OPERA IN THE MUSIC HISTORY OF LATVIA: PERIODIZATION, FACTS, CHRONOLOGY

Abstract

The history of opera in the current territory of Latvia dates back to the first examples of the genre in the court of Duke of Courland-Semigallia. The article provides systematically collected facts and a chronology of opera in the music history of Latvia. The facts and chronology basically is described in following periods:
– An explicit period influenced by several external (contextual) factors until the
proclamation of independent Republic of Latvia in 1918;
– First period of Latvian independence 1918–1940;
– Occupation by USSR 1940–1941 and 1944–1991 divided in three sub-periods:
      – the second half of 1940s and 1950s (late Stalinist period),
      – the end of the 1950s and 1960s (Khruschev’s Thaw in USSR culture),
      – the 1970s and 1980s (late Soviet era);
– Restoration of independence of Latvia in 1990–1991 and the following period
until 2022.