Page 115 - 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 ...
of vocal-instrumental music. Secular societies chose either national names
or the names of the GDL, and religious ones were named after saints.
The first professional music society, the Lithuanian American Organ-
ists’ Union, was founded in Baltimore in 1911. It united church organists
for common goals: to nurture Lithuanianness through hymns and songs,
to unify church singing, to train in the field of religious and secular music,
to hold joint concerts, to encourage the creation of Lithuanian music, and
to publish sheet music. Its heads took care of the professional and social af-
fairs of their members as well as their qualifications and organised courses
for them. Thus, church organists became the main disseminators of Lith-
uanianness, the organisers of musical life and song festivals. Due to them,
a choir movement arose in the United States, which lasted until the First
World War and involved thousands of people in it. The attention of cultur-
al and music societies was focused not so much on the artistic level of choirs
as on hymn and song singing in Lithuanian. Thus, the mother tongue be-
came an essential criterion for the positive evaluation of a piece of music,
even if it was an amateur one.
The establishment of choirs contributed significantly to the elimina-
tion of ethnographic differences, since the four-voice singing levelled out
the specific features and dialects of the regions. In the lyrics of the songs, the
words “homeland” and “Motherland” had been increasingly used, which
helped to perceive Lithuania as a homogeneous country. Thus, the contours
of national self-awareness began to emerge alongside regional identity. Re-
ligious and local affiliation did not disappear, however, a national union
emerged, which became extremely important in the struggle for survival
in a multinational America and in maintaining ties with Lithuania, which
was trying to liberate itself from the Russian Empire. This is evidenced by
the names of choirs and orchestras: Freedom of Lithuanians, Sons of Lithu-
ania, Lovers of the Homeland, Lithuanian Soldiers. As the danger of assim-
ilation was much higher in America than in Lithuania, Lithuanians chose a
closed way of life in their diaspora, trying to distance themselves from the
influences of other cultures and not to dissolve in the “melting pot of na
tions;” and they did succeed.
113
of vocal-instrumental music. Secular societies chose either national names
or the names of the GDL, and religious ones were named after saints.
The first professional music society, the Lithuanian American Organ-
ists’ Union, was founded in Baltimore in 1911. It united church organists
for common goals: to nurture Lithuanianness through hymns and songs,
to unify church singing, to train in the field of religious and secular music,
to hold joint concerts, to encourage the creation of Lithuanian music, and
to publish sheet music. Its heads took care of the professional and social af-
fairs of their members as well as their qualifications and organised courses
for them. Thus, church organists became the main disseminators of Lith-
uanianness, the organisers of musical life and song festivals. Due to them,
a choir movement arose in the United States, which lasted until the First
World War and involved thousands of people in it. The attention of cultur-
al and music societies was focused not so much on the artistic level of choirs
as on hymn and song singing in Lithuanian. Thus, the mother tongue be-
came an essential criterion for the positive evaluation of a piece of music,
even if it was an amateur one.
The establishment of choirs contributed significantly to the elimina-
tion of ethnographic differences, since the four-voice singing levelled out
the specific features and dialects of the regions. In the lyrics of the songs, the
words “homeland” and “Motherland” had been increasingly used, which
helped to perceive Lithuania as a homogeneous country. Thus, the contours
of national self-awareness began to emerge alongside regional identity. Re-
ligious and local affiliation did not disappear, however, a national union
emerged, which became extremely important in the struggle for survival
in a multinational America and in maintaining ties with Lithuania, which
was trying to liberate itself from the Russian Empire. This is evidenced by
the names of choirs and orchestras: Freedom of Lithuanians, Sons of Lithu-
ania, Lovers of the Homeland, Lithuanian Soldiers. As the danger of assim-
ilation was much higher in America than in Lithuania, Lithuanians chose a
closed way of life in their diaspora, trying to distance themselves from the
influences of other cultures and not to dissolve in the “melting pot of na
tions;” and they did succeed.
113
