Summary

SUMMARY

In the Gold of the Nordic Sun: The Role of Tuudur Vettik and Roland Laasmäe in the Process of Estonian Song Celebrations in the Period of 1938–1980

Estonia’s Song Celebration Tradition

In the memory of our people, Estonia’s top event of the past decades – the regaining of independence – is closely related to the Singing Revolution. One needn’t be a rocket scientist to gather that knowing the revolution theory is not enough to understand this phenomenon. It is essential to have a deeper understanding of singing, the song celebrations movement and the Estonian choral tradition in general.

The tradition of Estonia’s song celebrations has continued uninterrupted for over 140 years and all those milestones have become part of our self-identity. The role of song celebrations cannot be seen separately from its foundation – the Estonian choral tradition. Bearing this in mind, this paper will analyze Estonian Song Celebration Tradition – a cultural civic movement with a long history that stemmed from the movement of fellowships.

The song celebration tradition plays an important role in Estonian national identity: before the first Nationwide Song Celebration, the Estonians used to refer to themselves as the country folk, whereas contemporary Estonians of the 21st century now like to call themselves as the singing nation, often making an extra reference to the song celebrations. Historians agree that throughout centuries, Estonian song celebrations have played a crucial role in the involvement of masses, therefore appearing as a powerful

stimulant for social processes. Moreover – the tradition played a crucial role in the resistance movement and the consolidation of the nation. Shortly before the restitution of independence of the Republic of Estonia, the song celebration became a crucial influencer of the course of history.

This research ”The Role of Creative Intellectuals in the Process of Estonian Song Celebrations based on the Analysis of the Epistolary Heritage of Tuudur Vettik and Roland Laasmäe in the Period of 1940–1980” focuses on the role and fate of creative intellectuals-choir leaders and composers in 1940–1980. The position of song celebrations and that of the creative intellectuals-choir leaders in socio-political processes are observed in this research, looking at the first years of the Soviet annexation, the postWWII period, and the so-called Khruschtschev thaw and – comparatively – also the years of Brezhnev stagnation.

The system of the Estonian choral culture, the ideas thereby conveyed into society, the leaders of the Estonian song celebration tradition and the importance of their activities to Estonian culture and society in the Soviet period have been observed. The topic is viewed through the work of two outstanding figures of the tradition, Tuudur Vettik and Roland Laasmäe. This approach has helped to fill a gap in the research of Estonian postWWII cultural history, since the cultural policy of the period has, so far, been studied mostly from the aspects of literature, theatre and art. The modest role of music as a research topic is fairly surprising, since the attacks of the Soviet regimen undertaken prior to the climax of the war against Estonian national culture – the 1950 March PlFenary Session of the Estonian Communist Party (ECP) – were targeted mostly at choir conductors (Vettik, Päts, and Karindi). Their repressing was displayed as a ”good” example of purging the ”bourgeois nationalist” element. On those grounds it is somewhat surprising that the Estonian post-WWII choral culture and the song celebration tradition are reflected mostly in memoirs, most of them published a long time ago, well under Soviet censorship.

Sources

The main source of this research is the correspondence between two outstanding figures of the Estonian song celebration tradition – Tuudur Vettik and Roland Laasmäe – published by the author. Part of it, the letters written by Vettik, are still in the private possession of the author. The source publication of this correspondence serves as an appendix to the paper.

Correspondence is not a popular source in researching 20th century Estonian history. Estonian archives do not retain much correspondence

from the period. After WWII Estonian archives were subordinated to the notorious Ministry of Internal Affairs – the main governmental system organizing mass repressions – hence the intellectuals were not interested in archiving their correspondence. Doing so would have been the same as taking your letters straight to the KGB. Peculiarities of the era affected the informative value of private correspondence – messages were often conveyed in allegories to make them difficult to decipher for the outsiders. The privacy of correspondence was an unknown category in the Soviet period and it was common knowledge that written thoughts could be read by an evil eye.

