B. Dwarionas, a multifaceted artist, composer, pianist, conductor, teacher, played a significant role in the development of Lithuanian musical culture. His work is inextricably linked to Lithuanian folk music. It was she who caused the melody of the musical language of Dwarionas, based on the intonations of folk songs; simplicity and clarity of form, harmonic thinking; rhapsodic, improvisational presentation. Dwarionas’ compositional work was organically combined with his performing activities.
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B. Dwarionas, a multifaceted artist, composer, pianist, conductor, teacher, played a significant role in the development of Lithuanian musical culture. His work is inextricably linked to Lithuanian folk music. It was she who caused the melody of the musical language of Dwarionas, based on the intonations of folk songs; simplicity and clarity of form, harmonic thinking; rhapsodic, improvisational presentation. Dwarionas’ compositional work was organically combined with his performing activities. In 1924 he graduated from the Leipzig Conservatory in the piano class with R. Taichmüller, then improved with E. Petrie. From his student years he performed as a concert pianist, toured in France, Hungary, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden.Dvarionas brought up a whole galaxy of performers - since 1926 he led a piano class at the Kaunas Music School, since 1933 - at the Kaunas Conservatory. From 1949 until the end of his life he was a professor at the Lithuanian State Conservatory. Durionas was also engaged in conducting. Already being a mature conductor, he passes external examinations with G. Abendroth in Leipzig (1939). Conductor N. Malko, who toured in Kaunas in the early 30s, said of Dwarionas: "He is a conductor with innate abilities, a sensitive musician who is aware of what is needed and what can be demanded from the orchestra entrusted to him." It is difficult to overestimate the importance of Dwarionas in the promotion of national professional music: one of the first Lithuanian conductors, he set himself the goal of performing works of Lithuanian composers not only in Lithuania, but also throughout the country and abroad. He was the first to conduct the symphonic poem by M. K. Ciurlionis “The Sea”, included in the programs of his concerts the works of J. Gruodis, J. Karnavičius, J. Tallat-Kalpshi, A. Raciunas and others. Durionas also performed works by Russian, Soviet and foreign composers. In 1936, in bourgeois Lithuania, under his leadership, the First Symphony of D. Shostakovich was performed. In 1940 Dvarionas organized and headed the Vilnius City Symphony Orchestra, in the 40-50s he was the chief conductor of the Lithuanian Philharmonic Orchestra, the chief conductor of the republican Song Festivals. “The song makes people happy. Joy: gives birth to life, to creative work, wrote Dvarionas after the Vilnius city song festival in 1959. Durionas-conductor communicated with the largest musicians of our century: S. Prokofiev, I. Hoffman, A. Rubinstein, E. Petri, E. Gilels, G. Neuhaus.The first large-scale composition of the composer was the ballet “Matchmaking” (1931). Together with Yuri Gruodis - the author of the ballet "Yurate and Castitis" - and V. Baciavičius, who wrote the ballet "In the Whirlwind of Dance", Dvarionas was at the origins of this genre in Lithuanian music. The next significant milestone was the "Festival Overture" (1946), also known as "At the Amber Coast". In this orchestral picture, dramatic impetuous, swift themes alternate with lyrical, based on folklore intonations. On the 30th anniversary of the Great October, Dwarionas wrote the Symphony in E minor, the first Lithuanian symphony. Its content defines the epigraph: "I bow before my native land." This symphonic canvas is permeated with love for native nature, for its people. Almost all the themes of the Symphony are intonationally close to Lithuanian folklore. A year later, one of Dwarionas’ best compositions appeared – Concerto for Violin and Orchestra (1948), which became a significant achievement of national musical art. This work is associated with the entry of Lithuanian professional music into the all-Union and international arena. Saturating the fabric of the Concert with folk-song intonations, the composer embodies in it the traditions of the lyrical and romantic concert of the XIX century. The composition conquers with melody, generosity of kaleidoscopically changing thematic material. The score of the concert is clear and transparent. Dvarionas uses folk songs "Autumn morning" and "Beer, beer" (the second recorded by the composer). In 1950 Dvarionas together with the composer I. Shvyadas wrote the National Anthem of the Lithuanian SSR on the words of A. Wentslov. The genre of the instrumental concerto is represented in the work of Dwarionas by three more works. These are 2 concertos for his favorite piano instrument (1960, 1962) and a concerto for horn and orchestra (1963). The first piano concert is a deeply emotional composition dedicated to the 20th anniversary of Soviet Lithuania. Original thematic material of the concert, 4 parts of which, despite their contrast, are united by related themes based on folklore material. So, in part 1 and in the finale, a modified motif of the Lithuanian folk song “Oh, the fire is burning” sounds. The colorful orchestration of the composition shades the part of the solo piano. Inventive timbre combinations, so, in the slow 3rd part of the concert, the piano sounds contrapuntal in a duet with a horn. The composer uses his favorite method of presentation in the concert - rhapsodicity, especially clearly manifested in the development of the themes of part 1. The composition contains many episodes of genre-dance character, reminiscent of folk sutartines. The second piano concerto is written for soloist and chamber orchestra, dedicated to the youth who own the future. In 1954, at the Decade of Lithuanian Literature and Art in Moscow, Dvarionas’ cantata “Hello to Moscow” (on T. Tilvitis’s article) for baritone, mixed choir and orchestra was performed. This work became a kind of preparation for the only opera Dvarionas - "Dalya" (1958), written on the plot of the drama B. Sruoga "Predawn Share" (libr. I. Matskonis). The opera is based on a plot from the history of the Lithuanian people - a brutally suppressed uprising of the Gemaiti peasants in 1769. The main heroine of this historical canvas - Dalia Radailaite - dies, preferring death to slavery. “When you listen to the music of Dwarionas, you feel the composer’s amazing penetration into the soul of his people, the nature of his land, its history, its present days. As if the heart of our native Lithuania expressed all the most significant and intimate through the music of its most talented composer. In Lithuanian music Dwarionas rightfully occupies its special and significant place. His work is not only the golden fund of the art of the republic. It adorns the entire multinational Soviet musical culture. (E. Svetlanov)