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In the Soviet Union, song competitions had an important role in presenting new artists and songs. The Mikrofona aptauja contest of Latvian radio (1968–1994) was the main forum for new Latvian pop music. It had a reputation for expressing nationalist feelings within the limits of Soviet censorship. In 1988, with the rise of new political movements in the Soviet Union, the competition became a venue for the Latvian independence movement. The winning song of 1988 was a demand for 'freedom to the fatherland'. The competition also played a part in the rehabilitation of pre-war popular music which had been forbidden in Soviet Latvia. The paper discusses the role of journalists, politicians and songwriters in this process. After the privatisation of the economy, the song competition was taken over by private entrepreneurs, as public interest in political songs waned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Musicology of Lithuania / Lietuvos muzikologija is the property of Lithuanian Academy of Music & Theatre and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Collage as a musical technique is frequently used in music from the 20th and the 21st centuries. It reflects such essential features of contemporary art as multiculturalism, juxtaposition of chronologically or geographically distant traditions either in the form of dialogue, coexistence or confrontation. Collage may appear in different sections of a composition, however, its manifestation in the conclusion creates a particularly interesting interaction with another important feature of the 20th/21st century music ñ openness and ambivalence ñ because collage is frequently perceived as an unexpected turning point that does not provide an unambiguous solution. The goal of the paper is to characterize the most typical interpretations of the collage in the conclusion of musical works and to define their relations with the 20th/21st century music aesthetics. The discourse of researched music will include well-known compositions by authors of different epochs (Charles Ives, Alban Berg, Alfred Schnittke); however, the main focus will be on the analysis of some outstanding works from contemporary Latvian music (PÁteris Plakidis, «riks E?envalds, PÁteris Vasks), in order to reflect how the general aesthetic principles interact with the individualities of composers due to the use of the collage in the conclusion of a composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The idea of Latvian and Lithuanian unity thrived in the interwar period. At the same time the idea of unity of these two Baltic States was also cherished. Its expression was the cooperation in different spheres of culture, the exchange of performers. The soloists of Latvian opera and ballet Milda Brehmane--tengele, 'dolfs KaktiÚ', HelÁna Cinka-Berzinska, Nikolajs VasiÔjevs, HelÁna Tangijeva-Birzniece, Osvalds LÁmanis, EdÓte Feifere, Harijs Pl°cis and others arrived to perform in Kaunas. Choirs of the neighbouring country sang in Lithuania too: the University of Latvia Choir, the Menís choir Dziedonis, the Latvian Palace of Labour Choir, the Choir directed by Teodors Reiters and others. The article surveys the concert activities of such Latvian performers as opera soloists, ballet dancers, choirs, etc. in Lithuania during the interwar period. The research is based on the information available in written press, publications, reviews of opera, ballet performances and concerts published in the newspapers Lietuvos aidas, Lietuvos 'inios, Lietuva, etc. The attention is drawn to the cooperation between Latvian and Lithuanian artists that developed in interwar Lithuania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music, previously the Latvian Conservatoire was founded in 1919. Its first director until 1944 was Latvian composer Jāzeps Vītols (1863-1948). The library was founded soon after the Latvian Conservatoire was established. Over the past ninety-seven years, the small library has grown and developed into a modern printed, written, and recorded data storage and distribution facility. The Library is the oldest music and related literature repository in Latvia. It houses traditional forms of materials, and the library is now creating a collection of photos about the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music and Latvian music history. Currently the library consists of three departments, located in different rooms and floors of the Academy: Scores Department, Books Department, and Audiovisual Department. The library's primary objective is to ensure that students, faculty, and staff of the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music have access to required print materials (books, scores, periodicals), as well as sound and video recordings for study and research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the situation of music libraries and music collections in Latvia? What collections do you find there? What is acquired and what particularly valuable items await you there? We will find an answer to all these questions in this article. First, there is an overview of the music schools, orchestras, and libraries in which music are collected and kept. In more detail, we will take a look at the music library in the National Library and the Music Library of the Jāzeps Vītols Music Academy, where you will find the largest music collections in Latvia. We will detail the music scores as well as the rarities of the National Library. The following is a brief insight into the musical history of professional music in Latvia. This article provides you with information regarding the Riga IAML conference in June 2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is one of the most popular Catholic feasts in Latvia and Lithuania. In Latvia, it is prominently celebrated in Aglona and in Lithuania - in Krekenava and Pivašiūnai. The decoration of celebrations is the religious hymns. These hymns and music have not been researched in the field of religious ethnology. For this research, the following objectives were set: firstly, to shortly introduce the historical origins of the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary; secondly, to reveal these hymns and music; and thirdly, to investigate the origins of literary and music texts of these hymns. The results of the research validate the hypothesis set at the beginning of the research: the music of the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Aglona from Lithuania (Krekenava and Pivašiūnai) reveals a wider spectrum of hymns and all these regions are united by the fact that these songs of literary and musical texts are of local origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Music Science Today: The Permanent & the Changeable / Mūzikas Zinātne Šodien: Pastāvīgais un Mainīgais is the property of Daugavpils University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The impetuous march of the