Grazina: the First Lithuanian National Opera

GRAŽINA: THE FIRST LITHUANIAN NATIONAL OPERA
Some aspects of Jurgis Karnavičius' life and an Analysis of the libretto by Kazys Inčiūra

The composer of the opera Gražina, Jurgis Karnavičius, belongs to the same generation of composers as Gruodis, Banaitis, Jakubėnas, and Račiūnas. He is the oldest member of this group. Most of these composers had received their musical training in the leading Russian conservatories and had begun their compositional activity just before Lithuania achieved its independence in 1918. They found the fulfillment of their creativity in the '20's and '30's, during the heyday of independent Lithuania's cultural activity.*

Karnavičius was born in Kaunas on April 23, 1884. He spent his childhood and adolescence in the city of Vilnius where his father worked as a lawyer. As was the family tradition, Karnavičius entered the law school of the St. Petersburg University in 1903. Although he had shown a great aptitude for music and a great deal of interest in it, his parents did not feel that music was a "sufficiently serious occupation." Karnavičius completed the law school in 1910. Simultaneously he studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory. Among his teachers there were Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov, and Liadov. In 1910, Karnavičius graduated from the composition and theory class, and in 1912 from the voice class. Upon graduating he was invited to join the faculty of the Conservatory as a teacher of theory, a post which he held until the outbreak of World War I. He was sent to the Galician front, was captured, and remained a prisoner of the Austrians for three years. After the war, in May of 1918, Karnavičius was granted the rank of Professor in the Petrograd Conservatory by the new Soviet regime. He became the president of the newly formed Leningrad Branch of the Association of Contemporary Music in 1925, but relinquished this post the following year. In 1927, Karnavičius returned to Lithuania, now independent, and took up residence in Kaunas. He played viola in the State Opera Orchestra and taught harmony and instrumentation at Kaunas Conservatory. Although he came from a Lithuanian family, he learned to speak Lithuanian only on his return to the country. Initially, he experienced some difficulty in being recognized in the strongly anti-Russian atmosphere of free Lithuania, and it was not until 1935 that he was granted the rank of Professor in Lithuania. His previous title, granted by the Soviet government, was not recognized. Karnavičius died on December 24, 1941.

Karnavičius showed some interest in Lithuanian folk culture during his student days in St. Petersburg. One of his first compositions, written in 1907, a set of variations for violin and piano, was based on the Lithuanian folk song "Siuntė mane motinėlė" (My dear mother sent me). However, most of his other works in this period showed no Lithuanian nationalistic flavor.

Later compositions of Karnavičius were four string quartets, several sets of orchestral and piano variations, songs for voice and piano (employing texts by such diverse authors as Shelley, Poe, and Balmont), three symphonic poems, three cantatas, four ballets, and two operas, Gražina (1933) and Radvila Perkūnas (1937).

In his early works, Karnavičius revealed a style closely akin to the Russian "Classical" nineteenth-century musical style. Lithuanian nationalistic influences (except for the variations mentioned above) were almost nonexistent. Around 1913, with the completion of his first string quartet, Karnavičius began to exhibit more progressive, modernistic tendencies, but still retained the forms of the "Classical" Russian school. Upon his permanent return to Lithuania in 1927, he consciously tried to utilize Lithuanian folk materials in his works. Coming comparatively late in his compositional development, this nationalism occasionally seemed to be grafted onto his own individual style, with its derivatives of the Russian nineteenth-century school along with Western modernistic features. This period marked a definite change in Karnavičius' compositional perspective, from a Russian-influenced but quite cosmopolitan late-Romantic compositional style to one that was distinctly of the Lithuanian national school.

At the time when Karnavičius returned to Lithuania and became active there as a composer, the Lithuanian musical world keenly felt a lack of large-scale nationalistically inspired musical works. As yet, for example, no new opera had been composed. It was suggested to Karnavičius by the director of the State Opera Theater that he study Lithuanian folklore with the eventual goal of writing a nationalistically inspired opera. Karnavičius' interest was keenly aroused, and he promised to compose an opera based on the epic poem Gražina of Adomas Mickevičius. His librettist was to be the young poet Kazys Inčiūra. Although Karnavičius' project of composing a Lithuanian opera on the subject of Gražina proved quite original, he met with opposition from other Lithuanian composers. They resented his intrusion into their tight nationalistic circle. Finally, the opera was completed and presented as the first Lithuanian opera in independent Lithuania on February 16, 1933, in Kaunas, the fifteenth anniversary to the day of Lithuanian Independence. It met with great success, but it also became a notoriously controversial work. The Lithuanian musicians who had originally been prejudiced against Karnavičius now came out in full force to condemn the work as stylistically disunified and more Russian than Lithuanian.

