KÄrlis Baumanis
Karlis Baumanis, also known as Baumanu Karlis, (born 29 Apriljul / May 11 1835greg in Viļķene ( Wilkenhof ). .. . † December 28 1904jul / January 10 1905greg in Limbaži ( Lemsal ) ) was a Latvian composer and poet. He composed in 1870, the Latvian national anthem God bless Latvia.
Life
He was born in 1835 as son of Jacob Baumanis and his wife Anne on the Halbgut Indriķis in the community Viļķene. After attending the local primary school in Limbaži he studied until 1856 at the teacher training college of Jānis Cimze in Valka. Here he acquired extensive knowledge in pedagogy, foreign languages and music. In his first job he got because of his attitude to the Latvian people in conflict with the Baltic German landlords and therefore moved to St. Petersburg. From 1858 to 1881 he participated here with his work as a teacher in the cultural life of Junglettischen Petersburg diaspora and was active as a musician, organizer of the First Latvian songs festival in 1871. This commitment led to his dismissal from the Russian civil service. From 1882 he lived and worked in Baumanis Limbaži. Here he was the center of public life. In addition to musical compositions, he joined as a publicist in appearance. He died in January 1905. Upon his grave site in the cemetery of Limbaži a created by Gustav Šķilters monument was erected in 1920.
Work
Around the year 1870 caused by Baumanu Karlis first arrangements of folk songs. While he learned the harmonization of folk songs in what was then German style in Cimze seminar, he had to know the works of Russian composers in St. Petersburg opportunity. However, his goal was an original Latvian folk music without foreign influences. In the first Latvian song festivals three of his compositions were sung: " Tēvijas dziesma " ( Father Song - Text: Lapas Mārtiņš ), " Daugava zvejnieku dziesma " (Song of the Dünafischer - Text: Fricis Brīvzemnieks ) and " Dievs Sveti, Latviju " (God bless Latvia - the later national anthem ). The word " Latvija " in Baumanis text had to be temporarily replaced by the more harmless " Baltija ".
Baumanis has composed music to texts by Auseklis or Miķelis Krogzemis, Andrejs Pumpurs, Fricis Brīvzemnieks and Jānis Ruģēns. The mid-1870s, he led a journalistic feud with the Baltic German literati, after his former teacher Jānis Cimze accused to mix foreign words and melodies with the Latvian folk music. The polemics found, among other things reflected in Baumanis drawn caricatures of satire Journal " Dunduri ". The two collections of songs " Austra " and " Ligo " of 1874 were specifically directed against the German Balts, which led to the confiscation of the collection " Ligo ".