To mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of the Lithuanian painter and composer Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1875–1911), who was also connected with Poland, the National Library of Poland organized an exhibition and concert at the Palace of the Republic in Warsaw. Among the exhibits, for example, is an album of reproductions of Čiurlionis’s paintings from the collection of Czesław Miłosz, printed in Vilnius in 1984. We can also see photographs from the time when Čiurlionis studied painting in Warsaw. Čiurlionis was not only a painter but also a composer.
The entire musical output of Čiurlionis was compiled by the Lithuanian musicologist, pianist, and educator Darius Kučinskas. In Vilnius, The Chronological Catalogue of the Music of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis was published in English. This work, prepared by Darius Kučinskas, was presented at the Palace of the Republic in Warsaw.
Darius Kučinskas: This book was published to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Čiurlionis's birth. This presentation is one of several – I have already given presentations in Vilnius, in Chicago, and in Washington. Now the book is being presented in Warsaw, because Čiurlionis spent around 10 years here. The book was published by the National Library of Lithuania. This is actually the second edition — the first one was published in Lithuania in a very limited number of copies. This time, we decided to publish it in English, so that foreign researchers, musicians, and musicologists could access it. The structure of the book is designed to include the complete musical works of Čiurlionis. Now, people around the world can discover and understand this important part of his legacy. Čiurlionis is known internationally as a painter, but his music is still not as widely recognized – and that’s something we hope to change.
Darius Kučinskas spoke about how Čiurlionis’s life was connected with Poland and with Warsaw.
Darius Kučinskas: Čiurlionis studied at the Warsaw Music Institute and the School of Arts. He was very happy here because he had a close circle of friends who understood him. His career also started in Warsaw, so the city played a very important role in his artistic development. After 1905, he moved to Lithuania and visited Petersburg. He identified himself as a Lithuanian painter and composer. In Warsaw, he was well known because he published his first music editions and held his first exhibitions of paintings. So, he was very active in Warsaw as well.
It is also worth recalling that Čiurlionis passed away in the village of Pustelnik, now within the city limits of Marki near Warsaw, in 1911. He was buried in the well-known Rasų Cemetery in Vilnius, familiar to many Poles. While this is not a secret to researchers, it is a lesser-known fact for the general public that Čiurlionis, though Lithuanian, spoke and wrote primarily in Polish in his daily life. In letters to his friends, he referred to himself in Polish as Kostuś Czurlanis.
Darius Kučinskas explained, that Čiurlionis was both deeply rooted in Lithuanian national culture and truly international.
Darius Kučinskas: Throughout his life Čiurlionis was considered an artist of three nations: Polish, Lithuanian, and Russian. While he lived in Poland, he was identified as a Polish artist. When he was in Lithuania, he was seen as Lithuanian, and in St. Petersburg, he was often regarded as a Russian artist. However, he himself wrote in a letter to his brother’s godfather that he had wholeheartedly dedicated himself to Lithuania – a country that, at that time, didn’t exist on the map. Today, we are very happy and proud of that decision. He felt that he belonged to Lithuania, coming from it’s region Dzūkija.
Darius Kučinskas also spoke about the contemporary life of Čiurlionis’s works.
Darius Kučinskas: Čiurlionis is known around the world first and foremost as an artist – a painter. This is largely due to historical circumstances: his music was first published about 50 years after his death, so this delay had a significant impact on how he was recognized internationally. As a result, Čiurlionis was not widely known as a composer for a long time. However, over the last two decades, that has changed. More and more foreign musicians have started to perform and record his music. For example, in September last year, his symphonic poem was performed in Berlin by the French Radio Orchestra. Events like this show that Čiurlionis is now also gaining recognition worldwide as a composer. 98% of Čiurlionis’s artistic heritage is preserved in Lithuania – primarily at the M.K. Čiurlionis National Museum of Art in Kaunas. This includes his music manuscripts, paintings, drawings, and various personal materials. Outside Lithuania, there are only a few of his works. For example, the National Library and the National Museum of Poland also have a few, including two paintings.
As Darius Kučinskas was leaving Warsaw to return home to Lithuania, he shared his reflections on the connections between Polish and Lithuanian music, between Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis and Frédéric Chopin – composers who lived in different times but in the same city, Warsaw.
Darius Kučinskas: Čiurlionis in Lithuania is as popular as Chopin is in Poland — especially this year. I see that many musicians and artists want to do something related to Čiurlionis. I appreciate that he is not only featured in exhibitions, but that more and more art historians, critics, and musicologists are conducting research on his work. It’s not only Lithuanians – there are also several Polish, American, and other international historians and researchers interested in Čiurlionis. He is now being recognized in art history as a very important and unique figure, alongside his contemporaries like Schönberg and Kandinsky. Čiurlionis did not mention Chopin in his letters, but it is obvious that he knew Chopin’s music. There is a copy of Chopin’s music made by his brother, and they studied Chopin’s works at the Music Institute in Warsaw. Čiurlionis also performed Chopin’s pieces. We do not know exactly which pieces he played, but the style of his music was clearly influenced by Chopin.
The Year of Čiurlionis continues to be celebrated. The Embassy of the Republic of Lithuania in Poland organized a special presentation of Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis. Correspondence. 1907–1910. During the event, Professor Radosław Okulicz-Kozaryn presented Čiurlionis’s letters, offering a unique opportunity to discover the artist as he truly was before he became an icon of Lithuanian history and art.
For Europe East Viktar Korbut