That the opera contains various conflicting stylistic elements is quite true: sections in the composer's own somewhat modernistic style, colored by post-Romantic chromaticism, alternate with those in simple, homophonic style based on Lithuanian folk tunes. True, certain passages of the opera recall moments in works of the nineteenth-century Russian composers, but on the whole the opera has a strong, perhaps even too self-conscious, Lithuanian national flavor. Considering that at this time no distinct Lithuanian compositional style existed on which to model these nationalistic elements, it is hardly surprising that Karnavičius employed certain compositional techniques and procedures characteristic of the Russian school.

The opera on the whole was praised for its genuine musical craftsmanship, its excellent orchestration, and its dramatic and vocal effectiveness. The public took the work as a major event in Lithuanian cultural development. Gražina restored Karnavičius to the good graces of the Lithuanian government. The title of full Professor at the State Conservatory was bestowed on him. Karnavičius could now afford to relinquish his post as violist in the theater orchestra and devote more time to composition. Within the succeeding five years he wrote another opera, Radvila Perkūnas, which had its premiere in 1937.

In part because of its strongly nationalistic bias, Gražina's popularity did not extend beyond the boundaries of Lithuania. Its appearance on the musical scene attracted little attention from foreign countries, though the following news item appeared in the New York Times of May 28, 1933, three months after the premiere in Lithuania:

What is claimed to be the first Lithuanian opera, "Gražina," had its premiere recently at Kovno (sic). The composer, Jurgio Karnevičiaus (sic), a pupil of Rimsky-Korsakoff and Liadoff, has written numerous symphonic poems, rhapsodies and chamber music pieces. The librettist, K. Inciura, adapted his work from the story of Mickiewicz. The plot concerns itself with Gražina, the Lithuanian princess who lived in the fifteenth century and whose career somewhat resembled Jeanne d'Arc's. The Signale's review of the work criticized its scantiness of material for a four-act opera, and found the introduction of the Lithuanian folk songs and dances of great charm and genuine interest in a score otherwise too reminiscent of the Russia of Rimsky's time.1

Although Gražina remained in the regular repertoire of the Lithuanian Opera in Kaunas, Karnavičius decided to revise the work. He undertook this task with the aid of the conductor Vytautas Marijošius. The revision consisted mainly of cutting several weaker episodes and fusing two scenes into one. The first revised version , of Gražina was presented in 1939, and was acclaimed as a definite improvement over the original. When Lithuania was occupied by the Soviets the following year, Gražina was withdrawn from the repertoire because of its "anti-German" attitude, which was not in accordance with the Ribbentrop - Molotov Pact then in effect. Nor was the opera allowed to be staged during the German occupation of 1941-44 for this same reason. After the second, and last, Soviet occupation of Lithuania in 1944, Gražina was once more revived, with considerable success. This revival however, represented yet a second revision by the librettist Inčiūra and the conductor Kalinauskas. It was undertaken to make the opera conform more to the doctrine of Socialist Realism in music, which then dominated Soviet Russian esthetics.

A revival of the opera in the United States occurred in 1967, when the Lithuanian Opera of Chicago presented Gražina at the Chicago Civic Opera House. The edition used for this performance was the first revision of the work, the 1939 version. However, the conductor of this production, Alexander Kuchunas, reinstated several scenes (among them a symphonic interlude depicting the battle between the Lithuanians and the German Teutonic Knights) which were in the original version of the opera, but were cut in the 1939 revision. Counting the Soviet revision of the opera in the 1940's Gražina, then, has existed in four performing versions (the original, the first revision in 1939, the second or "Soviet" revision, and the "Chicago" version).

The libretto of Gražina, written by Kazys Inčiūra, is based on the epic poem written in 1821-1822 by the Lithuanian - Polish poet Adomas Mickevičius (Mickiewicz).

