Composer Onutė Narbutaitė just finished a composition for the World Music Days, to be held for the first time in Vilnius this fall. The new opus „Stones, Flowers, Names and Constellations” will be performed by various choirs in different churches in Vilnius simultaneously on All Souls’ Day (November 2), and the intended audio projection to the streets will allow all the city passers-by to be part of the action, thus realizing the festival’s theme „InBetween“ (the interaction of various phenomena).

The new composition „Stones, Flowers, Names and Constellations“ is full of allusions to the past, and to the aura of Vilnius – Narbutaitė‘s hometown – marked by both the Catholic and Jewish cultures – signs that are „common to most people, no matter their nationality, language, or confessional differences”.
Ink is still drying on the just-finished score, as the composer making Lithuania known still writes by hand:
„Not only does the past interest me, but I am the past myself, because I still write by hand. It is much faster by computer, whereas I write slowly, rewriting and correcting scores and parts”.

Narbutaitė, author of the oratorio „Centones meae urbi” (for which she was awarded the National Prize in 1997), and „Three Symphonies of the Mother of God”, says that her latest opus is a sound-process reminiscent of liturgy, rather than a „composition” in the traditional sense:
„Here I use the Latin names of minerals, flowers, and constellations, as well as a Litany of All Saints. Stones, flowers and constellations are not exactly liturgical things, but the music itself, in essence, is a kind of All Souls’ Day prayer, mantra”.

„The music is very simple, because the festival requested a composition suitable for performing in the streets of the Vilnius Old Town, by many different choirs, and at the same time (although it was later decided that it will be chanted in churches, not in the streets anymore). On the other hand, I myself decided that music should not perturb the various passers-by: it should simply appear in between the city walls, and be suitable for performing in the streets. Perhaps it is not so very individual or complex, but it is, in its own way, purely natural”.

The perspective of untraditional performance also predetermined the choice of unconventional text. According to Narbutaitė:
„It was obvious right away that the composition, being intended for passers-by, could not be a narration: if sound will successfully be transmitted from churches to the streets, the people walking by will be able to hear the continuance of the musical piece, but not necessarily consecutively. Thus, I came to the conclusion that I could apply recitation in the principle of the Litany of All Saints. Indeed, the movements of the composition are, in a sense, litanies of stones, flowers, and constellations”.

The author intends to name the composition parts „Wreath of Stones”, „Wreath of Flowers”, „Litany of All Saints”, and „Wreath of Stars”.
„I wanted to start everything as if from scratch, from the Old Testament, in which stones play a very important role”.
Besides other geological names, there are also the 12 stones representing the 12 tribes of Israel, as stated in the Old Testament, because Vilnius is closely linked with the Hebraic culture. I employ several Old Testament psalms using two lines from each. In the first and last movements these texts are in Hebrew: through this language I wanted to embrace totality in many various senses, including that of the city’s history”.

According to Narbutaitė, the composition contains other hidden connections with Vilnius, that „knowledgeable people will perceive”:
„It has to do with mercy and the motif of the Mother of God. The composition will also be played near Aušros Vartai (the Gate of Dawn), which holds the „Mater misericordia” – a painting of the Mother of Mercy. This is why each movement begins with the Latin text „blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy”, and several lines from „Salve Regina” appear at the end of the composition. It is also the reason I included Sister Faustina Kowalska in the Litany of All Saints…“

The composer did not limit herself to the perimeters of the festival‘s request, and proposed a certain introduction of the composition, which will be performed during the World Music Days on the eve of the main performance (November 1), in the Bernardine Cemetery.
„It will be like a live sound installation, singing in the Bernardine Cemetery. A couple of choirs divided into small groups should suffice for the performance, even without a conductor. It was my wish to do this, and to link it with the principal part that will be performed the following day”.

World Music Days Information