This research is also based on the archive data, special literature and source publications, plus the data gathered from the periodicals. The most important archive data include the KGB investigation files of Tuudur Vettik and his repressed colleagues (Riho Päts, Alfred Karindi and others) that became available to the researchers only in 2008. Soviet archive data and periodicals are characterized by extreme ideological disposition – no objective facts were reproduced but rather the Soviet dream.

In order to understand the nuances of the correspondence, additional information became necessary. This situation imposed a task to expand the source base of this research – find new sources and introduce them to the scientific purpose. I interviewed most of the surviving contemporaries. It was high time to do so, as they were all elderly people, many of whom did not survive the completion of this thesis.

Tuudur Vettik and his working methods are characterized by the great figures of the Estonian song celebration tradition – Areng, Üleoja and conductor Lepik, the latter being a colleague and family friend to Vettik. They shed light on a number of intrigues behind the organisation of the song celebrations. Singers’ and friends’ recollections of the personality and private life of Roland Laasmäe help to understand the conductor’s work and experiences.

Certain compositions and their tone language serve as another basis of this research, illustrating the composers’ attitude towards the topic. The pathos, grotesque, even parody expressed in the compositions vividly show their personality and attitude. However, historians have usually neglected such information.

A good example is the presentation of Veljo Tormis’s cantata ”Lenin’s Words” at the 1975 Nationwide Song Celebration. The lyrics were taken from Lenin’s article and the cantata opened with words: ”What is Soviet power? What is the essence of the new order?” Reading the lyrics, one

might think the composer wanted to captivate the essence of the Soviet order and has therefore used the ”right” source to do so. The tone colour and sound of the cantata, however, convey a reverse message.

Repertoire of the Song Celebrations

In order to understand the message of the song celebrations, the repertoire of 140 years and in more detail, the repertoire of the post-WWII celebrations has been analysed. Our national culture was most harshly suppressed at the nationwide song celebration that took place soon after the notorious March 1950 plenary meeting of the ECP. The artistic level and repertoire made it sound more like a travesty of the former nationwide celebrations.

From the aspect of intellectual resistance, the three most powerful song celebrations date back to 1947, 1969 and 1980, when more than half of the programme was made up of original Estonian compositions despite of some communist orientation. The gems of 1947 were Konstantin Türnpu’s song „Mull’ lapsepõlves rääkis” and Mart Saar’s „Ihkasime ikkest lahti”, openly speaking of the loss of freedom. Later on, Saar’s song was renamed as „Leelo” and the lyrics were modified. Türnpu’s next song appeared in the song celebration programme only in 1969.

Wrapped in Soviet propaganda, Estonia’s freedom aspiration was the real focal message of all nationwide celebrations in the 1960’s, most vividly expressed by Gustav Ernesaks’s song „Mu isamaa on minu arm”, both in the lyrics and the tone colour. The song celebrations served as a prelude to our Singing Revolution and the restitution of independence.

Creative freedom and imminence in Soviet society

One popular trend in Estonian history books is referring to the Soviet imminence. Based on the historic knowledge of today, it has been claimed that some processes could take only the course that they took. A number of Estonian historians (Olaf Kuuli, Olev Liivik and others) have shown expressively that by making clever use of the rivalry between the different groups inside the Communist Party, the fragile balance sometimes reached between them, and by making use of some communist rhetoric, our cultural circles could actually enjoy considerable free hand.

The relations between the Estonian song celebrations and the Soviet power were difficult and contradictory; the leaders of the song celebration movement had to make compromises in order to sustain the tradition, and pay the so-called ”state-tax”, consisting in the involvement of the

mandatory elements of communist propaganda in the programme and in the symbols of the song celebrations. The analysis of the repertoire of the song celebrations clearly shows the tradition as a form of concealed resistance movement and confirms that it was possible to fight Soviet propaganda and the cultural policy serving it. Intellectual dominance and professionalism played a substantial role in it.