In his writings, Mickevičius followed the Romanticism of Scott, Byron, and Shelley. Gražina, too, is typically Romantic in its quasi-historical, Medieval subject matter, combining a large-scale historical panorama of events with the personal experiences of the leading characters, who are made larger than life by their respective deeds of heroism or treason. The entire work, in the manner of Romantic epic poems, attempts to glorify the history of Lithuania and thereby arouse a national consciousness and pride.

Karnavičius was quite interested in the literary works of Mickevičius long before his Lithuanian nationalistic awakening came about. In his youth he composed two songs, Alpuchara and Daina apie Vilija (Song about Vilija), to texts of the poet. Before undertaking the composition of Gražina, Karnavičius wrote a "Musical prologue" for mezzo-soprano and orchestra entitled The Page's Dialogue with the Author — a work also inspired by Mickevičius.

Both the poem and the opera Gražina depict the era in Lithuanian history when the Lithuanians were continually threatened by the Teutonic Knights of the Cross. The libretto of the opera does not follow all of the turns of plot in Mickevičius' original. Inčiūra, the librettist, introduces several secondary characters, (such as Laimutis, Ramunė and a jester) who do not appear in the original poem. Nevertheless, the opera on the whole remains faithful to the literary original, bringing out especially the heroism and sacrifice of Gražina herself.

The action of the opera takes place in the castle of Naugardukas in the late fourteenth century. This was the era when Lithuania was ruled by King Vytautas the Great whose territory extended from the Baltic to the Black Seas. Separate regions of this empire were ruled by princes and grand dukes who were not always obedient to Vytautas. The territory of Naugardukas was ruled by the grand duke Liutauras, whose wife, Gražina, was related to Vytautas. Vytautas had promised the duchy of Lyda to Liutauras as Gražina's dowry. However, doubting Liutauras' integrity, Vytautas delayed in fulfilling his promise. Consequently, Liutauras secretly arranged a pact against Vytautas with the Grand Master of the German Crusaders to confiscate the promised dukedom. Gražina and Rimvydas, the commander of the Naugardukas army, are appalled by Liutauras' treason, but he remains firm in his decision. After a great inner conflict, Gražina herself makes a drastic decision: she sends the German envoys away, telling them that the grand duke has revoked his pact with the Crusaders. This change of events so angers the Grand Master that he prepares to attack Naugardukas at dawn. The Lithuanian army, under the supervision of Rimvydas, prepares for the attack. With the first rays of dawn, the army marches out to meet the enemy. The leader of the Lithuanians is supposedly Liutauras. However, unknown to everyone, Gražina herself has donned his armor and prepares to lead the troops.

As the battle rages, Liutauras, having awakened from a very deep sleep, finds that his wife, his troops, and his armor are missing. Suddenly becoming aware of what has happened, he dresses in the armor of the Black Knight and joins his troops. With his help the battle is won, but unfortunately Gražina is fatally wounded. She dies in the arms of Rimvydas, who only then understands her sacrifice.

In the final act of the opera, the populace of Naugardukas is preparing a solemn burial for their ruler. A funeral pyre is lit, and ancient Lithuanian burial rituals are performed. Suddenly the Black Knight appears and reveals that he is Liutauras. The people are at first overjoyed at discovering that their leader is alive. Liutauras silences them and confesses his betrayal. He proclaims that he and all of Naugardukas were saved by the faithful wife Gražina. As the fire of the funeral pyre mounts, Liutauras immolates himself with his wife.

Both the poem of Mickevičius and, consequently, the opera of Karnavičius have their basis partly in historical fact and partly in legend. No historical record exists of either a Liutauras or a Gražina as rulers of the Naugardukas duchy. Yet the German Teutonic seige of the fortress is based on historical fact, as is the rebellion of certain dukes of this and other areas of Lithuania against the rule of Vytautas. Unfortunately, no deed as heroic as that of Gražina can be found in the actual historical records. It seems that this era in Lithuanian history and the mysterious Romantic ruins of the castle of Naugardukas lent themselves particularly well to the imagination of Mickevičius, who combined both history and legend to produce his epic poem.

The opera is divided into four acts both in the revised version of 1939 and in the "Chicago" version. (The original consisted of five acts.) The first and final acts, for the most part, are given over to the chorus and are quite static dramatically. What dramatic development does take place, does so at the end of Act I and in the two middle acts, which can actually be staged as two scenes of the same act.

