Metadata: Sheet Music Collection of the National Library of Latvia
Collection
- Country:
- Latvia
- Holding institution:
- National Library of Latvia
- Holding institution (official language):
- Latvijas Nacionālā Bibliotēka
- Postal address:
- Mūkusalas iela 3, Rīga, LV-1423
- Phone number:
- +371 67 806 100
- Web address:
- www.lnb.lv
- Email:
- lnb@lnb.lv
- Reference number:
- RXA163
- Title:
- Sheet Music Collection of the National Library of Latvia
- Title (official language):
- Nošu Bibliotēkas Kolekcija
- Creator/accumulator:
- National Library of Latvia
- Date(s):
- 1950/2000
- Date note:
- Predominantly second half of the 20th century
- Language:
- Latvian
- Yiddish
- Russian
- Extent:
- 428 storage units
- Type of material:
- Textual material
- Physical condition:
- good
- Scope and content:
- The sheet music collection of the National Library of Latvia comprises five manuscripts with Jewish folk songs written down by Maksis Goldins (in Yiddish). Goldins collected folk songs and orchestrated or adapted them so that the Jewish folk songs could be performed by professional musicians. The documents in the collection are dated from 1957 to 1960 with a total amount of 25 leaves. All of the Jewish songs in the collection were rearranged for a mixed voice choir with no accompaniment (a capella). These songs are: Di jomtevdike teg (Latvian: Svētki, “Fete, Celebration”) in Yiddish and Latvian; Di baike (Flanelis) in Yiddish and Russian; Slof main kind (Latvian: Čuči, čuči, bērniņ!, “Sleep my baby”); Klusu! (Ša, štil ! ); O zait gezunterheit (Latvian: Nu ardievu, mīļas mājas, “Goodbye, sweet home”).
- Archival history:
- The collection was gathered and is preserved by the National Library of Latvia. Manuscripts of modern composers (such as Goldins) have been acquired by the Library since 2000.
- Administrative/biographical history:
- Maksis Goldins (1917-2009) was a Latvian Jewish composer and musicologist. He was born in Riga and from 1935 to 1939 he studied theory of musical composition with Jāzeps Vītols (1863-1948) at the Latvian Conservatory. During the Second World War Goldings was injured and evacuated to Kirov (Russia) in 1942. In the same year he moved to Ivanovo (Russia) where he worked with the State Art Ensemble as an accompanist. In 1944-1948. Golding studied at the Moscow Conservatory and defended his dissertation in 1952. He continued to work in Latvia. In 1970 Goldins attained his PhD with a thesis on “The main musical stylistic features of the Latvian folk songs and links with folk songs of the East Slavic people”. Besides Latvian folk music, Goldins was very interested in collecting, arranging and orchestration of Jewish folk songs. From the 1950s Goldins worked on instrumental and vocal pieces based on original Jewish folk songs. He collected, systematised and arranged about 80 Jewish folk songs for piano and voices and about 40 songs for choir. He also popularised Jewish folk songs. In the 1980s a number of recordings were made based on the Jewish folk songs arranged by Goldins (two LPs for voice and piano (or violin), one for choir). At the same time Goldins and his colleagues performed Jewish folk music concerts throughout the European part of the USSR. In 1994 Goldins published “The Anthology of Jewish Folk Songs” (in Russian) where he collected more than 250 songs in Yiddish and Hebrew.
- Subject terms:
- Jewish languages
- Jewish languages--Yiddish
- Music
- Music--Composers
- Sheet music
- System of arrangement:
- The collection consists of one inventory.
- Finding aids:
- The inventory is available in the digital Database of Rare Books and Manuscripts of the National Library of Latvia.
- Links to finding aids:
- https://kopkatalogs.lv
- Yerusha Network member:
- Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People
- Author of the description:
- Antonina Martynenko
