Poetry
Gaismas pils
Not translated into English
Auseklis · 1888
Synopsis
The poem sings of a castle of light tied to ancient Latvian mythology, and makes of it the vision of an awakening of the spirit and of a new golden age promised to the Latvian people. Its images take up the colours the national flag would later bear, and belong to a body of work that idealises the Latvia that existed before the conquest by the German crusaders. In short, it lived above all through song.
Context
The poem dates from 1875 and 1876, according to a study by the Latvian Academy of Music, and was collected in 1888 in the Writings of Auseklis, brought together after the poet's death. Judged politically ambiguous, its text was banned even before Jāzeps Vītols set it to music in 1899; the composer keeps only part of it and leaves out two stanzas. This choir piece has become, at the Latvian song festivals, one of the highest expressions of national feeling, and it was still on the programme in 1948 of the first song festival of Soviet Latvia.
Who it is for
A few stanzas, known above all as a song. Best to know that Jāzeps Vītols's setting made it an anthem of Latvian choirs.
Prizes and reception
Vītols's chorus remains much loved by Latvian choirs and often returns to the repertoire of the Song and Dance Festival.
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