Stasys Šimkus (23 January 1887, Motiškiai, now in

Jurbarkas district municipality Jurbarkas District Municipality () is a municipalities of Lithuania, municipality in Tauragė County, Lithuania Elderships Jurbarkas District Municipality is divided into 12 elderships: Population by locality *Status: M, MST - city, town / K ...

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

– 15 October 1943,

Kaunas Kaunas (; ) is the second-largest city in Lithuania after Vilnius, the fourth largest List of cities in the Baltic states by population, city in the Baltic States and an important centre of Lithuanian economic, academic, and cultural life. Kaun ...

Reichskommissariat Ostland The (RKO; ) was an Administrative division, administrative entity of the Reich Ministry for the Occupied Eastern Territories of Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1945. It served as the German Civil authority, civilian occupation regime in Lithuania, La ...

) was a

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

n composer. Šimkus studied in

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ) is the capital of and List of cities in Lithuania#Cities, largest city in Lithuania and the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, most-populous city in the Baltic states. The city's estimated January 2025 population w ...

and

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

and later became the pupil of Anatoly Konstantinovich Lyadov,

Jāzeps Vītols Jāzeps Vītols (; 26 July 1863 – 24 April 1948) was a Latvian composer, pedagogue and music critic. He is considered one of the fathers of Latvian classical music. Biography Vītols, born in Valmiera the son of a schoolteacher, began hi ...

, and

Maximilian Steinberg Maximilian Osseyevich Steinberg (; – 6 December 1946) was a Russian composer of classical music. Though once considered the hope of Russian music, Steinberg is far less well known today than his mentor (and father-in-law) Nikolai Rimsky-Korsa ...

. After visiting the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, he went to

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

for further studies with

Paul Graener Paul Graener (11 January 1872 – 13 November 1944) was a German composer and conductor. He composed numerous operas and orchestral works in the Romanticism style. Biography Graener was born in Berlin and orphaned as a young child. A boy s ...

and

Sigfrid Karg-Elert Sigfrid Karg-Elert (November 21, 1877April 9, 1933) was a German composer in the early twentieth century, best known for his compositions for pipe organ and reed organ. Biography Karg-Elert was born Siegfried Theodor Karg in Oberndorf am Neckar, ...

. A

national Romantic Romantic nationalism (also national romanticism, organic nationalism, identity nationalism) is the form of nationalism in which the state claims its political legitimacy as an organic consequence of the unity of those it governs. This includes ...

, Šimkus helped resurrect the Lithuanian cultural organization Daina in 1916. In 1923, he opened a private music school in

Klaipėda Klaipėda ( ; ) is a city in Lithuania on the Baltic Sea coast. It is the List of cities in Lithuania, third-largest city in Lithuania, the List of cities in the Baltic states by population, fifth-largest city in the Baltic States, and the capi ...

, which was soon converted into the national Lithuanian Conservatory (now called the Klaipėda Stasys Šimkus Conservatoire). He was a professor of

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

at the Conservatoire from 1931 to 1937 and also

conducted Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or Choir, choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary d ...

the State Opera at Kaunas. Šimkus composed several

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

s, a

cantata A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian language, Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal music, vocal Musical composition, composition with an musical instrument, instrumental accompaniment, ty ...

, a

symphonic poem A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music, usually in a single continuous movement, which illustrates or evokes the content of a poem, short story, novel, painting, landscape, or other (non-musical) source. The German term ( ...

, a

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

suite, a ballade,

choral A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

works,

lied In the Western classical music tradition, ( , ; , ; ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German and Dutch, but among English and French speakers, is often used interchangea ...

er, and

church music Church music is a genre of Christian music written for performance in church, or any musical setting of ecclesiastical liturgy, or music set to words expressing propositions of a sacred nature, such as a hymn. History Early Christian musi ...

. He composed the music for Lietuvininkai we are born by

Georg Sauerwein Georg Julius Justus Sauerwein (15 January 1831 in Hanover – 16 December 1904 in Kristiania) was a German publisher, polyglot, poet, and linguist. He is buried at Gronau. Sauerwein was the greatest linguistic prodigy of his time and mastered ...

. His son Algis Šimkus also became a renowned conductor but in Canada instead of Jamaica , pianist, and composer. A group of cultural operators in Klaipėda, led by Vytautas Blūšius, developed the idea of organizing the

International Stasys Šimkus Choir Competition International Stasys Šimkus Choir Competition (Lithuanian language, Lithuanian: ''Tarptautinis Stasio Šimkaus chorų konkursas'') is an international choir competition held every two years since 1976 in Klaipėda (Lithuania). Artistic director ...

in honor of the composer for his outstanding contribution to musical culture, with the intention of encouraging choir activity and developing choral culture. The first Stasys Šimkus competition was held in 1976. The first four competitions were held on an annual basis, then in 1979, it was decided to hold the contest every two years.

References

External links

Homepage of the Klaipėda Stasys Šimkus Conservatoire (in Lithuanian, some information in English)Biography from the Conservatoire (in Lithuanian)

International Stasys Šimkus Competition in International Federation for Choral Music (IFCM)
1887 births 1943 deaths Romantic composers 20th-century Lithuanian classical composers Lithuanian conductors (music) People from Tauragė County Musicians from Kaunas Lithuanian male classical composers 20th-century conductors (music) 20th-century Lithuanian male musicians 19th-century male musicians {{Lithuania-composer-stub