Page 121 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2019. Vloga nacionalnih opernih gledališč v 20. in 21. stoletju - The Role of National Opera Houses in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 3
P. 121
opera and national culture in latvia: the centenary balance
public. However, many Latvian singers today are starring on prestigious
stages around the world, producing in Latvia the strange effect of opera
singing as a “national brand”. In the 19th century, opera was the genre where
popular and elite culture met and interacted, and so it is today. Through
opera, the national, sometimes folk values were transferred from popular
culture to so-called high culture. Possibly, opera is one of those bridges in
professional art that can contextualise the national ideas in a wider cultur-
al context, since these ideas are expressed in one of the most complicated,
most theatrical, yet internationally convertible, recognisable and compara-
ble art forms that works on a similar footing everywhere.
First of all, it has to be said that Latvians are an ethnic community, if
we refer to the typology offered by the sociologist Anthony D. Smith, who
has widely researched the concept of national identity. Among the attrib-
utes mentioned by Smith there is an association with a specific “homeland”,
a myth of common ancestry, shared historical memories, one or more dif-
ferentiating elements of common culture and so on.1 Latvians cherish their
“homeland” and often separate this concept from the “state” meaning the
actual political processes; there are certain cultural cornerstones grounded
in the collective expressions of national identity – i.e. choral singing, that
is institutionalized in the Song and Dance Festival included in the UNES-
CO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Latvian culture is memory oriented
and despite the constant threat of assimilation by larger cultures cultivates
the national culture both in Latvia and in diaspora communities world-
wide. The representations of national culture in Latvian opera tend to ap-
pear in several forms:
1) themes, such as mythologised history or national literature-based
plots;
2) music and text, integrating rhythm, rhyme and melodies of folk
songs and dances in opera score, visual signs in set design, props
and costumes; and
3) in the development of the concept of a “nation that sings” – one
of Latvian self-awareness concepts that form the cultural identity
of the nation, especially in the context of Latvian opera stars per-
forming on big stages of the world today.
The present article outlines three main aspects related to the intercon-
nections between opera and national culture in Latvia:
1 Anthony D. Smith, National Identity (London: Penguin Books , 1991), 21.
119
public. However, many Latvian singers today are starring on prestigious
stages around the world, producing in Latvia the strange effect of opera
singing as a “national brand”. In the 19th century, opera was the genre where
popular and elite culture met and interacted, and so it is today. Through
opera, the national, sometimes folk values were transferred from popular
culture to so-called high culture. Possibly, opera is one of those bridges in
professional art that can contextualise the national ideas in a wider cultur-
al context, since these ideas are expressed in one of the most complicated,
most theatrical, yet internationally convertible, recognisable and compara-
ble art forms that works on a similar footing everywhere.
First of all, it has to be said that Latvians are an ethnic community, if
we refer to the typology offered by the sociologist Anthony D. Smith, who
has widely researched the concept of national identity. Among the attrib-
utes mentioned by Smith there is an association with a specific “homeland”,
a myth of common ancestry, shared historical memories, one or more dif-
ferentiating elements of common culture and so on.1 Latvians cherish their
“homeland” and often separate this concept from the “state” meaning the
actual political processes; there are certain cultural cornerstones grounded
in the collective expressions of national identity – i.e. choral singing, that
is institutionalized in the Song and Dance Festival included in the UNES-
CO list of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Latvian culture is memory oriented
and despite the constant threat of assimilation by larger cultures cultivates
the national culture both in Latvia and in diaspora communities world-
wide. The representations of national culture in Latvian opera tend to ap-
pear in several forms:
1) themes, such as mythologised history or national literature-based
plots;
2) music and text, integrating rhythm, rhyme and melodies of folk
songs and dances in opera score, visual signs in set design, props
and costumes; and
3) in the development of the concept of a “nation that sings” – one
of Latvian self-awareness concepts that form the cultural identity
of the nation, especially in the context of Latvian opera stars per-
forming on big stages of the world today.
The present article outlines three main aspects related to the intercon-
nections between opera and national culture in Latvia:
1 Anthony D. Smith, National Identity (London: Penguin Books , 1991), 21.
119
