On 26 June at 5 p.m. VU Library opens the exhibition When I Am Singing, that’s when I Feel Happy at Franciszek Smuglewicz Hall. An exhibition is dedicated to the centenary of the Lithuanian Song Celebration. A century ago, on 23–25 August 1924, the first Song Celebration of the entire Lithuania took place in Kaunas. To mark the occasion and to highlight the significance of the event, the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania has declared the year 2024 as the year dedicated to the Song Celebration. From 29 June to 6 July of this year, the jubilee Lithuania’s Song Celebration Kad giria žaliuotų [May the Green Forest Grow] will be held in Vilnius.
“It is particularly pleasant that our summery exhibition will add to the festive Song Celebration that will start soon in Vilnius. Many valuable documents, namely manuscripts, rare books etc., are stored at VU Library, and they witness the history of this celebration that is undoubtedly significant to the entire Lithuania”, Director at Heritage Collections and Research Department Nijolė Klingaitė-Dasevičienė says. According to her, the exhibition will enrich one’s knowledge of Lithuanian folk songs, their collection and research as well as the significance of choral music in Lithuanian culture and the path towards the first Song Celebration.
The Song Celebration is an important part of Lithuania’s cultural identity distinguishing itself by unparalleled forms of expression, gathering a great variety of artist groups of various fields and generations, and fostering creative power of the public. The tradition of the national Song and Dance Celebration contributed to the formation of the national Lithuanian culture of the end of the 19th century – the first half of the 20th century. The national Song and Dance Celebration was both a significant expression of cultural identity and a way to preserve it; at the same time, it regularly gave an opportunity to put into action traditional cultural heritage. During the occupations, the tradition helped to maintain national identity and even fight for independence. It is for a reason that Lithuania’s liberation from the Soviet occupation and the restoration of the independence are called the singing revolution.
The title of the exhibition “When I am Singing, that’s when I Feel Happy” is a slightly modified verse from the poet Antanas Vienažindys’s poem Daina [Song]. According to literary scholar Paulius V. Subačius, this verse is a credo of Vienažindys, the essence of a singing soul and the poet’s fate, at the same time representing the fate of the nation. When referring to a miraculous power of songs, writer Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas would say, a song is a comforter, while composer Česlovas Sasnauskas said, a song relieves the feeling of distress, calms our soul, refreshes and uplifts us. The exhibition shows the abovementioned Vienažindys poem’s autograph and two versions of it that were recorded as folk songs by collectors of folklore in different regions of Lithuania at the turn of the 19th and 20th century. Poems by Antanas Vienažindys were very popular even during his lifetime and many of them were sung as folk songs.
The exhibition consists of two main parts. The first part is dedicated to folk songs, their collection and recording as a way of preservation as well as their research. The second part is dedicated to the creation of poets and composers of the 19th and the first half of the 20th century (on the one hand, both writers and composers often drew their inspiration on folk songs and art, and on the other hand, poems created by authors often would become folk songs), the tradition of choir music and the Song Celebration phenomenon.
Opening: on 26 June 2024, 5 p.m.
Exhibition period: 26 June 2024 – 10 October 2024
Location: VU Library, Franciszek Smuglewicz Hall (Universiteto str. 3, ground floor).
2024-06-17