Biography
Jānis Vītoliņš
Latvian conservatory teacher, bassoonist, composer.
He was born on April 21, 1886 in Litene parish and received his musical education at the Moscow Conservatory, where he graduated from the bassoon class with prof. F. Schmidt. During his musical studies, he already played in S. Kusevicka's symphony orchestra until 1917. Later, J. Vītolinš went to Siberia, led the Latvian choir in Irkutsk and the orchestra of the Imanta regiment in Vladivostok, being the bandmaster of this orchestra. Returning with the regiment to Latvia, Vītolinš joined the National Opera Orchestra, leading the bassoon class at the Latvian Conservatory until 1926. While teaching others, he also continued to expand his musical education, studying composition theory with prof. J. Vitola. For some time he conducted the Riga Symphony Orchestra and in 1926 he went to New York together with Alfred Kalniņa, where Vītoliņš's work took place in orchestras, music education institutions, film companies and radio stations. He was a staff arranger at Paramount and Metro Goldwyn Mayer film studios. He also led the Latvian choir in New York. After the American era, his work continues actively in Latvia. In 1933, he founded his own symphony jazz orchestra "La-Si-Do". In later years, he retired from jazz and composed film music for the films "Daugava" (1934), "Dzimtene sauc" (1935). From the works of Jānis Vītoliņš, we can mention "Symphony in G minor", ballet "Ilga", Latvian rhapsodies, piano concerts, etc.
Source: Latvian soldier, 21.04.1936
Saturday, January 2019
In 1933, J. Vītoliņš himself remembers in "Latvijas muzikis": "Each company has one main composer who determines the nature and style of the music. The rest of the employees perform the work assigned to them. So in the Paramount company we had 12 instrumentalists and in the Metro-Goldwyn company - 6. Each composer is assigned his own style: symphonic or jazz. I was mostly given to write classical, symphonic, dramatic and oriental. Especially introductions and endings, because a full orchestra is needed there. Each film has its own leitmotif according to the principles of Wagner's operas. The main theme is given chief composer, and we had to make it either lyrically or dramatically, or sometimes combined with another theme. Film music is finally accepted only after the opinion of a special committee and costs about $8,000, not including conductor and instrumentalist salaries. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer the company had a 40-piece orchestra playing in New York. Its chief conductor, Dr. William Akst, was paid $100,000 a year. The same before worked at the Kapitol Theater with 60,000 dol. year.
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Born in Litene parish. After graduating from the Moscow Conservatory with a bachelor's degree in 1917, he continued to work as a bassoon specialist at the National Opera and Latvian Conservatory as a bassoon class leader until 1926.
In the conservatory with prof. J. Vitola studied composition theory for 4 years, but in 1926 he left for America, where he worked at first as a bassoonist in a symphony orchestra, later he was a music arranger for art films of the big "Paramount" and "Metro Goldwyn Mayer" film companies, also an instrumentalist and manuscript editor for the Schirmer music publishing house corifetājs. He also led the composition class of the New York Conservatory of Music and performed as a conductor on American radio stations, popularizing Latvian music, especially our folk songs. He returned to Latvia from the USA in the 1930s. Riga Radiophone later presented him as a repatriate. He was surprised by Soviet troops in East Germany At the beginning, he was as objective as possible in his speeches, perhaps for some reason he was not forced to glorify the Soviet system and the "happy" life in it. In his last articles, however, hints of the usual propaganda material can be felt.
Source: "Laiks", 01.06.1955.
He was born on April 21, 1886 in Litene parish and received his musical education at the Moscow Conservatory, where he graduated from the bassoon class with prof. F. Schmidt. During his musical studies, he already played in S. Kusevicka's symphony orchestra until 1917. Later, J. Vītolinš went to Siberia, led the Latvian choir in Irkutsk and the orchestra of the Imanta regiment in Vladivostok, being the bandmaster of this orchestra. Returning with the regiment to Latvia, Vītolinš joined the National Opera Orchestra, leading the bassoon class at the Latvian Conservatory until 1926. While teaching others, he also continued to expand his musical education, studying composition theory with prof. J. Vitola. For some time he conducted the Riga Symphony Orchestra and in 1926 he went to New York together with Alfred Kalniņa, where Vītoliņš's work took place in orchestras, music education institutions, film companies and radio stations. He was a staff arranger at Paramount and Metro Goldwyn Mayer film studios. He also led the Latvian choir in New York. After the American era, his work continues actively in Latvia. In 1933, he founded his own symphony jazz orchestra "La-Si-Do". In later years, he retired from jazz and composed film music for the films "Daugava" (1934), "Dzimtene sauc" (1935). From the works of Jānis Vītoliņš, we can mention "Symphony in G minor", ballet "Ilga", Latvian rhapsodies, piano concerts, etc.
Source: Latvian soldier, 21.04.1936
Saturday, January 2019
In 1933, J. Vītoliņš himself remembers in "Latvijas muzikis": "Each company has one main composer who determines the nature and style of the music. The rest of the employees perform the work assigned to them. So in the Paramount company we had 12 instrumentalists and in the Metro-Goldwyn company - 6. Each composer is assigned his own style: symphonic or jazz. I was mostly given to write classical, symphonic, dramatic and oriental. Especially introductions and endings, because a full orchestra is needed there. Each film has its own leitmotif according to the principles of Wagner's operas. The main theme is given chief composer, and we had to make it either lyrically or dramatically, or sometimes combined with another theme. Film music is finally accepted only after the opinion of a special committee and costs about $8,000, not including conductor and instrumentalist salaries. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer the company had a 40-piece orchestra playing in New York. Its chief conductor, Dr. William Akst, was paid $100,000 a year. The same before worked at the Kapitol Theater with 60,000 dol. year.
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Born in Litene parish. After graduating from the Moscow Conservatory with a bachelor's degree in 1917, he continued to work as a bassoon specialist at the National Opera and Latvian Conservatory as a bassoon class leader until 1926.
In the conservatory with prof. J. Vitola studied composition theory for 4 years, but in 1926 he left for America, where he worked at first as a bassoonist in a symphony orchestra, later he was a music arranger for art films of the big "Paramount" and "Metro Goldwyn Mayer" film companies, also an instrumentalist and manuscript editor for the Schirmer music publishing house corifetājs. He also led the composition class of the New York Conservatory of Music and performed as a conductor on American radio stations, popularizing Latvian music, especially our folk songs. He returned to Latvia from the USA in the 1930s. Riga Radiophone later presented him as a repatriate. He was surprised by Soviet troops in East Germany At the beginning, he was as objective as possible in his speeches, perhaps for some reason he was not forced to glorify the Soviet system and the "happy" life in it. In his last articles, however, hints of the usual propaganda material can be felt.
Source: "Laiks", 01.06.1955.