Colleagues remember Faust Latenas: he and the Lithuanian theater were one and the same

Rimas Tuminas: We sit and are silent for a long time.

Director Rimas Tuminas, who has worked with the composer for about three decades, says he returned to Lithuania from Moscow, where he directs the Vachtangov Theater, two weeks ago with F. Latėnas. Currently, due to the coronavirus situation, no actions are taking place in Russia.

“On the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Little Theater, he told me that: we, Rima, have been together for 30 years. I think it can not be less. I first met him as a person because he was going to study directing after graduating from the conservatory. And when I arrived, they invited me to teach at the conservatory, we all met, somehow it attracted me, he thought with notes, he thought of life from a musical work, ”R. Tumin told BNS.

According to the director, he was “hooked” by the music of F. Latėnas for a children’s performance, but what attracted him most was not the composer’s musical talent revealed a little later, but the enthusiasm for being part of the theater.

“We were living in a dream, we talked about the same thing. I’m sure he would make a very good and talented director. He also continued to communicate calmly with the actors, to tell, advise, joke about what to do on one stage or another, as it seemed to him. He advised me (…) the authors not only became him in music, I – on stage, but we became the authors of all our performances together, I am no longer going to separate those who did it, “said the creator.

According to R. Tumin, F. Latėnas, who recently worked with him at the Vachtangov Theater, received countless offers from other Russian theaters and recently received an honorable award – “Baltic Star” – in St. Petersburg.

The director also remembers the foundation of the Little Theater three decades ago together with F. Latėnas.

“It just came to our knowledge then. We listened to something, we read a text and we were silent again. We understood, we felt what was needed, what guided us and what we lacked. Because we are doing what life lacks: him I missed him, I missed him, we found a life complemented with joy, with some hope ”, said R. Tumin.

Both he and other colleagues agree that their work was permeated with sadness, pain.

“He was a composer of sadness and hope. Such eternal variations of the Requiem: the loss of life, the people – the parents, the son was very shocked, he could not recover from the death of his son, now he went to him, they met ”, said the composer’s friend.

He says the trio, who worked together for decades, he, F. Latėnas and artist and set designer Adam Jacovskis, did not forgive each other and drew criticism.

“Adam used to say: it’s easy for you, Faust, you’re already opening a drawer everywhere; the music is already written there, put on shelves, freshly extracted and shared by all. Well, Adam, what? same wall forward, backward, lengthwise, upright? “We were both jealous and benevolent, but we always spoke lovingly,” he said.

V. Gerulaitis: theatrical and intellectual adored him

The musicologist and composer friend Viktoras Gerulaitis says that F. Latėnas was undoubtedly the creator of the theater, his music stood out for its simplicity, for this reason it has received much criticism from some colleagues, although it has gained great recognition abroad, especially among Russian intellectuals.

“His theatrical music is amazing. Moscow, for example, adored him, the entire Vachtangov theater, where he worked with R. Tumin, adored him, they said, “a man of genius.” He didn’t write much original music, but apparently he decided to write for the theater. He was very talented, although he was very “eaten” by other composers in his youth, I remember how he was “beaten” by the Union of Composers, that he would write primitive urban music. He wrote simple music, he wrote tertions. He also wrote “Jewish” music. Furthermore, he is the only Lithuanian composer to have given his composer’s concert in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory. It is one of the five largest theaters in the world, ”V. Gerulaitis told BNS.

She clapped when she walked out the door, how about fifty people. This is the second composer that I don’t know what areas he has in the Philharmonic or in the palace ”, said the musicologist.

According to V. Gerulaitis, F. Latėnas’ greatest contribution is the music for several hundred performances, but he has also written acclaimed academic music, such as his composition for the string quartet “Bright Memory” or other works for the quartet.

“It has been performed by the Moscow Spivakov Orchestra, it has also been performed by the Čiurlionis Quartet. When the Quartet for Bright Memory was played in the United States, the audience was forced to repeat it twice. Opera soloist Giedrė Kaukaitė was a Once in Sweden, when the Čiurlionis Quartet played in the Swedish Philharmonic. G. Kaukaitė, not knowing who he works for here, approached the people of Čiurlionė and said: why, well, Lithuanians cannot create such beautiful music And they tell him Latėnas is here, “he said.

According to V. Gerulaitis, F. Latėnas was a linguistic “completely closed man”.

“He spoke little, listening all the time to what he said. In that sense, it was mysterious. Although he had to be happy because he knew how to play the accordion, accordionists are happy,” said the composer.

However, V. Gerulaitis says that the music of F. Latėnas could be illustrated with the phrase about the Italian baroque composer Antonio Vivaldi, once said by the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, who wrote “a concert and five hundred transcribed it”.

“He is similar to Latėnas, he practically wrote the same music,” said the musicologist.

The theater framed the entire life of the composer

F. Latėnas is a postmodernist composer who sought a broad expression of emotions in music. It was a favorite of both listeners and directors. In addition, he participated in social activities. “It’s quite a fun combination for the artist. He is subtle in his work, strong, organized and persistent in social activities, strongly representing the interests of his field. A serious composer and a serious person, ”said Mykolas Natalevičius, president of the Lithuanian Union of Composers (LKS), sensitively.

The brilliant memory composer went through a wide administrative chain of activities, from theater directors to the post of vice minister of culture. “We worked together on the board of LKS, in this area Faust’s brilliant qualities were revealed: human understanding was combined with perseverance. The best known part of his life is his connections to the theater. It was the theater that framed his entire life. But he did not limit himself to that, as he said, the most important thing for him is that the music plays, ”recalls his colleague M. Natalevičius.

In his music, F. Latėnas sought to convey a variety of human emotions: neither he nor his music lacked humor. This defines the uniqueness of your personality and creativity.

This composer contributed to the history of modern music, that was his vision. “He lived precisely at the stage when the neo-romantic grain began to appear in Lithuanian music. That generation of non-romantics was very diverse. Together with these composers, they are difficult to call similar, except that it was important for everyone to turn the music into a harmonious and beautiful sound. But at the same time they are very different “, pointed out M. Natalevičius.

Algirdas Martinaitis, Vidmantas Bartulis, Onutė Narbutaitė, all creators of different styles, but the search for a beautiful sound can be felt in the works of all of them. F. Latėnas was the composer of his generation most inclined to theater music, he was proud of it. “He is one of those authors whose music sounded very widely in Lithuania and abroad. Through interdisciplinary expression, the connection with theater and cinema, his music has reached a wide audience ”, said the president of LKS.

An ode to suffering and joy

At the end of August of this year, the director and actor Arkadijus Vinokuras presented the show “Ode to suffering and joy” in Lukiškės square, the music of which was composed by F. Latėnas at his request.

“I am completely shocked, just shocked. We recently talked, created, debated, laughed. He was a special person, he’s special, reluctant to say he was. A person who has never lost his idealism, his ability to see the light at the end of the tunnel, even in the most difficult circumstances, ”said A. Vinokuras.

He said that the last joint work with F. Latėnas occurred to him just after meeting near the Calvario market; then, after talking, they decided they wanted to react to the current situation on the beach in Lukiškės Square. Later, F. Latėnas, overjoyed at the successful performance, said he wanted to do it again.

“His contribution to contemporary Lithuanian theater is enormous, although it is not even that word, too banal. He is extremely important, the Lithuanian theater and F. Latėnas are the same ”, said A. Vinokuras, adding that F. Latėnas was an artist, a politician and, in general, a profound person, extremely sensitive, who is now missing a lot .