Features of religious music of Laurynas Vakaris Lopas
ENA conductor, pedagogue and composer, Laurynas Vakaris Lopas (b. 1948) mostly writes music for children and compositions on the subject of religion. He began to compose church and religious music only in 1989. He has composed several Mass cycles (Missa brevis, Missa brevis quasi grigalis), other compositions for choir a cappella or with instrumental accompaniment (motet "Judas mercator", "Te Deum", hymns, "Stations" for soloist, choir and orchestra, etc.), the literary-musical composition "Dievo vaikai" (God's Children), as well as instrumental compositions with religious or liturgical titles. The paper analyses the features of Lopas' religious music and presents the composerís insights into his relationship with liturgy, as well as the situation of church music genres in Lithuania at the beginning of the 21st century. Lopasí creative work is characterised by moderate modernity, which in his sacred music points to the earliest church tradition (monody, organum), while the attention to the text and every word links his music to a later tradition - that of the rhetoric of baroque music. The texture of his music is often based on polyphony (polymeter, polyrhythmic, polytonality principles), while his melodies are based on archaic intonations (Lithuanian folk songs, Gregorian chant). Like other choir conductors who compose sacred music, Lopas continues the traditions of Lithuanian organists-choirmasters of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th century; he is well-versed in the possibilities of choir voices and employs them in his compositions. However, unlike a century ago, today composers' relationship with religion is more varied and requires conscious self-determination. Keywords: Laurynas Vakaris Lopas, Lithuanian church music, contemporary sacred music, religious music, liturgy, musical rhetoric. [From the publication]
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