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There has not been any research concerning the problem of the disclosing of the portraits of the country in the twentieth century Lithuanian academic scenic music - operas and ballets. Instead, there are many analyses of music language, music technologies, and the stylistics of the composition. The analysis of the plot reveals the psychological characteristics of the main characters, their social role and the influence of their rural environment, but does not emphasize the portraits of the culture of the country. The majority of the plots of the Lithuanian academic music compositions in the twentieth century correlate with the rural living, thus with the romanticism: the operas "Pagirėnai" by St. Šimkus, "Dalia" (1957) by B. Dvarionas, "The Drowned Girl" (1958) by V. Baumilas, ";the ballets "The Fiancée" (1941) by J. Pakalnis, "At the Shore of the Sea" (1953) by J. Juzeliūnas. Even though the West Europe romanticism predominated only at the nineteenth century, it prevailed in Lithuania until the middle of the twentieth century as a result of the dominance of the socialistic government as well as socialistic naturalism. The portraits of the life of the Lithuanian country appear in ballets and operas, which are based on ethnic myths. These compositions reveal Lithuanian ethnic songs, dances, and ancient customs. Nonetheless, there are numerous pieces, where the theme of the country, its social relation and its way of life is selected deliberately and is introduced by the means of traditional opera or even musical drama. The first Lithuanian scenic opus in the twentieth century (the operas "Birutė", "Eglė, the Queen of Grass-snakes" by M. Petrauskas, the ballet "Jūratė ir Kastytis" by J. Gruodis) where mainly correlated with legends and myths, not the realia of the country life. Nevertheless, these pieces contain fragments of ethnic songs and customs, vague hints of rural community. That is way these compositions are related to the portraits of the Lithuanian rural way of life. In the first part of the ballet "Jurate ir Kastytis" (by J. Gruodis) the ancient Lithuanian legend is combined with the reality of the Lithuanian village: the dance of the sea-shore village residents, who are greeting the returning fishermen, is demonstrated. This act can be understood as a scenic example of strong relationships among the villagers. J. Gruodis deliberately expresses the Lithuanian character by introducing quotes from Lithuanian folk songs: "Good Morning, Young Girl", "Oh, on the Hill" (Gaudrimas, 1964), "The Little Apple Tree", "How the Guelder Rose Grew". In the first Lithuanian opera, according to V. Landsbergis (1976), "M. Petrauskas does not quote any Lithuanian songs' melodies, even more, he does not try to introduce any folk songs' intonation to his own melodies; it was not yet time for that point of view", nevertheless, Birute answers the Crusaders, that "My father's house is nicer than anything else, as well as the hillock overgrown by the pine grove" (Landsbergis, 1976, 256). These words are an allusion to an ethnic rural song. What is more, at the end of the opera a choir of reapers appears, thus providing a hint about Birute's original rural environment. The next opera of M. Petrauskas as well as the ballet of E. Balsys "Egle, the Queen of Grass-snakes", contain numerous fragments of the rural life, even though these pieces are based on ethnic myths. One of the first Lithuanian composers St. Šimkus was knowingly interested in the Lithuanian country. His opera "Pagirenai" (1939, staged at Kaunas Theatre in 1942) reveals the relations between young betrothed villagers' Danute and Pranas and the landlord Dargailis and the overseer of the estate Spoksa, who secretly try to separate the pair. Luckily, the young pair avoids the deception. The composer unveils the correlation between country dwellers and Christian morality. The scenes of the rural life are revealed in the ballet "Matchmaking" (1933) (by B. Dvarionas, libretto by Liudas Gira). The story evolves at a villager's house, where two men (the first one young and poor, the second one - old and wealthy) try to propose to the villager's daughters. The ballet was shown in Monte Carlo and London in 1937. The scenography was awarded with a gold medal at the Paris World's fair. .ASA-Even more dramatically the relationship between villagers and landlords is revealed in the ballet "Fiancée" by J. Pakalnis (1941-42, premier night in 1943, libretto by Stasys Santvaras). The manor overseer Pustapedis comes to villagers' Maryte and Antanas engagement feast and takes away some girls for hard work in the manor. They manage to escape; unfortunately, Maryte is captured and locked in the manor by the landlord Veblevskis. Finally, the serfs learn about the abolishment of the serfdom. Thus, new relationships begin to evolve between the village and the manor; Maryte and Antanas become free. The scenic compositions, that reveal historical times and events, introduce relationships that evolve and change in rural surroundings, for instance, the relations between the village and the estate in serfdom times (the opera "Dalia", 1957, by B. Dvarionas) and the relations between the country and the city. The story of the opera "Dalia", based on the play of B. Sruoga "Apyaušrio Dalia" (1941), takes place in the eighteenth century Lithuanian country and reveals the social relations between the village and the landlords. The main character Dalia returns from the city to her home village and becomes the main figure of the rebellion. The opposite between the country and the landlords is revealed in the opera "The Journey to Tilže" by E. Balsys. This peace correlates with the living in Lithuania Minor in the nineteenth century. The Protestantism at the village and the relations between Lithuanians at Lithuania Minor in the sixteenth century unfolds in the opera "Mažvydas" (1988, by A. Zigaityte), based on the play "Mažvydas" by J. Marcinkevicius; the opera "Donelaitis" (1988, libretto by A. Drilinga) by A. Bražinskas, reveals the lifestyle and the relations among villagers in the seventeenth century. A new historical period, which began to change the relationships of the rural community, began after World War II, when the soviets reoccupied Lithuania and after the consolidation of the socialistic realism in music. J. Juzeliunas's ballet "At the Shore of the Sea" (1953) portrays the new way of life at the soviet collective-farm offishermen. The compositions of the authors of the twentieth century Lithuanian academic music reveal numerous issues of the Lithuanian country since the thirteenth century. The pieces disclose the problems of the relations between different social groups (the villagers and the landlords), the opposite between the city and the country and its influence on the rural way of life, furthermore, the relationships between the residents of the collective-farms. Thus diverse portraits of the rural culture are created in scenic compositions. Nowadays, Lithuanian composers are not interested in the country and its lifestyle. The realia of the rural life are revealed only in the titles of the postmodern compositions, for instance: "The Well" (V. Bartulis, 1999), "The Old Mill" (D. Raudonikyté-With, 1997), "The Ornaments of the Weathervane" (A. Bružas, 1999), "The Distaffs" (A. Bružas, 2004). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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In 1884 the prominent nation-builder Jonas Basanavičius declared that castle mounds and literature were the only appropriate elements from which to build the Lithuanian nation. Basanavičius's view, this article suggests, had a lasting influence on the public uses of history in twentieth-century Lithuania. The study explores the construction of two iconic images of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Trakai Castle and the 'Palace of Sovereigns' in Vilnius. Built in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Trakai Castle was once the seat of the Grand Duke of Lithuania, but fell into neglect before its reconstruction in the 1960s. Dating back to the thirteenth century, the Palace in Vilnius deteriorated during the eighteenth century, was dismantled at the beginning of the nineteenth, and has been completely rebuilt since 2000. It is striking that the reconstructions of castles were the largest state investments in culture in both the Soviet and post-Soviet regimes. The reconstruction of Trakai Castle was criticized on economic and ideological grounds by Nikita Khrushchev. The rebuilding of the Palace polarized Lithuanian intellectuals. The presentation compares the intellectual, social, and political rationales which underpinned the two projects and explores the changes and continuities in the uses of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania under the Soviet and post-Soviet regimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]