Dear Stewart, <<SNIP>>
Stewart <><><><>There are a number of early music enthusiasts in Lithuania, but as far as I know there is only one Lithuanian lute player.<><><><><> Maybe that's because there is so little Lithuanian lute music.<g> There is none in the K'berg MS, as far as I can tell (so the patriots were mistaken in taking it to Vilnius).. The only Lithuanian lute music that I know of is in British Library, Sloane 1021, the incorrectly (according to Peter Kiraly, and I agree with him) called "Stobaeus Stammbuch." Stobaeus may have owned it, but he probably did not compile its contents It contains the only Lithuanian lute music known to me, and only three or four pieces, marked "Litt" or "Littawer" for Lithuanian. This is the manuscript that is better known for the two treatises on playing the lute, one in the modern style and the other in the older manner of Waissel. The newer one has the famous statement that Dowland started playing thumb under and then changed to thumb forward. The author of the treatise says that thumb under produces a "faul" sound. Uh-oh. There are many untitled pieces in Sloan 1021, and perhaps these include more Lithuanian music. -o-O-o- <><><><><>"Lithuanian itself is traditionally described as 'archaic'; what is, or ought to be, meant by this is that it retains a large number of features, particularly in declension, one might assume to have been present at an earlier stage in the history of the Indo-European languages. Putting it simply, Lithuanian might be placed alongside Latin, Greek and Sanskrit in its linguistic importance. With the difference that it and its numerous dialects are still spoken."<><><><> I once had a student who was a refugee from Lithuania (came here with his family aged 4 or 5). Sometimes he recited poems in Lithuanian. It is one of the most beautiful sounding languages I know. His father was the Lithuanian Lutheran minister for Los Angeles, and his brother (my student's uncle) who stayed behind headed the Lutheran Church in Lithuania. Sagitas knew both of them. Surely there continue to be strongly held beliefs to preserve the Lithuanian cultural heritage. It is usual that the first generation turns away from their national heritage, but that was not the case with my student. He had memorized many Lithuanian poems. He could probably discourse on that ancient epic poem the patriots "liberated" from the archive in Koenigsberg. That is why they were so unhappy under the Soviets. I can imagine Sigitas was quite successful in his tour to raise funds for his nationalistic group. He and the Lithuanians I knew in L.A. were quite intense in cultivating their heritage. AJN. <>
