September 18, 2017.Čiurlionis.Here’s a composer whom we’ve managed to overlook all these years: Mikalojus Čiurlionis.He’s celebrated in Lithuania the way Smetana and Dvořák are celebrated in the Czech Republic – as a national composer.But he was more than that, he was also a very interesting painter.Čiurlionis was born onSeptember 22nd of 1875 in the south of Lithuania, in a village of Senoji Varėna which was then part of the Russian Empire.Though Lithuanian by nationality, the family’s language was Polish, as was customary with the educated Lithuanians of that time (the upper-class Russians used to speak better French than Russian).The triad of cultures, Lithuanian, Polish and Russian was to influence Čiurlionis’s life and creative development.When Mikalojus was two, the family moved to Druskininkai, a pretty spa town on the river Neman. There his father worked as a church organist. Musically talented, Mikalojus started playing piano by ear at the age of four and could fluently read music at seven.In 1889, he was sent to a music school in the town of Plungė.The school was established by Prince Michał Ogiński, a Polish nobleman and diplomat, who served as a Senator to Czar Alexander I of Russia.Ogiński was also an amateur composer, the author of the so-called Oginski Polonaise, very popular in Russian and Poland.On a scholarship Mikalojus was sent to the Warsaw Conservatory, where he studied for five years, from 1894 to 1899.Čiurlionis started seriously composing around 1900.He briefly studied at the Leipzig Conservatory, but by 1902 was back in Warsaw.It was there that he started painting and two years later entered the newly-established Warsaw School of Fine Arts.
In 1905, he traveled to the Caucuses and was enthralled by the landscape and the local.1905 was the year of the Revolution in Russia.Even though in the end it didn’t amount to much, it stirred up national movements in countries on the periphery of the Russian Empire.Čiurlionis returned to Lithuania in 1907, settled in Vilnius and became very active in the arts movement, both visual and musical.He organized the first Lithuanian Arts exhibition, and also became very interested in Lithuanian songs and folk music, like Bartók and Kodály in Hungary.Till that time his knowledge of the Lithuanian language was limited, Polish being his native tongue, but he met a young woman, Sofija Kymantaitė, who agreed to teach him Lithuanian.Soon she became his wife.This was a time of great creative activity, as he was painting and composing music at a great pace.In 1908 Čiurlionis went to St. Petersburg, where he became involved with the painters of the Mir Iskusstva.His music was performed in the leading salons of the Russian capital, while his art was displayed by the Union of Russian Artists.Unfortunately, by the end of 1909, even as his career was on an upswing and he was feted by the major artists and musicians, he descended into a severe depression.He returned to Druskininkai and then was moved to a sanatorium outside of Warsaw.In April of 1911, while there, he caught a cold, developed pneumonia and died on April 10th.He was 35.
Here’s Čiurlionis’s early big symphonic work, In the Forest, written in 1900.Vladimir Fedoseyev conducts the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra.The paining above is the tenth in his series, Creation of the World.
Čiurlionis, 2017
September 18, 2017. Čiurlionis. Here’s a composer whom we’ve managed to overlook all these years: Mikalojus Čiurlionis. He’s celebrated in Lithuania the way Smetana and Dvořák are celebrated in the Czech Republic – as a national composer. But he was more than that, he was also a very interesting painter. Čiurlionis was born onSeptember 22nd of 1875 in the south of Lithuania, in a village of Senoji Varėna which was then part of the Russian Empire. Though Lithuanian by nationality, the family’s language was Polish, as was customary
with the educated Lithuanians of that time (the upper-class Russians used to speak better French than Russian). The triad of cultures, Lithuanian, Polish and Russian was to influence Čiurlionis’s life and creative development. When Mikalojus was two, the family moved to Druskininkai, a pretty spa town on the river Neman. There his father worked as a church organist. Musically talented, Mikalojus started playing piano by ear at the age of four and could fluently read music at seven. In 1889, he was sent to a music school in the town of Plungė. The school was established by Prince Michał Ogiński, a Polish nobleman and diplomat, who served as a Senator to Czar Alexander I of Russia. Ogiński was also an amateur composer, the author of the so-called Oginski Polonaise, very popular in Russian and Poland. On a scholarship Mikalojus was sent to the Warsaw Conservatory, where he studied for five years, from 1894 to 1899. Čiurlionis started seriously composing around 1900. He briefly studied at the Leipzig Conservatory, but by 1902 was back in Warsaw. It was there that he started painting and two years later entered the newly-established Warsaw School of Fine Arts.
In 1905, he traveled to the Caucuses and was enthralled by the landscape and the local. 1905 was the year of the Revolution in Russia. Even though in the end it didn’t amount to much, it stirred up national movements in countries on the periphery of the Russian Empire. Čiurlionis returned to Lithuania in 1907, settled in Vilnius and became very active in the arts movement, both visual and musical. He organized the first Lithuanian Arts exhibition, and also became very interested in Lithuanian songs and folk music, like Bartók and Kodály in Hungary. Till that time his knowledge of the Lithuanian language was limited, Polish being his native tongue, but he met a young woman, Sofija Kymantaitė, who agreed to teach him_-_1905.jpg "Ciurlionis, Creation of the world, X")
Lithuanian. Soon she became his wife. This was a time of great creative activity, as he was painting and composing music at a great pace. In 1908 Čiurlionis went to St. Petersburg, where he became involved with the painters of the Mir Iskusstva. His music was performed in the leading salons of the Russian capital, while his art was displayed by the Union of Russian Artists. Unfortunately, by the end of 1909, even as his career was on an upswing and he was feted by the major artists and musicians, he descended into a severe depression. He returned to Druskininkai and then was moved to a sanatorium outside of Warsaw. In April of 1911, while there, he caught a cold, developed pneumonia and died on April 10th. He was 35.
Here’s Čiurlionis’s early big symphonic work, In the Forest, written in 1900. Vladimir Fedoseyev conducts the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra. The paining above is the tenth in his series, Creation of the World.