On the surface, communist propaganda seemed to be the winner – red banners and communist slogans were showing everywhere. However, the Estonians managed to score points even here – sometimes people could conceal our national colours in or ridicule the Soviet propaganda on the song celebration placards. In the selection of repertoire, on the other hand, the leaders of the song celebration tradition were victorious and able to minimise the losses. Formally, the song celebrations were subjected to Soviet ideology, producing, however, the so-called radish-effect: red on the surface, white inside. Concealed messages were more powerful than the open ones; this encouraged double-thinking and people wholeheartedly welcomed hidden messages. Passive resistance was also found in messages concealed in visual arts, be it in the well-hidden blue-black-white colour combinations, equally resented and feared by the Soviet authorities, or the use of dissonance and grotesque in the compositions formally praising the Soviet regimen.

The role of Tuudur Vettik in Estonian Song Celebration

Tradition

In order to analyse the role and fate of a creative intellectual in Soviet society, the author of this paper studied the life and work of Tuudur Vettik (1898–1982). Vettik was arrested by Soviet authorities in 1950 and sentenced to a Siberian prison camp by a war tribunal. His direct repressing was followed by the indirect – some of his achievements were hushed, others were attributed to other people by the Soviet propaganda. Although Vettik was officially vindicated and reinstated to his job later on, the traces of his indirect repression are difficult to erase. His name is left out from many important Estonian history books (where less outstanding people of his walk of life have been mentioned). Poor knowledge of his biographic data was symptomatic in reference literature. Based on the archive data, the author has proved that even some basic biographic dates published about him were inaccurate: the time and place of birth, the time of arresting etc.

Tuudur Vettik had achieved an outstanding position among the Estonian composers by the 1930’s; he had composed over 60 works and

published 5 books. He had written lyrics to 30 of his compositions. He was a renowned choir conductor, music pedagogue and educationalist, who used both printed material and wireless broadcasts for his work. He was a prolific columnist, researcher of the history and protector of the idea of the song celebration movement in press discussions. All the different aspects of his work matched wonderfully together in the song celebration tradition and he became the undisputed leader of the movement in the 1930’s. He was the leader of the song celebration movement at the time of the Republic of Estonia and after WWII, until his arrest in 1950. Tuudur Vettik is a great figure of Estonian song celebrations; his position is right next to Johann Voldemar Jannsen and Gustav Ernesaks.

The reasons, unlawfulness and imminence of repressing creative intellectuals: Vettik’s example

Tuudur Vettik was arrested as a ”bourgeois nationalist” by the Soviet authorities in 1950 and was fully vindicated on January 24, 1968. His status as a merited artist was restored only on May 8, 1968. Formally, the most powerful accusation against him was his composition ”Song of Guerrillas” (Metsavendade laul). Although the song was written and published before the Soviet occupation, the KGB interpreted it as an anti-Soviet song, because of the words ‘conquerors’ and ‘robbers’ in the lyrics. Moreover, the song was the hymn of the Estonian armed guerrilla resistance – the forest brothers, as they were called.

Returning to the above mentioned concept of ”Soviet predestination” we must agree that the repression of Tuudur Vettik was really inevitable in occupied Estonia because of his merits and importance, but his formal and well-staged trial was a full farce. Some authors have come up with a standpoint, according to which the repression of Vettik and his fellowmen was illegal. Emotionally speaking, such claims certainly sound nice, being, however, fully incompetent. Speaking of a totalitarian country that had annexed Estonia, one cannot speak of ”illegal” repressions, as it gives an implication of possible ”legal” repressions. The same goes with the idea that Vettik and other intellectuals were ”actually innocent”. They were indeed Estonian patriots who hadn’t violated the civil law. But for a country that had occupied and annexed Estonia, Vettik was a potential leader, not just an intellectual, but also people’s leader, if need should be, and as such, indeed genuinely dangerous.

