Orkestras Lietuvos miesto muzikinėje kultūroje: Vilniaus atvejis (XIX a.)
Orchestra in the Lithuanian urban musical culture: a case study of Vilnius (19th century)

Summary/Abstract: The article attempts to provide the generalising insights into the role of the orchestra in the 19th century’s Lithuanian urban culture. The topic has been more extensively studied in the context of the culture of manors (periphery) and the Catholic Church, whereas the orchestras that were established in the process of the developing urban culture and their functioning in the public musical movement of the city have not been thoroughly explored. It is observed that due to the continuous influence of the tradition of classicism in Lithuania in the beginning of the 19th century an ensemble of barely several or more than ten musicians was often referred to as an orchestra. The pace of development of the composition and purpose of the orchestra in Western Europe was determined by the peculiar characteristics of development of the symphonic genre. This tendency was also reflected in Lithuania. The aim of the article is to reveal the change of the concept of the orchestra as well as its role in the urban culture on the basis of the available factual material. The facts provided in the publication show that at the end of the 19th century the number of established orchestras was on the increase. Though the activities of most of them are considered fragmentary, they were nevertheless important for the general development of the orchestra as well as the creation of the tradition which gradually anticipated the changes of the early 20th century and the establishment of the Vilnius Symphonic Orchestra in 1910.

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