Tekstai: gyvenimas ir kūryba

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: Sasnauskas Česlovas; Kompozitorius; Archyviniai šaltiniai; Sasnauskas Česlovas; Composer; Archival sources.

ENThis book contains documentary material on the life and work of the prominent Lithuanian musician Česlovas Sasnauskas (1867-1916). He was a composer, professional singer, organist, and choir conductor at the St. Catherine Catholic Church in St. Petersburg, a lecturer at the Catholic Spiritual Academy and the Catholic Seminary in St. Petersburg, an activist in the Lithuanian national movement, and the editor of the remarkable regular periodical "Lithuanian Music by Česlovas Sasnauskas" (1909-1910). ln Lithuania his patriotic and lyric songs are still in the choir repertoire, and his famous religious hymn “Maria, Maria" is sung in every church with all parishianers being even unaware of its author. Sasnauskas had a many-sided cultural personality. This is demonstrated by the diversity of this book: letters, items in the press, reiuews, polemical articles, while his lecturing at the St. Petersburg Catholic Spiritual Academy and Catholic Seminary also left longer texts - his lectures and educative articles on religious music and, particularly, on the history and practices of the plainsong.I studied the heritage of Sasnauskas for about a dozen years. A large volume on his life as a musician, on his many-sided activities, and a list of his works, bibliography and his writings was prepared for the press in the Soviet period. However, the publication met great ideological complications. I was blamed because of the incidental use in the text of such words as "church", "priest", "faith" and because his mother in a photograph had a prayer book in her hands. Later the cross on her prayer book was blotted out. In such circumstances, I made attempts to publish the work in separate pieces and did so in 1976 and 1978, and finally, the "Vaga" state publishing house published in 1980 the monograph "The Life and Work of Česlovas Sasnauskas". The writings of Česlovas Sasnauskas could not be included then. Now the Lithuanian Catholic Academy of Science has kindly agreed to publish this last part of my work. I hope that this work will effectively supplement the history of Lithuanian culture with primary sources. The Addendum to the presented collection of texts by Sasnauskas contains a number of letters sent to him by prominent personalities, mostly from the Lithuanian culture sphere. [From the publication]

• Muzikologija / Musicology
• Menotyra / Arts