Nazi Germany army towards the East in the beginning of the Second World War in June 1941 took around 53 000 Latvian inhabitants from Latvia occupied by the USSR to the Red Army services. For some it was their own choice, for others—no one asked for their will. Consequently, in Russia there were two main gathering places for Latvians, where even under the harsh circumstances of war and Stalin's terror a national cultural life evolved, including musical activities. One of these places was the 201st division of Latvian riflemen established in the fall of 1941 by the Red Army. Initially, this division was based in the southern region of Moscow, where more than 10 000 soldiers resided at the dawn of the war. Here not only the military brass bands and other bands gathered, it was also the place where a periodical was issued, competitions and quizzes on the lyrics and music of the riflemen's songs were carried out and some of the awarded songs were popular throughout several years in a row. Furthermore, Latvian ethnic festivities were celebrated. There were hundreds of concerts organised under the circumstances of front. Another gathering place for professional artists and amateurs was the Latvian SSR National Ensemble with more than 120 participants in the city of Ivanovo in Moscow suburbs—with a choir, theatre, solo vocalists, orchestra, dance and puppet theatre groups. In this Ensemble founded and generously funded by the Soviet state, Latvian cultural specialists could find a shelter from the wartime misery. Besides, it was an opportunity to work together and within their professions. Several theatre and music specialists were offered places at the Moscow Conservatory or other institutions of art. The participants of the Ensemble gave concerts and shows both at the state institutions in a rather wide territory of Russia and in the battlefront area, as well as in the big cities, including Moscow and the sieged Leningrad. The choir led by composer Jānis Ozoliņš next to the mandatory songs of the Soviet propaganda paid a huge attention to Latvian folk songs and national classics. They used to perform in Latvian ethnographic costumes. The number of concerts given by the choir during the war years reached 1000. The pianist Hermanis Brauns was the leading teacher of solo vocalists (the repetiteur) and the accompanying pianist. His groups of solo vocalists were touring around the big cities of Russia, including the regions of Siberia. In April 1943 the Ensemble organised the Latvian Week of Culture in Moscow, where with the help of Russian musicians opera Rūta (Ruth) composed by Nilss Grīnfelds was performed to honour this event. Other important concerts also took place. Of course, above all this event had to popularise the Soviet propaganda. The solo vocalist of Latvian National Opera Elfrīda Pakule, who happened to be at the Red Army front due to an accident, received an offer to be the lead vocalist in Giuseppe Verdi opera La Traviata in the branch of the Moscow Bolshoi Theatre. With this performance and 15 solo concerts in prestigious music halls all over Moscow she became hugely popular. Several other Latvian vocalists also performed on this Moscow stage. The participants of the Ensemble returned to the re-occupied Latvia in the fall of 1944 in a troop train together with the specially trained ad hoc teams of political and administrative employees to implement the Sovietisation of Latvia. The regime had high expectations of the Ensemble as the cornerstone of Latvian Sovietisation. In Russia they had become acquainted with the peculiarities of the Soviet cultural apparatus and the functions of ideological institutions. Many of the participants of the Ensemble were offered the leading positions in cultural establishments. Then it became the matter of one’s voice of conscience, whether to use this experience for the sake of the national culture or for the servile service to the Soviet regime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Musicology of Lithuania / Lietuvos muzikologija is the property of Lithuanian Academy of Music & Theatre and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Musicology of Lithuania / Lietuvos muzikologija is the property of Lithuanian Academy of Music & Theatre and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Musicology of Lithuania / Lietuvos muzikologija is the property of Lithuanian Academy of Music & Theatre and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article is devoted to the problem of defining a current contemporary Latvian music in front of programmatic music. The current is named in this research " music concept " because it has its core an idea or concept that controls the hardware. To place this type of music in history and teach in a histoirique context, it is important to distinguish the principles of romantic and modern music. Music concept that appeared to Latvia in the first decade of the 21st century , like the programmatic music in some aspects : they both have an extra-musical content (located outside of music , you could say ) and a semantic code leaves "translate" extra-musical ideas into sound. Nevertheless, the music is different concept of programmatic music primarily by its specific code. Semantic concept is worked into the deep structure of the work : calculated in mathematical figures of rhythm, for example. This is why we can not hear or read in the musical score. The idea is hidden, it does not open by only associations. Beyond code, music concept is organized by a principle called space-time . It is a metaphorical term for a musicology in which however is limited by the means of expression moving structure - by a certain figure of rhythm or harmonic formula . The term music concept is borrowed from the current avant-garde music represented by John Cage, La Monte Young and colleagues. It appears in Europe and the United States in the 60 - 20th century art, and also had an extra-musical idea , and coded a very simple and limited equipment . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prohibition of sacred music during the period of Soviet Latvia was exerted like a syndrome of forbidden fruit, that was breached in the underground way and developed in secret and complicated forms, in which the central is secular music genres' and radical musical language's using. A re-reading of texts will lead to a more nuanced understanding of the development of sacred music in Latvia and other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses an anthology of Latvian music, which contains twelve volumes dedicated to choral and sacred music recorded by the Riga Chamber Choir "AVE SOL", a discography. It mentions several music composers represented in Volume I of the Latvian Choral Anthology including Ādams Ore, Andrejs Jurjāns and Kārlis Baumanis. Several music composers represented in Volume II of the Latvian Choral Anthology are presented including Emilis Melngailis and J&#257nis Ivanovs.

