Origins of postmodern music in Latvia: its historical background and manifestations in the work by Marģeris Zariņš
Origins of postmodern music in Latvia: its historical background and manifestations in the work by Marģeris Zariņš

Summary/Abstract: In the first decade after World War 2, there was nothing resembling avantgarde in Latvian music, because the position of Soviet ideology was that art should be understandable for the people. However, toward the end of 1950s, ideological pressure eased, and the role of stylistic experiments significantly increased. For example, allusions to baroque in Marģeris Zariņš’ music were presented within the interaction with contemporary composition techniques. He can be considered the first Latvian postmodernist. Furthermore, Zariņš was an influential writer, and postmodern features are also seen in his literary works. The paper on his music and its literary parallels could be a significant contribution to the research of cultural processes in certain regions of the former USSR where postmodernism appeared without prior serious experience of modernism.

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