Emīls Dārziņš

Emīls Dārziņš (born November 3, 1875 in Jaunpiebalga ; † August 31, 1910 in Riga ) was a Latvian conductor , music critic , pedagogue and composer of the Romantic period . He wrote mainly vocal works , but is known for his "Melancholy Waltz". The awakening Latvian national consciousness in the late 19th century was decisive for his work .

Life

Emīls Dārziņš was born into a family of teachers in the Vidzeme region. Both parents played music regularly and promoted his musical education . His father led a choir and gave him piano lessons.

When Dārziņš almost lost his eyesight at the age of 3 as a result of overwork and illness, his preoccupation with music increased. As a result of a diagnosed sun allergy , he lived shielded from daylight for the next five years. When he first went to school at the age of 8, he was able to lead a normal life again.

His early role models were Ludwig van Beethoven and Wolfgang Mozart . 16 Dārziņš moved to Riga, where he continued his studies and his first work for chorus wrote, "Jūs, kalni, jūs, Lejas" (to the hills, their valleys), whereby the prominent Rimsky-Korsakov -Students and composer Jāzeps Vītols on caught his attention. Dārziņš 'highly acclaimed participation in the fourth song festival in Jelgava dispelled all remaining doubts about his own musical vocation .

In 1897 Dārziņš began studying at the Moscow Conservatory , which he had to interrupt for health reasons. He then went on to study in the organist class at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory . Although privately working as a music teacher, he could barely make a living. In the spring of 1901 he returned to Riga without having completed a degree and began working as a music critic, teacher, choir director and pianist. “Creating for my people and our art will guide me,” Dārziņš wrote in private correspondence at the time.

In November 1903 he married the teacher Marija Deidere. The marriage was not a happy one, due to his alcoholism and grueling material conflicts. In 1906 a son, Volfgangs was born, in 1908 a daughter, Laima Tatjana.

At the beginning of 1908, two of his orchestral works, including Melanholiskais valsis , were premiered in Riga and were scathingly criticized by colleagues in his field. Pāvuls Jurjāns called him "a dilettante, besides a boastful critic". He accused him of plagiarizing Jean Sibelius ' Valse dreary . Dārziņš asked the director of the St. Petersburg Conservatory, Alexander Glasunov , for a third opinion, who found the plagiarism allegation unfounded. Jurjāns, on the other hand, referred to a statement by Sibelius, which partly found him right. Demoralized by the public debate, Emīls Dārziņš destroyed all of his orchestral works. Only the Melanholiskais valsis was reconstructed for concert performances after his death.

In late 1908 he began work on the unfinished opera Rožainās dienas . On August 31, 1910 Emīls Dārziņš died in an accident at Riga's Zasulauka train station, the course of which remained unclear. It is believed that the composer threw himself under a train with suicidal intent. Dārziņš was buried in the Mārtiņa cemetery in the Āgenskalns district of Riga.

Honors

Student of Emīla Dārziņa mūzikas vidusskola , 1979

Named after Emīls Dārziņš is the Riga Emīla Dārziņa mūzikas vidusskola (Emīls-Dārziņš-Music Middle School). The school's boys' choir ( Emīla Dārziņa zēnu koris / Emīls-Dārziņš-Boys' Choir), founded in 1950, was transformed into the Rīgas Doma zēnu koris (Riga Cathedral Boys' Choir) in 1990 .

Trivia

The family name Dārziņš is a diminutive of the Latvian noun dārzs (the garden).

literature

in order of appearance

Alfrēds Kalniņš : Emīls Dārziņš. Atmiņas. Piemiņas krājums. Riga 1925.
Arvīds Darkevics: Emīls Dārziņš. Raksti, atmiņas par Emīlu Dārziņu . Liesma Publishing House, Riga 1975.
Ludvigs Kārkliņš: Simfoniskā mūzika Latvijā , page 38f. Liesma Publishing House, Riga 1990.
Zane Gailīte: Mēness meti, saules stīga. Emīls Dārziņs . Riga 2006, ISBN 9984-9796-7-9 .
Peter Spitznagel (Red.): Emil Darzin and Gustav Walle. Role models in their time and today / Emīls Dārziņš un Gustavs Valle . Gustav Walle Elementary School, Würzburg 2006.

Web links

Individual evidence

^ Emil Scheune: Emīls Dārziņš , in: Vaclovas Juodpusis: Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija . T. IV (Chakasija-Diržių kapinynas). Mokslo ir enciklopedijų Leidybos institutas, Vilnus 2003, p. 507.
^ School website (Latvian).
^ Website of the choir (Latvian).
↑ Newspaper article 50 gados 1000 koncertu (1000 concerts in 50 years). In: Laiks № 14. of April 1, 2000, p. 1 u. 8 .: "[...] Kad Latvija 1990. gadā atguva neatkarību, Emīla Dārziņa mūzikas skolas koris kļuva par oficiālo Rīgas Doma katedrāles kori jeb“ Rīgas Doma zēnu kori ”, tādējādi atjaunojot tradasīczij past 18 . […] ” (“ When Latvia regained independence in 1990, the choir of the Emīls-Dārziņš-Musik [middle] school became the official choir of the Riga Cathedral or the “Boys' Choir of the Riga Cathedral”, in this way renewing a tradition that existed in the cathedral cathedral from 1240 to 1831. ”Translation from Latvian by Matthias Knoll ).

personal data
SURNAME	Dārziņš, Emīls
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Latvian conductor, music critic, pedagogue and composer of the Romantic era
DATE OF BIRTH	November 3, 1875
PLACE OF BIRTH	Jaunpiebalga
DATE OF DEATH	August 31, 1910
Place of death	Riga

[1] Emil Scheune: Emīls Dārziņš , in: Vaclovas Juodpusis: Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija . T. IV (Chakasija-Diržių kapinynas). Mokslo ir enciklopedijų Leidybos institutas, Vilnus 2003, p. 507.

[2] School website (Latvian).

[3] Website of the choir (Latvian).

[4] Newspaper article 50 gados 1000 koncertu (1000 concerts in 50 years). In: Laiks № 14. of April 1, 2000, p. 1 u. 8 .: "[...] Kad Latvija 1990. gadā atguva neatkarību, Emīla Dārziņa mūzikas skolas koris kļuva par oficiālo Rīgas Doma katedrāles kori jeb“ Rīgas Doma zēnu kori ”, tādējādi atjaunojot tradasīczij past 18 . […] ” (“ When Latvia regained independence in 1990, the choir of the Emīls-Dārziņš-Musik [middle] school became the official choir of the Riga Cathedral or the “Boys' Choir of the Riga Cathedral”, in this way renewing a tradition that existed in the cathedral cathedral from 1240 to 1831. ”Translation from Latvian by Matthias Knoll ).