Address
31 Petrausko St, LT-44162, Kaunas.
Tel./fax +370-37-733371.
E-mail: kau.petr.muz@delfi.lt
Information
for visitors
The museum is closed for reconstruction!
Museum's collections
The museum contains memorabilia of Lithuanian musicians, works by
Lithuanian artists collected by Kipras
Petrauskas, and the personal
libraries of composers Juozas Gruodis and Stasys Simkus.
Branch Museum
Juozas Gruodis Museum
Address: 18 Salako
St., LT-44136, Kaunas.
Tel. +370-37-732498.
Opening times: Tuesday to Saturday 11.00-18.00.
The museum was founded in 1977 in the home which composer Juozas
Gruodis (1884-1948) lived from 1932. The exhibition reflects the composer’s
life and creative work. Chamber music concerts and meetings with
well-known musicians are also held here.
Museum's Fragments of History
The museum was founded in 1970 in the home of Mikas and Kipras
Petrauskas.
In 1969 the Council of Ministers decided to establish K. Petrauskas
memorial museum.
The museum bought from K. Petrauskas’ wife Elena
Zalinkevicaite-Petrauskiene already restored furniture for the memorial
flat and also pictures, different things - carpets, souvenirs, plates and
dishes etc.
K. Petrauskas' wife and his daughter Ausra helped the museum to furnish
the rooms of the flat and thus, to restore the authentic atmosphere.
In 1977 the museum was opened to public.
K. Petrauskas memorial museum established in 1969 turned into Lithuanian
Museum of Music and became the center of the musical society in Kaunas.
Other news about the Museum
Founder of the museum is the Council of Kaunas Municipality.
Head of the museum is Zita Grinceviciene.
Mikas Petrauskas
M. Petrauskas (1873-1937), composer, singer, chorus master, born in
Paluse, county of Svencionys.
He learned to play the organ from his father and began working as an
organist in his teens. From 1901-1906 he studied singing and music theory
at the Conservatory of St. Petersburg. His active role in the 1905
revolution compelled him to flee to Switzerland in 1906. From 1907 on, the
date of his first American concert tour, he spent most of his time in the
United States, with frequent visits to Lithuania and other European
countries. Returning to Lithuania in 1930, he was granted a government
pension. He died in March 23, 1937.
Petrauskas showed a special interest in folk songs and frequently arranged
them in a contrapuntal manner. Although his musical compositions are
uncomplicated, sometimes to the point of crudity (as in the case of the
operettas), their simple romantic expressiveness and melodiousness have
gained them great popularity. His numerous operettas, the scores of many
of which have been lost, include Sienapjute (Hay-making, ca 1910); Vestuves
(Wedding, 1915); Giriu karalius (King of the Forest, published
1919); and consilium facultatis (published 1919).
He arranged or composed some 150 songs, including a number of Russian and
Ukrainian revolutionary tunes. An extensive collection of his songs was
published in Brooklyn, New York, in 1946.
He also wrote musical interludes and several short pieces for symphony
orchestra. Over 2000 pages of his compositions remain in manuscript form.
Petrauskas earned the name of Father of Lithuanian Opera with his two most
ambitious works, Egle zalciu karaliene (Egle, Queen of the
Serpents) and Birute.
He made an equally important contribution to Lithuanian musical life with
his work as chorus master and teacher. Both in Lithuania and in the United
States while pursuing his singing career, he devoted considerable time and
energy to organizing chorus and orchestras, with which he gave concerts
and staged a great many operettas especially in the United States. In 1910
in Chicago he founded a conservatory which subsequently he transferred to
Boston; he also opened similar schools in Brooklyn, Newark, and Elizabeth.
He wrote extensively on musical topics for the periodical press. His most
spectacular undertaking was the production of Egle at Boston’s
Grand Opera House, for which he coached 32 singers.
Kipras Petrauskas
K. Petrauskas (November 23, 1885 in Ceikiniai - January 17, 1968 in
Vilnius).
The first Lithuanian world-famous singer (tenor). Together with J.
Naujalis and J. Tallat-Kelpsa, he established the Lithuanian Opera Theater
in 1920; staged the first performance of La Traviata by Giuseppe
Verdi, and played Alfred’s role in it. He graduated from St. Petersburg
Conservatory in 1911 and debuted at the Moscow Grand Theater. He sang at
the Lithuanian Opera Theater until 1958, creating and performing many
lyric tenor parts. Together with F. Shalapin, the Russian legendary opera
singer, performed on tour in Germany, Spain, and later in France.
(From: Acquaintance with Lithuania. Book of the Millennium.-Volume
One.-K.-1999)
Photographs by E. Urbonavicius