One of the main goals of the composer and librettist was to recreate the aura of old Lithuanian customs and the mood of the Middle Ages. They did so by giving a great deal to the chorus, whether it be in the first-act scenes of court entertainment or in the burial rites of the last act. Such scenes naturally hinder dramatic action, but effectively supply the desired national and historic color.

Act I begins with a festive chorus in the castle of Naugardukas. A few solo phrases are uttered by Gražina and a Young Nobleman to those assembled, while Laimutis, another young nobleman, exhorts the girls of the court to sing. Another chorus follows — strictly a set piece, having no dramatic "excuse" except to lend local color. After the chorus, Rimvydas, the military commander, calls for a more vigorous song, supplied by a brief men's drinking chorus, in turn, followed by the song and dance of the court jester and his fellow entertainers. So far the drama has not begun to develop. The "action" has amounted to a mere stringing-out of textually and musically contrasting numbers. Nor are matters helped much dramatically in the next scene, the scene of minstrels. After the previous vigorous and purely diversionary scene, the minstrels now sing somberly of the sad fate, as well as of the glory, of the Lithuanian people. The next number, the song of the Young Nobleman, follows with no transition. This scene is succeeded by yet another patriotic utterance by a third minstrel, leading into a hymn of praise by all assembled to King Vytautas. Laimutis informs the assembly of the return of Liutauras, who gruffly dismisses all of the guests from the castle. For all practical purposes, the drama begins to unfold only at this point. All of the previous scenes could be completely dispensable dramatically, if not musically. Herein, I believe, lies the primary weakness of the libretto of Gražina: it begins on a note of total dramatic "response" and does not begin to move for far too long. Scenes that should only be secondary, casting the important dramatic events into sharper relief, are made to stand in the foreground by themselves. The same characteristic grows even more apparent in the last act of the opera, although here it is more justifiable dramatically because the act depicts the burial rites for the duke supposedly fallen in battle. The act opens with a chorus of female lamenters, later joined by the men. Then the actual funeral rites begin, in which Laimutis, Rimvydas, and the Krivis (the pagan high priest) participate. The latter's role is only of "coloristic" or "atmospheric" importance, as he does not have any part in the actual dramatic action. The funeral proceedings are interrupted by the startling arrival of Liutauras. At this point the drama of the opera once again returns to the dominant position. Liutauras confesses his treason and atones for it by immolating himself on his wife's funeral pyre, as all of the assembled swear to fight to keep Lithuania free. The final scene is powerful musically as well as dramatically, and it helps to restore the sorely needed balance between the real conflict of the dramatic core of the opera and its purely coloristic, atmospheric scenes.

The "inner" scenes of the opera present us the opportunity to become better acquainted with the principal characters and their psychological make-up. The central figure of the opera is, of course, Gražina herself. She resembles somewhat a "Joan of Arc" figure, or, in operatic literature, a "Leonore". But whereas the former lady was fired by religious conviction and patriotism, and the latter by conjugal love, Gražina is motivated solely by patriotism and the desire to spare her husband the shame of treason. In her first scene with Liutauras her husband, she shows herself a courageous, upright woman. Left alone, however, she displays the more feminine and vulnerable side of her nature by pleading with the gods to help her see what course of action she should take. Thus, in two brief scenes, Gražina is already portrayed in considerable depth by the librettist. The psychological portrait, however, is incomplete, because it is not made clear in the libretto at what point Gražina actually makes the crucial decision to don the armor of Liutauras and lead the troops into battle against the Teutonic Knights, her treasonous husband's allies. Here, and in many other instances in the opera, the libretto is unfortunately sketchy and incomplete, leaving the "filling-in" of important psychological motivations to the director and the interpreter. As a rule, Karnavičius chose to set those lines of Gražina which show her brave, warrior-like character in short, terse, declamatory phrases, while her essential femininity and moments of doubt and helpnessness are set to more lyrical, aria-like phrases. This is certainly true in the second act, when Gražina, the duchess, dismisses the Teutonic envoys from the castle and then expresses her own innermost sentiments (such as her love of nature and her fear of the future) in the purely lyrical style of a brief aria.

