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This article is about the famous Lithuanian composer and artist Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875–1911), who studied and created in Leipzig, Warsaw, St Peterburg. Discussed is his fateful decision to speak the Lithuanian language and contribute to Lithuania’s national movement, as well as to return to Lithuania. In 1905, he was head of Warsaw’s Lithuanian choir and during this time began to harmonise Lithuanian folk songs, while in 1907 he became one of the founders of the Lithuanian Art Society, upheld the idea of Tautos namai, headed the Vilniaus kanklės choir, organised a second art exhibition, wrote articles on art and music – his goal was to educate society on what was real, individual, and Lithuanian in art. The relationship of Čiurlionis’ work with the cultural group Jaunoji Lenkija is explored in detail. Radoslaw Okulicz-Kozaryn’s book Lietuvis tarp Karaliaus-Dvasios įpėdinių presents the personalities within and ideas of Jaunoji Lenkija, one of the sources of Čiurlionis’ artistic aspirations. Although in Warsaw he was considered a successor of the Polish poet Juliusz Słowacki, Čiurlionis separated himself from the followers of the tradition of Polish romanticism in Vilnius, the modern Polish neo-romantics. Music and painting, sights and sounds helped him create his own mythology of Lithuania’s spirit and the Lithuanian Rebirth. Although Čiurlionis never live to see Lithuania’s declaration of independence in 1918, his work had great significance to and influence on this event. |
