Musical life of the Lithuanian community in the USA as reflected in the player piano music (1920-1930)

Pianolų muzika, užfiksuota ritinėliuose, yra santykinai menkai lietuvių muzikologijoje ištirtas ir dėl istorinių, politinių, ekonominių ir technologinių priežasčių mažai naudotas XX a. pradžios muzikos duomenų šaltinis. Straipsnyje siekiama ištirti ir apibendrinti lietuviškos muzikos įrašų pianolai repertuarą, identifikuoti (kiek šiuo metu tai įmanoma) kūrinių pavadinimus, jų muzikos, aranžuočių autorystę, muzikos šaltinius, aptarti kūrinių atsiradimo aplinkybes, įvertinti jų įtaką Amerikos lietuvių populiariosios muzikinės kultūros ir tautinės savimonės raidai. Pasirinktas istorinis muzikinių šaltinių tyrimo metodas papildytas etnografiniu tyrimo būdu ir komunikacijos teorijos elementais. Tai leido repertuaro analizės metu gautus rezultatus gretinti su visuomeninio konteksto apžvalga, bandant nustatyti, kokias reikšmes ir kaip muzika galėjo atskleisti klausytojams. Tyrimas patvirtina išvadą, kad muzika pianolai yra vertingas XX a. pradžios lietuvių, pirmiausia JAV lietuvių bendruomenės, muzikinio gyvenimo šaltinisLithuanian music for player piano recorded into player piano rolls is significant and for historical, political, economical and technological reasons a relatively rarely used source in Lithuanian musicology. Music for player piano represent the priorities, musical sources, genres and forms, the main authors and their works of popular musical culture of the American Lithuanian community. From the player piano rolls, the culture of Lithuanian countrymen of the 1920s regained a new life in high technical quality recordings. Preliminary analysis of the player piano roll catalogues and recorded music examples showed that player piano music saved and stored the sounds cape of the environment, which the countrymen left in their mother country. An image of the Lithuanian sounds cape has been taken overseas and it helped people to feel comfortable and safe: the sound of familiar tunes reminded them of their homeland and the close relatives there and by no accident the nostalgic character of the tunes resonated well the mood of American Lithuanians expressing their emotions, dreams and desires. It was the music of traditional songs and dances and original works of small form stylistically close to the traditional musical ideoms. We cannot find here folkloric genres popular in Lithuania at that time such as calendar songs and games, work songs, polyphonic songs - sutartinės, laments, shouting, but lyric, nostalgic wedding songs of the daughter s farewell, matchmaking, youth relationship, drinking songs, ballads and romances are presented. Music for player piano helped to save and to spread among the American Lithuanians what was brought from the homeland as well as fixed the first attempts to elaborate, vary, recompose popular melodies of Lithuanian songs, dances and original composer's works. Music for pianola fed by traditional music sources helped to strengthen national self-consciousness. Meanwhile, in player piano music one can hear the influence of American culture rhythms and harmonies of ragtime sounds of international polka ensembles, military bands. The fast development of player piano music was stopped by the Great Depression and the spread of new sound recording, player and transmission technologies (gramophone, radio), jazz, foxtrot, music in the motherland recovered the player recapturing the atmosphere of Lithuanian musical evenings and festivals, which was almost forgotten and presented only by rare publications, pour quality gramophone recordings, and rare mentionings in the press. Although the history of player pianos and their design shape a preconceived attitude in listeners towards the sound of mechanical and artificial music, the recordings reveal lively and emotional effects. Piano rolls preserved the heritage of the popular musical culture of the Lithuanian Americans of the interwar period. Player piano roll recordings bring the musical culture of Lithuanian Americans closer and make it more understandable to the contemporary listener. What is even more surprising and unexpected, the works that seem quite simple now sound modern; and the limitations of the instrument turn into an advantage, providing the music with originality and novelt