Act II shows the culmination of the development of the character of Gražina. The duchess decides to lead the Lithuanian soldiers in battle. Her final scene with the old commander, Rimvydas, is full of energy and courage.2

I do not fully agree with this statement because I believe that Gražina's actual decision concerning her course of action comes in Act I when she implores the gods to grant her strength, whereas in Act II she actually carries out this decision. Evidence for this viewpoint is supplied by the words to the middle section of Gražina's Act II aria: "Something must happen, terror oppresses my breast. Perhaps tomorrow, tomorrow my last day will be extinguished." When Gražina sings these words, she has already decided the course of action she will follow. On the other hand Gaudrimas feels that her decision to undertake the mission develops later. If his reasoning is correct, why would she express such sentiments as those quoted above? Granted, either interpretation may be valid, due to the vagueness of the libretto itself.

True courage and heroism are displayed by the dying Gražina in Act III. Fatally wounded, she bids farewell to Rimvydas, asks him to watch over her husband Liutauras, and to tell no one of her own actions, or what prompted them. Gražina's character is thus truly "Romantic" in conception. Her entire nature is upright, heroic, and so blameless that she emerges greater than life. Fortunately, the librettist has taken care to show that she, too, is vulnerable to emotional conflict and self-doubt. This aspect of her portrayal contributes immensely toward giving depth to a character who might otherwise seem antiseptic in her virtue.

The other leading character is Liutauras. (Hero is not the correct designation.) Anti-hero might be more correct, for, in a sense, Gražina, not Liutauras, is both the hero and heroine of the action.) Liutauras is successfully depicted as a violent, temperamental, and willful subject in rebellion against his king. Liutauras' brooding nature is apparent from his very first entrance, when he breaks up the joyful celebration in his castle. His bitterness is revealed in his first words: "Enough! They are praising me, but when I am not here, I know that they sing praises to Vytautas."

After he dismisses Gražina and the entire court, Liutauras confides in Rimvydas his pact with the German Knight',s against Vytautas. His hot-headedness, as well as his guilt feelings, become clear through the following lines: "Enough of waiting. We've been thinking long enough. It's time to ride in battle against Vytautas. . . Is he the only one who loves his country?" In the ensuing aria, Liutauras further denounces the King and the harm which, in his opinion, Vytautas has inflicted on his country. The treason of Liutauras becomes almost justifiable, because in this aria he seems to show that he is motivated not only by personal ambition and greed, but also because he genuinely believes that Vytautas oppresses the people and works against the general good of the country. Of course, this scene may be interpreted as a rationalization for his own actions, but it certainly gives greater scope and complexity to the character of Liutauras. Here again, the sketchiness of the libretto does not permit a definite answer to the question of Liutauras' real reasons for rebelling. Consequently, much is also left up to the interpreter in this case just as in the one previously discussed involving Gražina.

In the encounters with his wife, Liutauras emerges not as a wise ruler concerned about the good of his subjects, but as an almost childishly enraged man, who wields his power to uphold his own vanity: "As I've decided, so I will do, even though heaven and earth may fall. That which I decree, will be."

The reversal in the character of Liutauras comes in Act III. Here he repents of his mistakes and decides to enter into battle as the Black Knight. In this, his first reappearance since Act I, Liutauras comes onstage already knowing that his wife dressed in his armor and has taken the lead in the battle against the German Teutonic Knights. It is unfortunate that the librettist did not make use of the dramatic potential and devise a scene during which Liutauras actually discovers that his wife has gone into battle posing as himself. A strong dramatic scene might have been written. Instead, a much less effective one takes place, in which we see only the effect on Liutauras of this startling information.

The final scene finds Liutauras completely penitent and desiring to expiate his crime. The reversal from the gloomy, secretive figure is now almost complete. In this scene a gentle, lyrical Liutauras reflects in romantic terms on the past happiness shared with Gražina:

0 stars, beacons in the night, the guardians of the wanderers! You kept watch over us in the vault of heaven as we two rode through the forests while hunting. The dreams of youth brought forth blossoms, love glistened for us with golden rays and carried us along the ways of paradise.

As his reflections become more impassioned, he throws himself on his wife's funeral pyre, atoning for his past mistakes.

Gražina and Liutauras are, of course, the principal protagonists of the drama. All of the others are of secondary importance and none is characterized as vividly or as deeply as these two.


