It is a meaningful tradition fostered by the Vilnius Festival – to remember, reflect and commemorate the Day of Mourning and Hope through music. The 29th Festival will celebrate this day on its eve with the programme Tikėjimo ir vilties invokacijos (Invocations of Faith and Hope) at the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall. The programme will include works by Lithuanian composers: Onutė Narbutaitė’s Melodija Alyvų sode (A Melody in the Garden of Olives, Symphony No. 2, mvt. 2 – Melodija (Melody)) and Algirdas Martinaitis’ oratorio Tikėjimo ir vilties invokacijos (Invocations of Faith and Hope). The programme will be performed by the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra (LNSO), Kaunas State Choir, narrator Darius Meškauskas, conductor Robertas Šervenikas.
On the eve of a historically important date for Lithuania, evoking much pain and gloomy experiences, and even more so in the face of the ongoing war, the greatest Lithuanian music collectives and well-known composers, the winners of the National Prize for Culture and Art, summon us not to lose hope and to keep our signposts of values. Algirdas Martinaitis’ six-movement oratorio for mixed choir, narrator and symphony orchestra Tikėjimo ir vilties invokacijos (Invocations of Faith and Hope), featured in tonight’s programme is a testimony to this.
Invocation (Latin: invocatio) means a cry, an appeal to us all. “In this time of war and world turmoil, the great suffering of the post-war exile and imprisonment of the Lithuanian people must become a sacred memory for us, a sacred reflection for the present and the future,” says the composer. It is affirmed in the hopeful Final Invocation from the First Letter of John (1 Jn 4:7): “Dearest, let us love one another, for love comes from God.”
The work was written to commemorate the Year of Exiles and Political Prisoners. The composer used texts by Vincas Mykolaitis-Putinas and Maironis, as well as excerpts from psalms, the New Testament, the prayer book of the Lithuanian Freedom Fighters, sermons and letters by clergymen Alfonsas Svarinskas, Alfonsas Lipniūnas and Juozas Zdebskis.
Melodija Alyvų sode (A Melody in the Garden of Olives), according to Narbutaitė, resonates with Bach’s slow movements. She once called this music “a pure contemplation on death”.
Melodija Alyvų sode (A Melody in the Garden of Olives) takes several different forms. In 2000, the opus by that name for two string quartets and trumpet was commissioned by the Aksamytna kurtyna festival in Krakow, and it was the idea for the second movement of the Symphony in its chamber version. The orchestral version of this music, created in 2001 and entitled Melodija (Melody), together with the first movement, Simfonija (Symphony), forms a two-movement cycle, the Second Symphony. However, Melodija (Melody), originally conceived as an independent work, can be performed without the first movement. It then takes on a longer title, Melodija Alyvų sode (A Melody in the Garden of Olives), which alludes to Christ’s last prayer on the Mount of Olives. According to Narbutaitė, the birth of this music was accompanied by the reading of the New Testament and other texts, including Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem The Olive Garden.
“It’s simple singing, perhaps born out of desperation, but hopeful,” Narbutaitė herself has said of Melodija Alyvų sode (A Melody in the Garden of Olives), the second movement of Symphony No.2.
Robertas Šervenikas, the first conductor of many symphonic works by Lithuanian composers, will lead the most distinguished Lithuanian ensembles tonight. He has also conducted the premieres of these two opuses. Narbutaitė dedicated the Second Symphony to him.
Tonight’s concert features Darius Meškauskas as a narrator (Martinaitis’ Tikėjimo ir vilties invokacijos (Invocations of Faith and Hope)). One of the best-known and most titled Lithuanian actors, recipient of the National Prize for Culture and Art and other important awards, he has delivered significant roles in the productions of such directors as Oskaras Koršunovas (Strindberg’s Till Damaskus (To Damascus), Shakespeare’s Hamlet, Grajauskas’ Pašaliniams draudžiama (Forbidden to Outsiders), and Molière’s Tartuffe), Jonas Vaitkus (Ibsen’s En folkefiende (An Enemy of the People)), Eimuntas Nekrošius (Šaltenis’ Kalės vaikai (The Sons of a Bitch)), and Elmārs Seņkovs (Brecht’s Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder (Mother Courage and Her Children)), amongst other directors.
Vilnius Festival concert Invocations of Faith and Hope. LNSO, KSCH, Robertas Šervenikas, Darius Meškauskas will take place on Friday, 13 June at 19.00 in the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Concert Hall. All concerts of Vilnius Festival are announced on the website www.nationalphilharmonic.lt The festival is organised by the Lithuanian National Philharmonic Society and PI Vilnius Festivals, with the support of Vilnius City Municipality, Juozas and Laima Magelinskas and Artis Centrum Hotels.
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