VYTAUTAS LANDSBERGIS

TWO UNPUBLISHED LETTERS FROM JONAS JABLONSKIS TO VILIUS GAIGALAITIS

In the document collection of the Johann Gottfried Herder Institute in Marburg, Germany (Die Dokumentesammlung des Herder-Instituts), the P. V. Reklaitis collection preserves, among other materials relating to Lithuanian studies, two letters from Jonas Jablonskis to the Minor Lithuanian activist Vilius Gaigalaitis. They are registered as DSHI 150 Nachlass Gaigalat 146. One is dated January 5/17, 1895; the other, a somewhat earlier reply—the Christmas season is mentioned—concerns the same matter: the tenth-anniversary celebration of the “Birutė” Society in Tilsit. The organizers were also concerned with the musical program, and were particularly in need of a “prologue”—an opening address.

As is known, the “Birutė” anniversary celebration took place exactly a month after the second letter, so J. Jablonskis, writing from Mitau, could do nothing to help, but suggested turning to Vincas Kudirka, who readily launched into journalistic writing, though he was living and being treated far away in Crimea. In the end, the opening address was delivered by “Birutė” chairman J. Lapinas, who urged people not to be ashamed of their Lithuanian identity and native language; a play was staged—A. Fromas-Gužutis’s “The Destruction of Kaunas Castle”; E. Jagomastas sang J. Zauervein’s Lithuanian version of “Gals yr tylėjims,” while more songs were performed by the local “Birutė” choir and a visiting choir of Žemaitian women.

The event was a huge success; V. Maknys briefly mentions perhaps a thousand participants who flocked to it. The German administration grew concerned and sought to halt the rising Lithuanian revival. Vydūnas criticized the staging of a play about Lithuanian defeat—the victory of the Teutonic Knights—but soon took up choral work and other musical and educational activities himself. The beginning was not silence.

The divided nation did not draw a boundary at the then-existing German-Russian border. This is evident from the friendship and correspondence of V. Gaigala, a native of Šišioniai¹, the future clergyman and cultural-

¹ Vilius Gaigalaitis (1870–1945) was at that time still a student of theology and philosophy, but was already a member of the society Prussia in Königsberg.

V. LANDSBERGIS. Du neskelbti Jono Jablonskio laiškai Viliui Gaigalačiui

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worker’s friendship and correspondence with J. Jablonskis, and even the arrival of Žemaitian women to sing at the celebration in Tilsit.

May these two linguist’s letters, published here for the first time, remind us of those times and connections²—he even stresses the special words!—and, brought out of the archive, mark the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Jonas Jablonskis’s birth.

Dear Friend!

Forgive me for not replying for so long: nothing certain could be known. Now the whole matter has become clear, and so I am writing to let you know.

Antanas of Būgnai³ is translating a short comedy from Russian, removing all the Russicisms of everyday life⁴ from it and making a few alterations. We intend to stage this comedy on our “stage” at Christmas and send it to you at once… perhaps you could make use of it. It is a pity we heard about the celebration so late; we could have arranged a little more…

An opening address for the celebration (Jonas wrote to us about it⁵) we cannot write, because we know nothing at all about Birutė’s⁶ activities (we do not know at all what good it has done in Prussian Lithuania, how long it lived—kept watch—and how long it slept…). If it slept more than it kept watch, could you not revive it, at least now, by making sure it accomplishes something good from its program?

I wrote to St. Petersburg, but have not yet received a reply.

Daug kur rašyti apie draugystę⁷ teip mažai težinoma iš savo darbų – labai sunku. Kiekvienas paklaus, ką ji padarė..... Rašydamas į Maskvą apie ją, pats nežinojau, ką parašyti ant klausymų, kuriuos, kiek žinojau, norėtų užduoti maskviečiai.

It is unlikely that anyone from among us will come: Landsbergis lives far away, in Moscow, Mačys is in the Ural Mountains, and we all have such work that it is very difficult for us to leave our posts.

We wish you success—we will send the comedy (or vaudeville).

All your acquaintances and friends send their regards.

Jablonskis /signature/

²Some comments on the text are appended to the letters.

³ Antanas Kriščiukaitis (1864–1933, Antanas iš Būgnų, Aišbė), teisininkas ir literatas, tuo metu dirbęs Mintaujoj. Laiško tekste vardas pabrauktas, kaip ir kiti vardai, regis, ne J. Jablonskio, o vėliau. Šiaip žodžiai ir vietovardžiai pabraukti paties Jablonskio.

⁴When writing, J. Jablonskis corrected “rusicizmus (gyvenimo)” by marking the words with the numerals 2 and 1, so the text is now presented according to his correction.

⁵Probably Jonas Vanagaitis, an activist in Prussian Lithuania, who later signed himself Jonas of Panemunė.

⁶This spelling (with a long ū) was probably still inherited from the time of S. Valiūnas’s “Birūta.”

⁷Friendship – a society.

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KALBOS KULTŪRA | 83

I 5/17 95

Dear compatriot!

Today I returned to Mintauja and found your letter. I hasten to reply.

On January 10/22, Antanas Būgnas, whom the authorities had sent away to work, will return. This delayed him from writing the work enclosed, for this reason. As soon as he gets home, we will send his work. As far as I know, he is finishing writing it.

Pranaitis⁸ did not promise to come. It seems to me that we can hardly expect him to arrive now, for the following reason: during our New Year, his brother⁹, a priest and lecturer in Hebrew at the St. Petersburg Theological Academy, was arrested. The musician is so disheartened that he is hardly likely to want to enjoy himself or entertain others. Arrange the program so that you can manage without him. As far as I can tell, few of us will make it: although we would dearly like to, we could in no way leave...

If Antanas’s comedy, translated from Russian, does not suit you now, perhaps you will be able to stage it another time...

For the prologue, contact V. Kudirka; after all, he is the only halfway decent rooster among us. His address: Севастополь, Малая Морская, № 37, д. Гаврилова. Врачу 50 пех. Белостокского полка, Л. Терцияну¹⁰, for forwarding to V. K.*

Overall, we like the program very much, and we cannot add anything from our side.¹¹

Warm greetings from us all

Jablonskis /signature/

* I hope he will indeed write. It would be good if you received several prologues. You could choose the better one...

⁸ Petras Juozas Pranaitis (1868–1942) – peterburgietis muzikas, vargonininkas, chorų vadovas ir kompozitorius, 1893 m. išspausdinęs, vienu sykiu su V. Kudirka, pirmuosius pabrėžtinai „lietuviškus“ kūrinėlius fortepijonui. Polka Lietuvaite ant 4 rankų sustatė P. J. Pranaitis. Petropile. Prekė 1 rub. – tai buvo ir spaudos draudimo ignoravimas.

⁹ Justinas Bonaventūra Pranaitis (1861–1947) – dvasininkas, baigęs ir dėstęs Peterburgo Romos katalikų dvasinėje akademijoje. Nuo 1891 m. Akademijos prefektas, kovojęs prieš rusinimą, veikęs Lietuvių–žemaičių labdaringoje draugijoje, 1895–1896 m. ištremtas į Tverę.

¹⁰ The surname of Laurynas Tercijonas, physician of the 50th Białystok Infantry Regiment, is underlined by J. Jablonskis (as is Sevastopol).

¹¹ “Nothing” appears twice—an authorial oversight.

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