Music of Lithuania
It is known that, at the start of the 2nd millennium, Baltic tribes had special funeral traditions in which the deeds of the dead were narrated using recitation, and ritual songs about war campaigns, heroes and rulers also existed.
It is known, that Anna, Grand Duchess of Lithuania, wife of Vytautas the Great which had diplomatic relationships with the Teutonic Knights, who sent her expensive gifts, including clavichord and portative organ in 1408.
The scenography and stage machinery was made by Italian architects and engineers Agostino Locci, Bartolomeo Bolzoni and Giovanni Battista Gisleni.
Lithuanian jesuit Žygimantas Liauksminas (Sigismundus Lauxminus) published the first music handbook in Lithuania - Ars et praxis musica in 1667.
[6] Recent findings - The Sapieha Album (Sapiegos albumas) and the Kražiai Organbook (Kražių vargoninko sąsiuvinis) demonstrated that the big part of the Lithuanian church music of the 17th century was directly influenced by the most prominent composers of Italy of that time - Girolamo Frescobaldi; Italian organ tablature notation prevailed, basso continuo was studied.
I Lituani (The Lithuanians) - is an opera consisting by Amilcare Ponchielli to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on the historical poem Konrad Wallenrod written by Adam Mickiewicz.
They are an ancient form of two and three voiced polyphony, based on the oldest principles of multivoiced vocal music: heterophony, parallelism, canon and free imitation.
The melodies are symmetrical, consisting of two equal-length parts; rhythms are typically syncopated, and the distinctly articulated refrains give them a driving quality.
One of the most important characteristics of the sutartinės is the wide variety of vocables used in the refrains (sodauto, lylio, ratilio, tonarilio, dauno, kadujo, čiūto, etc.).
Different vocal and instrumental forms developed, such as lyrical, satirical, drinking and banqueting songs, musical dialogues, wedding laments, games, dances and marches.
There are several typical melodic characteristics associated with Christmas ritual songs, such as a narrow range, three-measure phrases, dance rhythms, a controlled slow tempo, and a tonal structure based on phrygian, mixolydian or aeolian tetrachords.
Since the 19th century, however, fiddle, basetle, lamzdeliai and kanklės came to accompany the dances, while modern groups also incorporate bandoneon, accordion, concertina, mandolin, clarinet, cornet, guitar and harmonica.
Some of the most prominent town folklore groups: Ratilio, Ūla, Jievaras, Poringė (Vilnius), Kupolė (Kaunas), Verpeta (Kaišiadorys), Mėguva (Palanga), Insula (Telšiai), Gastauta (Rokiškis), Kupkiemis (Kupiškis), Levindra (Utena), Sūduviai (Vilkaviškis).
Modern classical composers emerged in seventies - Bronius Kutavičius, Feliksas Bajoras, Osvaldas Balakauskas, Onutė Narbutaitė, Vidmantas Bartulis and others.
[11] Osvaldas Balakauskas (born 1937, Miliūnai) Graduated from the Vilnius Pedagogical Institute in 1961, attended Boris Lyatoshinsky's composition class at Kiev Conservatory in 1969.
After regaining the Independence of Lithuania in 1918 opera Gražina (1933) by composer Jurgis Karnavičius (1884 - 1941) was the first staged in a new Kaunas State Musical Theatre.
Vytautas Klova (1926 - 2006) created mostly national operas - (Pilėnai 1955, Vaiva 1957, Duktė (The Daughter) 1960, Du kalavijai (Two Swords) 1965, Amerikietiškoji tragedija (An American Tragedy), 1968, Ave vita, 1974).
Operas based on historical thematic were created by Julius Juzeliūnas (1916 - 2001) (Sukilėliai (The Rebels) 1957, banned by soviet censorship, staged only in 1977), B. Dvarionas (Dalia, 1958).
Other singers performing on international scenes are: Aušrinė Stundytė, Asmik Grigorian, Vaidas Vyšniauskas (Kristian Benedikt), Edgaras Montvidas, Justina Gringytė, Indre Viskontas.
The diversity of the modern national opera is represented by: Lokys (The Bear, 2000),[16] Geros dienos (Have a Godd Day!, 2011),[17] Cornet (2014),[18] Post Futurum (2018),[19] Prūsai (The Prussians, 2018).
[20] Modern opera Sun & Sea (Marina) (2019)[21] was presented at Venice Biennale, Lithuanian pavilion and was awarded The Golden Lion for best national participation.
In 1971, despite being behind the Iron Curtain in Soviet occupied Lithuania Kęstutis Antanėlis has staged the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar - just one year after its album release.
In 1973 director Arūnas Žebriūnas [lt], composer Vyacheslav Ganelin, and poet Sigitas Geda created Velnio nuotaka (Devil's bride), the first Lithuanian musical film.
In 1974 the first Lithianian theatre musical Ugnies medžioklė su varovais (Fire Hunt with Beaters) (composer - Giedrius Kuprevičius, libretto - Saulius Šaltenis, Liudas Jacinevičius) was staged.
The first local rock bands started to emerge around 1965 and included Kertukai, Aitvarai and Nuogi ant slenksčio (Naked On A Threshold)[24] in Kaunas, and Kęstutis Antanėlis, Vienuoliai (The Monks), and Gėlių Vaikai (Flower Childs) in Vilnius, among others.
Unable to express their opinions directly, the Lithuanian artists began organizing patriotic Roko Maršai and were using metaphors in their songs' lyrics, which were easily identified for their true meanings by the locals.
For example, in the song Zombiai (Zombies), the band indirectly sang about the Red Army soldiers who occupied the state and its military base in Ukmergė.
Their first up-tempo albums reminded listeners of early records from Scottish hardcore punk legends The Exploited, while later Turboreanimacija embarked on the power-punk road.
More recent acts of this genre are ska-punk band Dr.Green (who are famous for their numerous DIY activities and intensive touring through the punk scenes of Europe), street-punkers Toro Bravo and hardcorists Bora and Mountainside.
[40] Soviet occupation destroyed much of the vibrant cultural life, cafes were closed, jazz was considered as an ideologically and politically charged music of the West.
