Antano Kučingio gyvenimo atodangos jo memorialiniame palikime : recenzija
LTStraipsnio tikslas – apžvelgiant knygoje skelbiamą medžiagą, priminti A. Kučingio asmenybės ir meninės veiklos svarbą mūsų kultūrai bei prisidėti prie istorinės atminties išsaugojimo. 233 A. Kučingio laiškai, 34 įvairių asmenų laiškai jam, 119 nuotraukų, 27 dokumentų faksimilės, keletas spektaklių, koncertų programų, laiškų ir atvirlaiškių faksimilių, jo atsiminimai apie Pirmąjį ir Antrąjį pasaulinius karus, asmeninių daiktų nuotraukos – visa ši knygoje sudėta autentiška medžiaga byloja apie dramatišką menininko gyvenimo kelią sudėtingu istoriniu laiku.
ENAntanas Kučingis was one of the most prominent personalities in the history of Lithuanian culture. He was an incredibly talented singer, a headquarters officer of the Lithuanian Army, a military topographer, a political prisoner and a courageous fighter for Lithuanian identity. His multiple talents – the rich unique quality of his voice, its wide range and dynamics, the artist’s charisma, his expressive and suggestible performance – brought Antanas Kučingis great popularity in Lithuania and on theatre tours abroad. However, his breath-taking career as a singer was stopped in 1948, when he was sentenced to eight years in special gulags in the north of the Soviet Union; and when he finally came back to Lithuania, the remaining decades of his life were no longer so creative due to the repressions of the Soviet regime. A. Kučingis’ fund is now stored at M. and K. Petrauskai Lithuanian Music Museum, a department of Kaunas City Museum. The fund consists of more than 3, 700 exhibits, given to the museum by the artist himself and his children – his son Algimantas Kučingis and daughter Rasa Šleinienė, as well as some other citizens.The most valuable part of this fund, about 430 exhibits, became available to the public in 2012 with the appearance of a book about Kučingis. The book, which was published under the title “Antanas Kučingis. Letters. Documents. Reminiscences” and contains 448 pages, was prepared and comprised by a museologist Kristina Mikuličiūtė-Vaitkūnienė. The aim of this article is to give an overview of the material presented in the book as well as to highlight the importance of Kučingis’ life and creative activity to the history of Lithuanian people and thus contribute to the preservation of his cultural legacy. 233 letters written by Kučingis himself, 34 letters to him, 119 photographs, 27 document facsimiles, several performance and concert programs, facsimiles of letters and cards, Kučingis’ reminiscences about the First and Second World Wars, photographs of Kučingis’ personal items, all this authentic material that was put into the book speaks of the artist’s dramatic life in a complicated and harsh historical period. [From the publication]
