Emilis Jūlijs Melngailis (15 February 1874 – 20 December 1954) was a Latvian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, folklorist, and a master of choral songs. He was an organizer and chief conductor of

Latvian Song and Dance Festival The Latvian Song and Dance Festival ( lv, Vispārējie latviešu Dziesmu un Deju svētki) is one of the largest amateur choral and dancing events in the world and an important event in Latvian culture and social life. As one of the Baltic song ...

several times. He wrote 53 original songs for ''

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

'' choir, and finished numerous national folk songs. Melngailis was also a good

chess Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

player and participated in the leadership of Latvian Chess federation. His son

Tenis Tenis (russian: Тенис), is a lake in the southern part of the West Siberian Plain, Omsk Oblast, south-central Russia. The lake is an Important Bird Area, especially for the Dalmatian pelican, and is part of a protected area. The name is pr ...

was one of the best Latvian chess players in his time.

Biography

Melngailis was born to a teacher's family in Igate,

Governorate of Livonia The Governorate of Livonia, also known as the Livonia Governorate, was a Baltic governorate of the Russian Empire, now divided between Latvia and Estonia. Geography The shape of the province is a fairly rectangular in shape, with a maximum ...

. He studied in Igate, Lēdurga,

Rauna Rauna (german: Ronneburg) is a village in Rauna Parish, Smiltene Municipality in the Vidzeme region of Latvia. It is the administrative center of Rauna Parish Rauna Parish ( lv, Raunas pagasts) is an administrative unit of Smiltene Municipali ...

and

Vecpiebalga Vecpiebalga (german: Alt-Pebalg) is a village in Cēsis Municipality in the Vidzeme Vidzeme (; Old Latvian orthography: ''Widda-semme'', liv, Vidūmō) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. The capital of Latvia, Riga, is situated in the ...

church schools. During the period from 1887 to 1891, he studied at Riga City Gymnasium. During the last school year he lived with

Rūdolfs Blaumanis Kārlis Rūdolfs Leonīds Blaumanis (1863–1908) was a Latvian writer, journalist and playwright. He is a renowned writer in Latvian history and a master of realism. The building of a flat in Riga that he once lived has been converted to a memo ...

. In 1896 he left to study in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

conservatory for one year. While in Dresden, he composed several compositions, including the "Latvian Requiem". In 1898, he went to Petersburg Conservatory of Music. In 1901, he finished learning in Conservatory and in the following year he released his first choral song collection in "Birzēs i norās" book. Later, he worked for some time in Petersburg newspaper ''"St. Petersburger Zeitung"''. In 1904, E. Melngailis went to

Tashkent Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...

, where he lived until 1920. There he worked in cadet corps as a pedagogue. In 1920, he released the second "Birzēs i norās" book. In 1920 he returned to Latvia, where he began to work as a choir conductor, and carried out a number of other works to make a living. Melngailis became the head of Latvian Conservatory in Folklore Department. He founded a new choir and went to tour all around Latvia. He was a chief conductor in two general song festivals – The Seventh Latvian Song Festival in 1931 and The Song Festival on Remembrance Day in 1933, which later was renamed as The Eighth Latvian Song Festival. After World War II and the start of the second Soviet occupation of Latvia, E. Melngailis was awarded the Latvian SSR People's Artist Award and in 1949 he received the

Order of the Red Banner of Labour The Order of the Red Banner of Labour (russian: Орден Трудового Красного Знамени, translit=Orden Trudovogo Krasnogo Znameni) was an order of the Soviet Union established to honour great deeds and services to th ...

. He died in Riga at the age of 80.

Songs

Emīls Melngailis has collected around 220 Latvian folk songs in "Birzēs i norās" collections (" Tumša nakte, zaļa zāle", " Ozolīti, zemzarīti", " Bērīts manis kumeliņis", " Tek saulīte tecēdama", " Kas kurmīti dancināja"), as well as choral songs (" Jāņuvakars", " Senatne"). Overall, 10 "Birzēs i norās" books have come out, they were issued in the period from 1902 to 1956. "Latvian musical folklore materials" (around 5000 folk melodies). I ed. Korsa. II ed. Maliena. III ed. Vidiena. Latvian dance.

References

External links

Liis Profile

Biography
1874 births 1954 deaths 20th-century Latvian musicians People from the Governorate of Livonia People from Limbaži Municipality People from Kreis Riga People's Artists of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic Recipients of the Order of the Red Banner of Labour Recipients of the Order of the Three Stars Ballet composers from the Russian Empire Latvian composers Latvian conductors (music) Latvian choral conductors Latvian chess players Latvian folk music Soviet chess players Soviet choral conductors Soviet conductors (music) Soviet male composers Soviet music educators Burials at Forest Cemetery, Riga {{Latvia-composer-stub

Biography

Songs

Further reading

References

External links