Copyright of Musicology of Lithuania / Lietuvos muzikologija is the property of Lithuanian Academy of Music & Theatre and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The purpose of this study was to describe and discuss the way students of the Latvian Academy of Music teach before having entered a teacher training programme. Five hours of students’ teaching work was video-taped, analysed and discussed with them between the spring of 2010 and the winter of 2011. The descriptive and analytic results of this study were also contrasted with their own views on pedagogy, which were drawn from a previous study that had been conducted with the same students and their peers in the fall of 2009. The role of the teaching habits and skills that students have acquired from their own teaching, temperament or background is discussed, as well as their needs starting teacher training. Suggestions for improving teacher training practices are put forth. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Culture in Latvia in 1930ties was a mass culture that was strongly controlled by the authoritative regime. Society's musical taste was ideologically important and it could be manipulated using censorship. Relationship between "serious"" and "popular" music always has been difficult. Academics that represented classical music where influenced by national ideology and raised questions about developing society's musical taste. They set ethical standards for the popular music and hoped to control its eligibility. Academics wrote that people enjoyed catchy melodies that didn't ask for high level musical education. An important task for Latvian academic music was recruiting professional musicians for the popular music genre to create, for example, good quality dance music that was up to Latvian traditional standards. The results were achieved by partly limiting and translating the program of Radiofons. Second half of 1930ties, under the authoritative regime of Kārlis Ulmanis, was characterized by censorship that influenced also record production and import. Big impact on the progress of Latvian music recording and increase of popular music's publicity was left by Helmars Rudzītis who was the director of record studio Bellaccord- Electro which provided a place to record music in Latvia. By the end of 1930ties the censorship began to suppress also the content of musical records, limited production volume and interfered with export. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Latvian hymnals of the Moravian Church. According to the article, Nikolaus Ludwig Graf von Zinzendorf, the founder of the Moravian movement in Livonia, was a great believer in song as a vehicle of religion. Brother Magnus Friedrich Buntebarth is believed to have translated the first Moravian hymnals into Lithuanian. The article discusses the work of composers such as Christopher Fürecker, Nicolaus Hespe, Gerhard Remling, Svante Gustav Dietz, Heinrich Adolphi, and Johann Wischmann.

The study evaluated influence of ethnographic song singing and national costume to the bioenergetic glow, fixed by the gas-discharge visualization camera and analyzed with the specialized computer programs. For the initiating glow transformations, used the most frequent and most recent version of national costume from Alsunga civil parish. The study methodology surveys the groups of experiment participants, the experimental process and the resulting data processing methodology. In the experiment took part two groups of participants: five ethnographic ensemble "Suitu sievas„ members and four women, whose daily life is not related with the ethnographic activities. During the experiment obtained 720 gas-discharge visualization bioelectrogramms. Clarified in the study analyzed parameters (activation coefficient, integral area and integral entropy) meaning and the their numerical values. In the analysis of basic parameters studied out national costume wearing and ethnographic songs singing influence on human health and the importance of materiality levels. Ethnographic ensemble "Suitu sievas„ membership has smaller oscillation amplitude (1,1 - 4,9%) than those participants, which are not related to the everyday ethnographica lactivities (1,6 - 18,0%). Women who are not accustomed to national costume and ethnographical singing, respond vigorously to these stimuli. Long-standing coherence with folk dress takes a crucial role in the amount of exposure and quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editor discusses articles within the issue on topics including an anthology of Latvian music, finnish folk culture exploring the difficulties of an oft-oppressed people and their history and the life of music director Dr. H. G. Young III.