To mark the centenary of the Latgale Congress, the composer-mystic Rihards Dubra has written a new large-scale work – the oratorio “Marija” for ethnic singers, mixed choir, organ and orchestra.
In his note to the score the composer writes that the oratorio’s text is drawn from the hymn texts of the Catholic prayer book dedicated to the Mother of God, whose image, in his view, is inseparably bound to Latgale and to the whole of Latvia – the land of Māra. The text is structured in four parts – “Prayer”, “Birth”, “Suffering” and “Hope” – yet as a whole the new work is a single, monolithic casting.
Although the text carries the titles of its parts, this is one continuous story: the titles do not appear in the score, and there are no breaks between the sections.
On 4 May the oratorio “Marija” will receive its world premiere at a festive concert at the Latgale Embassy GORS, and on 5 May it will be heard by everyone who comes to the Great Guild in Riga. The performers are students and graduates of the Ethnomusicology Class of the Jāzeps Vītols Latvian Academy of Music led by Zane Šmite, the State Choir “Latvija”, the organist Kristīne Adamaite and the Latvian National Symphony Orchestra. The conductor is Māris Sirmais, an admirer and champion of Rihards Dubra’s music.
At the Riga concert Dubra’s new work is paired with another mystical adventure in sound, one that takes us to Latin America. This is the Seventh Symphony of the circling minimalist held in high regard by many Latvian music lovers, Philip Glass’s Seventh Symphony, which carries the subtitle “Toltec”.
The symphony grew out of the composer’s interest in Toltec culture (roughly the 10th–11th centuries, in what is now Mexico). The first movement is dedicated to the grain of maize, which symbolises the bond between Mother Earth and humankind. The second is dedicated to peyote (a hallucinogenic spineless cactus), the sacred root that opens the way to the realm of spirits. The third sings of a particular culture hero who appears in the form of a blue deer and who knows the secrets of the divine origin of the world and of tradition.
Kristīne Adamaite – organ
Ethnic singers’ group
State Choir “Latvija”