab-
oration with the Vilniaus Kanklės, staged his first opera Birutė in Vilnius
in 1906; the composer’s brother Kipras, who sang in the premiere, later be-
came one of the most famous tenors of all time in Lithuania.
The first society of professional Lithuanian musicians was established
in 1907 and operated until the First World War. It was an organization of
church organists named after St. Gregory. Its founder, composer Juozas
Naujalis, understood that the church was “almost the only form of organ
ised music making and concentrated listening that introduced the people of
Lithuanian small towns and villages to professional music literature;”9 more-
over, he knew that organists lead both church and secular choirs as well
as worked at schools as music teachers, and therefore he decided that they
should be the first to get music education. To maintain the closest possible
contacts with them, he had been publishing the first Lithuanian music pe-
riodical Vargonininkas [The Organist] as well as the Vargonininko kalendo
rius [Organists’ Calendar] for several years in a row. In 1913, he legalised the
organ courses he had been teaching since 1892.10 Thanks to Naujalis, the so-
cial situation of the organists was taken care of, and the social class differ-
ences between the priest as a “master” and the organist as a “servant” were
sought to be eliminated. Although the goals had not been fully achieved,
the organists found the courage to fight for their own rights, and their pub-
lic and cultural activity as well as professional curiosity were awakened. As
9 Vytautas Landsbergis, “Vargonininkų gadynė” [The Times of Organists], Pergalė,
no. 9 (1976): 155.
10 Ona Narbutienė, Juozas Naujalis (Kaunas: Šviesa, 1989), 36.
107
