The Power of Song: Nonviolent National Culture in the Baltic Singing Revolution

Appendix II: Chronology

appendi x ii: chronology 13,000 years ago Glaciers recede; first human settlement 6,000 years ago Possible arrival of the Finno-Ugric ancestors of Estonians and Livs; Estonian regilaul singing may have emerged about 2,000 years ago 5,000 years ago Possible arrival of the Indo-European ancestors of Old Prussians, Lithuanians, and Latvians; they honored the god Percon/Perkūnas/Pērkons and may have droned in harmony when they chanted oral poetry 1198–1290 Baltic crusaders conquer Livonia (present-day Estonia and Latvia), establishing a German-speaking nobility Battle halted by a singer in Beverīna fortress (1208); Letgallians (inhabitants of Northeast Latvia) carry a red-whitered flag to battle (1279) 1200s–1400s Lithuanian tribes unite to repel crusader attacks and expand the borders of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania; Grand Duke Jogaila (Jagiełło) crowned king of Poland (1386) Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas defeats the crusaders at the Battle of Žalgiris (1410) 1500s–1600s Reformation and Counter-Reformation Universities established in Königsberg (1544), Vilnius (1579), and Tartu (1630); first printed Lutheran hymnals in Lithuanian (1547), Latvian (1587), and Estonian (1637) 1709–11 Plague and famine decimate East Prussia’s population; Lithuanians become a minority in the region that comes to be called “Lithuania Minor” 1700s Russian Empire expands, conquering Estland and Lifland from Sweden (1710), and annexing Vitebsk (1772); Kovno, Kurland, and Vilna (1795); and Suvalki (1815) Provinces. Herder lives in Rīga (1764–69), encounters oral folk song Appendix II 334 traditions, and publishes Baltic songs in Volkslieder (1778– 79); Merkel portrays the ancestors of Estonians and Latvians as peaceful, singing nations in Die Vorzeit Lieflands (1798) 1800–60s Emergence of singing Balts First Estonian book of war songs printed for the Napoleonic war (1807); Rėza begins teaching at Königsberg University (1807); emancipation of Estonian and Latvian serfs (1816–19); Seinai seminary (1826) and Cimze seminar (1839) established, and future cultural leaders study at University of Tartu; Valančius’s poem “Biruta” enters Lithuanian oral tradition (1820s); Polish and Lithuanian revolutions (1831 and 1863); emancipation of Lithuanian and eastern Latvian (Latgallian) serfs (1861); Russian imperial ban on Lithuanian-language books and secular associations, including choirs (1864–1904) 1860s–1900 Nation building First Estonian Song Festival and national anthem premiere (1869); First Latvian Singing Festival and national anthem premiere (1873); “People of Kungla” and “Bard of Beveriņa” emerge to build identity of singing nations Vītols begins teaching composition at Saint Petersburg Music Academy (1886), educates many Baltic composers Birutė Society established in Lithuania Minor (1885); book smuggling across border to Lithuanian areas of Russian Empire; Kudirka publishes Lithuanian national anthem (1898) 1890s–1920 Revolutions and war “Internationale” translated into Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian (1904–05); during the 1905 Revolution, congress delegates sing the future Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian national anthems; in 1910, Estonian and Latvian national song festivals, and Lithuanian regional song festival in Kaunas feature many native poets and composers During World War I (1914–18), Daugava River is the front line between the Russian Empire and Germany (1915–17); Latvian riflemen units established 1918 Declarations of independence by Lithuania (February 16), Estonia (February 24), and Latvia (November 18) Public education established, including national singing curriculum ; national conservatories established to yield a generation of teachers, performers, and composers 1923–24 First independence-era national song festivals in all three countries ; 1938 sees the last independent national song festivals in Appendix II 335 Tallinn (17,000 singers and musicians) and Rīga (16,000 singers); a regional Lithuanian song festival in Klaipėda gathers 2,000 singers 1939–45 World War II August 1939– June 1941 Nazi-Soviet treaties confirm Soviet interests in Latvia, Estonia , and Finland (August 23), and in Lithuania (September 25); Soviet Union invades Poland and Finland (SeptemberNovember 1939), and annexes Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania (1940); Balts conscripted into Soviet army; first mass deportations to Siberia (June 14, 1941) 1941–45 Nazi-Soviet war; Germany occupies the Baltic (1941); the Holocaust; Balts conscripted into labor and military service; Soviets reoccupy the Baltic (1944–45); Soviet Ministry of Interior troops fight Baltic partisans until 1953 1944–55 Stalinist government First Soviet-era national song festivals (1946–48); unofficial national anthems emerge in Estonia (“My Fatherland Is My Beloved”) and Latvia (“Oh Wind,” and “Fortress of Light”) Second wave of mass deportations (1948–49); Zhdanovite purge of culture; Stalinist repertoire enforced at national song festivals (1950) 1955...