Page 127 - 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
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opera and national culture in latvia: the centenary balance
Picture 2: The building of Latvian National Opera and Ballet. Photographer: Daiga Vīksna.
Publicity picture credited by LNOB.
changed occupation. In 1995 another book – a group portrait about the life
of opera singers is published with the title “Without the White House” (by
Silvija Līce) – it recalled the memoirs of Mariss Vētra, who wrote his mem-
ories about the Latvian National Opera while living in the USA, telling the
story of Latvian opera singers left without their stage for five years. Silvi-
ja Līce writes: “It was a hard time for everyone who cherished our White
House; however, the White House always stayed in our hearts.6 One of the
protagonists of this book is the Latvian opera singer Inese Galante, who
worked in Germany at the time, who said:
Western singers feel good travelling from one place to another like
gypsies, singing here and there. We are not used to such a situation.
I feel homesick; I have never been away for such a long time. Our
White House used to be more than a theatre; it was our home, our
family.7
6 Silvija Līce, Without White House (Riga: Liktenstasti, 1995), 28. (In Latvian)
7 Ibid., 129.
125
Picture 2: The building of Latvian National Opera and Ballet. Photographer: Daiga Vīksna.
Publicity picture credited by LNOB.
changed occupation. In 1995 another book – a group portrait about the life
of opera singers is published with the title “Without the White House” (by
Silvija Līce) – it recalled the memoirs of Mariss Vētra, who wrote his mem-
ories about the Latvian National Opera while living in the USA, telling the
story of Latvian opera singers left without their stage for five years. Silvi-
ja Līce writes: “It was a hard time for everyone who cherished our White
House; however, the White House always stayed in our hearts.6 One of the
protagonists of this book is the Latvian opera singer Inese Galante, who
worked in Germany at the time, who said:
Western singers feel good travelling from one place to another like
gypsies, singing here and there. We are not used to such a situation.
I feel homesick; I have never been away for such a long time. Our
White House used to be more than a theatre; it was our home, our
family.7
6 Silvija Līce, Without White House (Riga: Liktenstasti, 1995), 28. (In Latvian)
7 Ibid., 129.
125