Harsh dilemma for creative intellectuals under foreign power. Issues of resistance and collaboration

In this paper some black-and-white common notions about Soviet reality and the intellectuals having lived under these conditions have been redefined. In the European tradition open collaboration with occupants has always been condemned. The problem of the Estonian common notion and radical nationalism is that they cannot make a difference between a relatively short-term armed occupation and a long-term annexation that stemmed from it. A logical question emerged during the research: how can we judge intellectuals who, by the stealthy methods and means of the Soviet regimen, or simply by means of threatening, were made to incriminate one another? Blackmail, fear to become discredited, or baiting with a soft job were all used for manipulation. Tuudur Vettik has said that all protocols of his prosecution were false, deliberately distorted to incriminate the accused. It is only a logical guess that the same may also apply to other persons interrogated. However, there were other intellectuals, who with supreme diligence showed loyalty to the Soviet power. Their pinpointing is not the task of this research. The author believes that today, when the near past is still very near, it would be painful and problematic to bluntly spotlight all details, situations and the actions and decisions of people, as this judges the past and explains the role of creative intellectuals in the complicated socio-political processes of the previous century. But it is unavoidable and will take place, at some point.

Relations with foreign authorities become more complicated when occupation turns into annexation and the foreign power stays for decades. In this situation national intelligential must find its own modus vivendi, optimum ways to sustain the nation and its culture. This is the main conclusion of the chapter, where the lives of Tuudur Vettik and Gustav Ernesaks – the former leader and the one who achieved this position by the support of the Soviet power – were compared. The man who was set by the Soviet power to replace Vettik as the leader of the song celebration movement, achieved a lot to keep the tradition, most of its subject matter, and vigorously supported the independence efforts of his fellow countrymen.

Soviet power dividing national intelligentsia and cultural intellectuals

The principal source of this research – correspondence between Tuudur Vettik and Roland Laasmäe – vividly describes many characteristics of the Soviet society, its deviation from normal and the depravity of the

Soviet authorities. One thing they quite well achieved was the splitting up of intelligentsia and causing disagreement among them in Estonia and elsewhere in the empire. Where one had fought or stayed during WWII, was used as a mental watershed. Those who joined the Soviet army and stayed in the Soviet rear, were ours, those who remained in Estonia were the enemies i.e. them. Such contradiction was not organic i.e. caused by basic contradictions. On a personal level, it is quite remarkable that Tuudur Vettik and Roland Laasmäe who, according to this Soviet yardstick, should have been on opposite sides, were in fact two links of the same school, a teacher and a student, but first of all, they were friends and like minds.

The Activities of Choir Conductor Roland Laasmäe in Tartu at the Time of ”Thaw” and ”Stagnation”.

Another focal figure of this research is the conductor Roland Laasmäe. Through his life the role of choir conductors and the song celebration movement in the Estonian cultural history and society during the Khruschtschev thaw and the Brezhnev stagnation policy has been analysed. Roland Laasmäe was a musician with a bold frame of mind and independent thinking; his creative and pedagogic activities had considerable impact on Estonian culture history. He worked valiantly in Tartu – an old-established university town that also accommodated a Soviet army division and a military airport and was therefore a ”closed town”.

Laasmäe is a symbolic figure, he helps us better understand the essence of thaw and stagnation, but also see the limitations the creative intellectuals working in Estonia had to face. It was a time when aggressive and terror-oriented Stalinism had weakened considerably and was abstaining from direct violence, although the society was still steered by the same people who had orchestrated the repressions. The situation of relative balance enabled those, who so wished, to support the development of culture, choir culture included, following – at least formally – certain Soviet canons. But the movement could only be as strong as was its leader. Roland Laasmäe became one of the leaders.

Continuity of Culture. Schools as Bearers of Continuity

One of the main issues that could be studied by means of analysing the correspondence of Tuudur Vettik and Roland Laasmäe was the survival of cultural schools and the survival mechanisms in the Soviet period. In the area of science and culture, schools – the alliances of like minds and pursuits, where a student carries on and enriches his teacher’s heritage – play a special role. The battle of the Soviet regimen against ”bourgeois

nationalism” was targeted primarily at uprooting this continuity. Yet the achievements of the Republic of Estonia survived – in a concealed manner – the years of the Soviet occupation.

This research has managed to show one attribute of continuity – personal correspondence between creative intellectuals. Tuudur Vettik’s letters conveyed to Roland Laasmäe the experience of an older colleague and the wisdom and know-how of an excellent choir conductor and a music theorist. Tuudur Vettik generously shared instructions on how to better perform his and other composers’ songs. He kept finding new ways how to make songs sound better and more choral. This correspondence wasn’t a ”one way street” but a fruitful dialogue that enriched both great figures of the Estonian choral music. Vettik and Laasmäe cherished their friendship and considered it very important. After tasting the bitter consequences of Soviet injustice and imprisonment, Vettik got human support from Laasmäe. Their friendly correspondence demonstrates moving emotionality and mutual trust, irony and self-irony.

