The evaluation problem of Lithuanian church choirs (the end of the 19th century – the beginning of the 20th century

Straipsnyje analizuojama Lietuvos bažnytinių chorų veikla XIX a. pabaigoje – XX a. pradžioje. Naudojantis įvairiais rašytiniais šaltiniais pirmą kartą sudarytas vardinis chorų sąrašas, kuris pasirodė esąs žymiai didesnis už iki šiol skelbtus akademinėje muzikos istorijoje. Keliama mintis, jog ankstesniuose istoriniuose darbuose buvo pernelyg susiaurinama bažnytinių chorų veiklos sfera, nepakankamai vertinami jų nuopelnai tautos kultūrai. Atsižvelgiant į šias problemas, keliami tokie tyrimo t i k s l a i: pirma, pagrįsti lietuviškų bažnytinių chorų vertinimo metodologiją, antra, sudaryti pilnutinį chorų, susikūrusių iki Lietuvos nepriklausomybės paskelbimo, vardinį sąrašą, trečia, iš esmės pakoreguoti nusistovėjusius vertinimo stereotipus.The article analyses the activity of Lithuanian church choirs, the idea is raised that because of different reasons inadequate stereotypes of their evaluation consolidated in the academic history of music. In the music articles of the period between the wars the social function of the church choirs was made too significant as well as the merits to Lithuanianism. In soviet times the music history of Lithuania was published, which adopted the tradition of socialization from the period between the wars, but it turned the other way: it began to deny the significance of the church, its choir and the clergy in general. This way the „tautologization” of the choirs and soviet ideologization led to the tendentious selection of the facts and their interpretation. Taking all these urgent problems into account the aim of the research was chosen — first, to ground the evaluation methodology of the Lithuanian church choirs (the end of the 19 th century — the beginning of the 20 th century), second, to make a full nominal list till independent Lithuania (1918); third, to correct virtually their set evaluation stereotypes. The object of the research was chosen Lithuanian parish choirs of the Lithuania Roman catholic churches and their activity in the first half of the 20 th century. The methods of the research are the search of statistic data in illegal (till 1904 and illegal (1904–1918) Lithuanian press, the investigation of the documents of St. Grigalius organists society. The area of the research – Lithuanian choirs of Roman Catholic Church, which existed in the territory of Lithuania. The aspect of the choirs research is commonly cultural. In 1918, when the independent republic of Lithuania came into being, three Songs festivals (in 1924, 1928, 1930) were held. The choirs of church and catholic organizations formed half of the collectives participating in the festival. The article focuses on the facts that this activity of church choirs had to reflect the repertoire of the joint choir i.e., together with folk songs an adequate amount of sacral music had to be included. But it was not. It is thought that sacral music would have diversified the repertoire of the festivals from the point of view of the genre, would have given the more spiritual tone. The problem of this relation still remains urgent in the songs’ festivals nowadays