REQUIEM IN LATVIAN MUSIC. SEEKING FOR THE INVARIANT OF THE GENRE

Abstract

Among the various genres of music a specific area is taken up by those of sacred music. Their origin, formation and development has been closely associated with church ceremonies and liturgy. But a lot of genres have also proved to be viable outside the sacred space. One of them, most comprehensively developed and revealed, proves to be the requiem. The genre of requiem in Latvian music should be considered within the context of the 20th century. In the field of our musical creations it proves to be a comparatively new genre, dating back only one hundred years or so. The series of requiems in Latvian music starts with Latvian Requiem (Latvju rekviēms, 1921) by Emilis Melngailis, later followed by Concert Requiem (Koncerts rekviēms, 1967) by Pauls Dambis and other requiems by such composers as Viktors Baštiks (1979), Ilona Breģe (1997), Pēteris Butāns (1999), Romualds Jermaks (2002), Georgs Pelēcis (2006) and some others. Although the number of requiems in Latvian music is rather insignificant one has to admit that the above genre has been interpreted by composers in a multiplicity of singular ways, displaying fundamentals of the genre in question alongside with an individual music handwriting.