Algirdas Brazis as "Rimvydas" and Dana Stankaitis as "Gražina" in the Chicago Civic Opera House performance of 1967.	Act IV of "Gražina" at the Civic Opera House (1967)

Rimvydas, however, is of considerable importance on the secondary plane. "He is a faithful warrior, an honest patriot, a person close to both Gražina and Liutauras, one for whom nothing is dearer that the affairs of his country.3 Interestingly, when Rimvydas finds out about Liutauras' pact with the Teutonic Knights, he does not oppose the duke, although he is naturally unhappy about such an arrangement. In general, Rimvydas is portrayed in a rather bland and colorless manner. Neither does his personality evoke a strong musical characterization from the composer. He has no extended scene or aria which might reveal his personality more clearly. Rimvydas is one of those operatic figures on stage during much of an opera, singing something now and then, yet whose pallid words and music are eminently forgettable.

The remaining two characters of any dramatic importance are the two young lovers, Ramunė and Laimutis. They in no way contribute to the development of the action but carry the majority of the lighter, more lyrical moments of the opera, thereby providing the necessary foil to the serious, dramatic events in the main body of the drama. A rather conventional pair of lovers, both Ramunė and Laimutis express themselves simply, directly, and often with gentle humor. Gaudrimas in his essay criticizes their Act II love scene as merely a number which stops the dramatic action. I tend to disagree with this evaluation because I believe the scene to be strategically placed. The drama has already progressed considerably by the end of Act I, and the remainder of Act II develops the central dramatic action, thus this love scene forms a much needed contrast. As discussed earlier, I feel that only the numerous solo and choral numbers of Act I and, in part, Act IV, seriously restrain the flow of dramatic action and damage the overall dramatic structure of the work.

The character of Laimutis appears for the first time only in the first revision of the opera, the 1939 version. In the original, a Page had most of the same music as Laimutis, with the part sung by a mezzo-soprano. In the interest of greater dramatic credibility the character was renamed Laimutis and recast as a tenor. (The original mezzo role of the Page suggests the link of the character with the work previously mentioned, Karnavičius' The Page's Dialogue with the Author — a "musical prologue" for mezzo-soprano and orchestra. The latter work was evidently related to the opera, but not intended to be performed together with it.)

The libretto by itself, of course, is only important insofar as it establishes the base on which the composer writes the opera. The libretto's dramatic weaknesses can be skillfully disguised by the composer, and its strong points can be fortified even more by the music. In short, it serves as the literary raw material with which the composer works to create a musical - theatrical work. According to some critics, Gaudrimas in particular, Karnavičius weakened rather than strengthened the dramatic portrayal of the characters in translating them into music. Still others feel that the weak libretto failed to provide Karnavičius with sufficient dramatic material for an opera:

It is not especially, effective theatrically, but neither is it overly static. The plot of the libretto by K. Inčiūra is too simple; the presentation of the characters and the dramatic juxtapositions could be sharper. The character of Gražina herself is not sufficiently brought out, and consequently she appears only as a secondary character. A convincing scenic production of Gražina is not easy, especially in regard to direction.4

Jakubėnas criticizes especially the title role, calling it the really weak aspect of the libretto.

After its first performance in 1933, one of the critics noted that Gražina had its weaknesses: "the dramatic action is scant and slow-moving, its psychological aspect is neither developed nor complex.5 While this last criticism may apply more to the original opera than to the various revised versions, some characteristics noted by the critics are common to all versions. I agree most closely with the observation of Jakubėnas that the plot and literary style of Inčiūra's libretto are too simple. Indeed, it often gives the impression of being only a rough draft in which situations, events, and character portrayals are yet to be filled in.

* Confer.: Vytas Nakas, "The Music of Lithuania — A Historical Sketch," Lituanus, Vol. 20, No. 4 (Winter, 1974), p. 55-61.
1 The New York Times, Sunday (May 28, 1933), p. 30.
2 Juozas Gaudrimas, Iš Lietuvių Muzikinės Kultūros Istorijos (Prom the History of Lithuanian Musical Culture), v. 2 (Vilnius: Pergalė, 1964), p. 225
3 Ibid., p. 227.
4 Vladas Jakubėnas, "Gražina," Aidai (Echoes), September, 1967, p. 294
5 M. B. "Gražina Valstybiniame Teatre" (Gražina at the State Theater). Muzikos Barai, February, 1933, p. 38