Du neskelbti Jono Jablonskio laiškai Viliui Gaigalaičiui

V. Landsbergis. Two unpublished letters of Jon Jablonskis to Vilius Gaigalaitis 95 VYTAUTAS LANDSBERGIS dU nesKeLbTi John Jablonski Letters To Vilis Gaigalaitis In the collection of documents of the Johann Gottfried Herder Institute in Marburg, Germany, the collection of P. V. Reklaitis contains, among other Lithuanian studies items, two letters of Jonas Jablonskis to Vilius Gaigalaitis, a member of the Lesser Lithuania. They are registered DSHI 150 Nachlass Gaigalat 146. One is dated January 5/17, 1895, the other is even earlier – mentioning Christmas – corresponding on the same matter: about the tenth anniversary of the Tilžė “Birutė” society. The organizers also cared about the musical part, and especially lacked the “prologue” – talk. As you know, the tenth anniversary celebration of Birutė took place exactly a month after the second letter, so J. Jablonskis from Mintauja couldn’t help, but suggested to contact Vincas Kudirkas, who was healing in the Crimea, although this time he was living far away. The inaugural speech was finally given by J. Lapinas, the chairman of Birutė, who urged not to be ashamed of Lithuanianness and mother tongue; performed performance – A. Fromo-Gužutis’s “The Demolition of Kaunas Castle”; E. Jagomastas sang J. Zauerveino Lithuanianised “Gals yr tylėjimass”, and more songs were sung by the local “Birutės” and the choir of Žemaičių Žemaitija women. The success was huge, V. Maknys mentions a thousand or more participants. The German administration was concerned about stopping the rising Lithuanian revival, Vydūnas scolded the producers of the play about the Lithuanians’ failure – the victory of the Crusaders, but soon he himself took up choirs and other musical and educational activities. The beginning was not silence. The divided nation did not draw a boundary along the then German-Russian border. Vilius Gaigalaitis (1870–1945), a future priest and cultural activist from Šiauliai, who was still a student of theology and philosophy at the time, but already a member of the Prussia Society in Karaliaučius, speaks about this. 96 LANGUAGE CULTURE | 83 ninko friendship and correspondence with J. Jablonskis, even the arrival of Žemaitijos women to sing at the festival in Tilžė. Let those two letters of the linguist, now published for the first time2, remind us of those times and relationships – he even spells some special words! – emerged from the archive on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Jan Jablonski. Dear friend! Forgive me for not answering for so long: – there was nothing certain to know. Now the whole thing has become clear, and that is why I am giving a message. Drugnų Antanas3 translates a small comedy from Russian, removing from it all the Russianisms of life4 and recycling the minority. That comedy we are going to put on our "stage" during our Christmas and send it to you soon..... you'll find it. It is only a pity that we learned about the celebration so late, we could have organized something more... We cannot write more about the celebration of Prakalbos (Jonas5 wrote about it to us), because Birutė6’s works are completely unknown to us (we do not know what good she did in Prussian Lithuania, how long she lived – watched and how much she slept...). If it has been sleeping more, not watching anymore, could you not at least now revive it, make sure that it does some good of its program? I wrote to St. Petersburg, but I have not received an answer. It is very difficult to write much about friendship7 as little is known about it from his own works. Everyone will ask what she did.....Writing to Moscow about her, I myself did not know what to write on the questions that, as far as I knew, the Moscowites would like to ask. Hardly any of us will come: Landsbergis lives far away, in Moscow, Mačys in the Ural mountains, but we all have such a job that it is very difficult for us to move away from the place. We wish you good luck – we will send the comedy (or vaudeville). Hello from all Tamsta's friends and acquaintances. Jablonskis /parašas/ 2 Some text comments are attached to messages. 3 Antanas Kriščiukaitis (1864–1933, Antanas from Būgniai, Aišbė), lawyer and writer, working at the time in Mintauja. In the text of the letter the name is underlined, like other names, apparently not by J. Jablonski, but later. Otherwise, the words and place names are underlined by Jablonski himself. 4 J. Jablonskis corrected when writing: "rusicizmus (life)" marked with digits 2 and 1, so it is now presented according to his correction. 5 Probably, the Prussian Lithuanian actor Jonas Vanagaitis, who later signed Panemunės Jon. 6 This writing (with the long ū) was probably still inherited from the time of S. Valiūnas. 7 Friendship is companionship. V. Landsbergis. Two unpublished letters of Jon Jablonskis to Vilius Gaigalaitis 97 I 5/17 95 Dear compatriot! Today I came to Mintaujo and found your letter. I'm hurrying to answer. On January 10/22, Antanas Būgnys, who was sent to work by the authorities, will arrive. He also delayed writing the promised work for this reason. As soon as he gets home, we'll send him his work. He's, as far as I know, finishing it. The Prophet8 did not promise to go. It seems to me that we cannot even wait for him to come, here is the deco: during our N. Year his brother9, a priest, a lecturer of the Hebrew language at the St. Petersburg Dvas, was arrested. Academy. The musician is so upset that he hardly wants to have fun and entertain others. set the program so that you can do without it. As far as I can guess, hardly any of us will wake up: més, as much as we would like, we can’t leave in any way… If Anton’s comedy, translated from Russian, doesn’t suit you right now, you might be able to play it next time… For the prologue, contact V. Kudirka, he is the only half-cock among us. Its address is: Sevastopol, Малая Морская, № 37, d. Gavrilova. I'm giving him 50 feet. Belostock district, L. Tertsianu10, for transmission to V. K. * The application, county taking, we like it very much and més nothing from our side nothing11 can not add. Congratulations to all Jablonskis /parašas/ * I hope he will really write. It would be great if you could get some prologues. Could you choose a better... 8 Petras Juozas Pranaitis (1868–1942) – St. Petersburg musician, organist, choir leader and composer, who published in 1893, at the same time as V. Kudirka, the first emphasized “Lithuanian” pieces for piano. Polka Lietuvaite on 4 hands was composed by P. J. Pranaitis. Oil. The item 1 rub. was also an ignoring of the press ban. 9 Justinas Bonaventūra Pranaitis (1861 – 1947) – a priest who graduated and taught at the Roman Catholic Spiritual Academy in St. Petersburg. In 1891, the prefect of the Academy, who fought against Rusification and was active in the Lithuanian-Zemaites charitable society, was exiled to Tver in 1895-1896. 10 The name of Laurynas Tercijonas, a doctor of the 50th Balstogė Infantry Regiment, is underlined by J. Jablonskis (also Sevastopol). 11 Twice “nothing” – the author’s lack of consideration.