We have to admit that the total Soviet control system was not so profoundly total after all, like it has sometimes been depicted. It was unable to check and realise the importance of the correspondence between those musicians. Apparently this was due to their intellectual superiority from their possible intellectual guards.

Choral singing and politics

Back in those days music culture was inseparable from politics. Roland Laasmäe and Tuudur Vettik, like other music figures of those days, had to perform ”Soviet repertoire” with their choirs, as this was the only way to real repertoire – beloved Estonian songs that were living in people’s hearts, no matter what. Any choir was able to exist only this way, by including ideologically prescribed compositions in their repertoire. The choirs and the conductors were under tense observation; each concert programme had to be approved by a number of departments of the Communist Party Committee first.

Roland Laasmäe’s convictions towards choral music, music history and the resolutions of his contemporaries were shaped by the convinced and unshaken attitudes of his mentor Tuudur Vettik. Laasmäe did not bend under the ideological pressure of the Soviet occupation. Dodging between the possible and the impossible, he managed to perform both Estonian classical music and early music with his choirs. Plus Russian classical choral music. The latter was performed upon need as mandatory ”songs of the (happy Soviet) nations”.

Choir as a school of civic society (by the example of the

Tartu male choir Gaudeamus)

Joint cultural activities (including the song celebrations) have acted as shapers of socio-political processes and catalysts of changes in the history of culture throughout history. The same applies to the history of Estonian culture, even at the time of occupation and annexation. The role of a creative intellectual as the bearer of the core values of national culture plays a crucial role in social development. Ideas and conceptions important for the society multiply through art and music, be it the independence aspiration, the spreading of ”green” mentality or the influencing and uniting of social consciousness.

In the days of occupation, choral singing, nationwide song celebrations and the choral movement in general were the bearers of the core values of national culture. Analysing the spirit of national culture that a choir bore and bread among its members, it is important to underline that this spirit of national culture by no means expressed national insularity or isolation, but was targeted at cooperation between musicians of various national background. A good example is the cooperation of Gaudeamus with Riga male choir Absolventi. A critical attitude towards totalitarian governmental system did not mean negative attitude towards Russian culture, the contacts of choirs reached as far as Tomsk, Siberia.

An important outcome of this research was the opening of the role of choral movement not only as the keeper and developer of music culture, but also in the spheres of social life that were left alone by the official propaganda. The choral movement, like it was represented by Gaudeamus, directed by Roland Laasmäe, was an association of like minds, where social developments were keenly followed in an informal atmosphere. The choir was a school of culture and civic society for its members.

Roland Laasmäe’s and Tuudur Vettik’s best years passed under a political system that made it nearly impossible to nurture Estonia’s own culture, its roots and vitality, in order to keep the kernel that would allow the rise of new life. Vettik and Laasmäe had an opportunity to express their differing attitude towards the regimen and their belief in the well-concealed power of national culture to sustain the viability of the nation. Regrettably they did not live long enough to see the restoration of the sovereignty of the Republic of Estonia. However, they did all they could to enable Estonia’s future be Estonian. The life and work of the notable Estonian intellectuals Vettik and Laasmäe nourished the social capital required by all nations for the development of own future.

Creative intellectuals and Soviet stagnation

Having analysed the correspondence of Vettik and Laasmäe and studied the history of Estonian song celebrations, the author concludes that the role of creative intellectuals as the bearers of the core values of national culture was significant and far reaching even under foreign power.

Assessing the spirit of national culture the choir and its leader bore and cultivated, it must be underlined that it never contained the element of national narrow mindedness or isolation, but was always focused on cooperation with musicians of diverse nationalities. There are times when different ways must be used to preserve a nation and its culture. This is the main conclusion of the chapter comparing the choir leaders.