Page 168 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2020. Konservatoriji: profesionalizacija in specializacija glasbenega dela ▪︎ The conservatories: professionalisation and specialisation of musical activity. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 4
P. 168
konservator iji: profesionalizacija in specializacija glasbenega dela
The musical field was constructed as a permanent search for balance
between opposing ideas and visions. The prevailing conservatism has led
many people to settle for a certain consensus. This is why a composer like
Gruodis was able to establish himself as a rallying force.
The boundaries between traditionalist, moderate and modernist com-
posers were blurred through a general policy of a basic and solid education,
even though the influence of younger colleagues on the general atmosphere
was increasingly making itself felt.
While the first decade after independence in 1918 was dedicated to
the institutional development of the education system, the second dec-
ade brought new ideas. Despite a rather hostile atmosphere, Kačinskas and
Bacevičius founded The Society of Progressist Musicians (1932) in order to
promote contemporary music.
Their vision of modern music was closer to the Western musical
avant-garde than to neo-folklorism popular in Lithuanian music of
the time …16
Thanks to them, Lithuania joined the International Society for Contempo-
rary Music (ISCM) in 1936, and Kačinskas’ Nonet was even played in 1938
during the ISCM days in London.
It is only from this second decade that we can start talking about the
“normal” development of a musical life in a free country, which, unfortu-
nately, was brutally interrupted by the Second World War, and by a new oc-
cupation, this time Soviet.
From collective needs to individual visions
It is natural that the initial idea of m usic education, which was to join col-
lective forces to meet the needs of a young state, gradually gave way to indi-
vidual ambitions and personal visions.
Jeronimas Kačinskas said:
The concept of nationality must be taken in a broad sense. Lithua-
nian specificity cannot be linked only to the structure and spirit of
old folk songs. Why, by looking for the Lithuanian character in old
songs, in Lithuanian nature, its forests, rivers and lakes, why does
one bypass the most important source of identity, namely one’s own
16 Rūta Stanevičiūtė, “Introduction,” in Vytautas Bacevičius in Context, eds. Rūta
StanevičiūtėandVeronikaJanatjeva(Vilnius:LithuanianComposers’Union,2009),10.
166
The musical field was constructed as a permanent search for balance
between opposing ideas and visions. The prevailing conservatism has led
many people to settle for a certain consensus. This is why a composer like
Gruodis was able to establish himself as a rallying force.
The boundaries between traditionalist, moderate and modernist com-
posers were blurred through a general policy of a basic and solid education,
even though the influence of younger colleagues on the general atmosphere
was increasingly making itself felt.
While the first decade after independence in 1918 was dedicated to
the institutional development of the education system, the second dec-
ade brought new ideas. Despite a rather hostile atmosphere, Kačinskas and
Bacevičius founded The Society of Progressist Musicians (1932) in order to
promote contemporary music.
Their vision of modern music was closer to the Western musical
avant-garde than to neo-folklorism popular in Lithuanian music of
the time …16
Thanks to them, Lithuania joined the International Society for Contempo-
rary Music (ISCM) in 1936, and Kačinskas’ Nonet was even played in 1938
during the ISCM days in London.
It is only from this second decade that we can start talking about the
“normal” development of a musical life in a free country, which, unfortu-
nately, was brutally interrupted by the Second World War, and by a new oc-
cupation, this time Soviet.
From collective needs to individual visions
It is natural that the initial idea of m usic education, which was to join col-
lective forces to meet the needs of a young state, gradually gave way to indi-
vidual ambitions and personal visions.
Jeronimas Kačinskas said:
The concept of nationality must be taken in a broad sense. Lithua-
nian specificity cannot be linked only to the structure and spirit of
old folk songs. Why, by looking for the Lithuanian character in old
songs, in Lithuanian nature, its forests, rivers and lakes, why does
one bypass the most important source of identity, namely one’s own
16 Rūta Stanevičiūtė, “Introduction,” in Vytautas Bacevičius in Context, eds. Rūta
StanevičiūtėandVeronikaJanatjeva(Vilnius:LithuanianComposers’Union,2009),10.
166
