Mariss VÃÂtra (19 July 1901 â 24 December 1965) was a Latvian opera singer, stage director, educator, and writer.
Mariss VÃÂtra (known as Morics Blumbergs till 1922) was born on 19 July 1901, at DÃÂrta Estate of Tirza Civic Parish in the present-day Republic of Latvia (in 1901 a part of the Russian Empire). He was one of four children in a farming family. His father, JÃÂkabs Blumbergs, rented the estate from the local baron Alfred von Zeimern. His mother was Emma Blumberga, née Perlbach. His brother was Nikolajs, who studied medicine, became a lecturer at the University of Latvia, and was one of the founders of the Baltic University). His sisters were Austra (later a chemist) and Maiga (later an architect). After 1906, the family lived in Rëga.
VÃÂtra studied at the Alexander Classical School of Riga, which during World War I was evacuated to Dorpat (now Tartu, Estonia). He later studied at the 2nd Classical School of Riga, from which he graduated in 1919. During his studies, VÃÂtra worked as a clerk at the Statistics Bureau. His position at Bureau allowed to save his mother from being shot in 1919 during the temporary soviet government of PÃÂteris StuÃÂka.
In June 1919, VÃÂtra joined the new Latvian Army and took part in the Latvian War of Independence. In September 1919, as a soldier, he was admitted to the recently formed Conservatoire of Latvia. In October 1919, both German and Russian troops were approaching Rëga and his regiment fought its first battles. VÃÂtra was wounded near Babëte. He also participated in liberation of Jelgava.
In January 1920, and VÃÂtra began his studies at the new Conservatoire of Latvia with Professor Pauls Sakss. At the same time he entered the Faculty of History and Philosophy of the University of Latvia; however, for lack of time, he did not study there, although he audited some lectures. To earn his living, he worked at the Board of Railway. In 1921, VÃÂtra gave a concert in LiepÃÂja.
In 1922, VÃÂtra urged his family to change their surname from Blumbergs to VÃÂtra; Morics changed his first name to Mariss.
During his studies, in September 1922, Mariss VÃÂtra became the premier of the recently founded opera of LiepÃÂja, until the spring of 1923 singing with success in more than 70 performances. The Latvian National Opera took interest in him and invited him to give guest performances. In May 1923, VÃÂtragave a guest performance as Don Jose in the Verdi opera "Carmen". Since the autumn of 1923, he was already a full-fledged soloist of the National Opera.
In the spring of 1924, VÃÂtra graduated from the Conservatoire of Latvia, in September he sang at the National Opera, but in October, aided by the Culture Foundation of Latvia, went to Italy, and until the spring of 1926 improved his singing skills with the professors of Naples and Rome. Short of money, he also worked as a foreign correspondent for newspapers "Latvijas VÃÂstnesis" and "Rëgas Zià Âas".
From the autumn of 1926 until the spring of 1928. VÃÂtra was the soloist of the National Opera of Latvia. In June 1928, VÃÂtra went on tour to the Vienna Opera; in Autumn he concluded a contract with the Opera of Frankfurt am Main, where he worked for two seasons; however, he was obliged to discharge the contract, as he was drafted in the army to serve the missing months. In July 1930, he returned to Riga, joined the military service and served till February 1931 as a sergeant of an artillery regiment. The National Opera concluded a contract for separate performances.
At that time VÃÂtra met the ballet-dancer Irene Veil in Germany. They became a couple and he brought her to Rëga. They had two sons, PÃÂteris and Andrejs.
In August 1930, VÃÂtra became ill and sought a cure at a sanatorium; he had his tonsils removed. After that VÃÂtra returned to the military service. On October 2, while singing Lensky in the opera "Eugen Onegin", he lost his voice. The management of the Opera had forgotten to recall him in time from the service, and after some heavy load, he had arrived running for the performance. The reviewer Ernests BrusubÃÂrda wrote a destructive critique, declaring that Mariss VÃÂtra is a tenor lacking a sense of duty. On October 25 VÃÂtra publicly slapped him. Because of this, the Director Prande fired VÃÂtra, although many persons defended him.
Nonetheless VÃÂtra continued performing. He performed in a number of solo concerts and had material written for him by composers such as JÃÂzeps Vëtols, JÃÂkabs Poruks, JÃÂnis ZÃÂlëtis, Là «cija Garà «ta, JÃÂnis öepëtis and Alberts JÃÂrums.
At the end of 1930, VÃÂtra sang during the tour at the LiepÃÂja Opera. In January 1931 he gave two farewell concerts before leaving for Germany. There VÃÂtra initially gave performances at the circus under the assumed name of MÃÂrtià Âà ¡ Vells, under which he also recorded albums of light music, then toured Germany, gaining particular success in the opera "Mahogany" by Kurt Weill. VÃÂtra continued writing for the newspapers "Latvis", "PÃÂdÃÂjàBrëdë", "Latvijas Karavërs", the magazine "Daugava", also using the pseudonym M. Dà «ka.
In the spring of 1933 he returned to Riga and sang in the performances "Poet's Love" and "Paganini" at the Dailes theatre. VÃÂtra had sued the administration of the Opera, and the court sentenced conciliation and ordered that he be paid compensation.
VÃÂtra was invited to sing at the Operas and concert halls of various countries. He toured Austria (the Vienna Opera, Graz), the Czech Republic (Prague), Poland, Stockholm (on the celebration of November 18, Latvian Independence Day), and Italy (a concert in Rome). In October 1936, he gave guest performances in Soviet Russia, again in 1937.
VÃÂtra had gained notice with the recordings of popular songs for the albums of "Bellaccord Electro".
In 1934, VÃÂtra took part in the German movie "Spring Fairy" (Frühlingsmärchen) (directed by Carl Froelich), in which he played an Italian fisherman â a recently discovered natural tenor. The opening performance took place at the cinema "Forum".
Also in 1934, VÃÂtra directed the performance of the operetta "Mountain song" (orig. Frühling, later Das Fürstenkind) at the National Theatre, opening on May 15.
Starting from 1935, VÃÂtra had many roles at the National Opera as a free-lancer â Goesta Berling in the opera "The Cavaliers of Ekeby" (I cavalieri di Ekebù) by Riccardo Zandonai, Grishka in the opera "The Legend of the Invisible City of Kitezh" by Rimski-Korsakow.
In 1935, he published a book, "DivâÂÂdà «jià Âas" ("Two Doves") about the experience of the Liberty fights.
In 1940, during the Soviet occupation of Lavia, VÃÂtra directed several one-act plays at the National Theatre, and also sung the part of Grigory Melekhov in the opera "Tihij Don". He also gave chamber music concerts, including songs with subtexts understandable by the audiences.
During the German occupation, VÃÂtra continued singing at the Riga Opera, gave concerts at the Aula-hall of the university. On March 15, 1944, VÃÂtra took part in the first performance of the cantata "Dievs, Tava zeme deg!" ("God, Your Earth is Burning!") by Là «cija Garà «ta at the Church of St. Gertrude.
On October 8, 1944, VÃÂtra's family fled to Sweden by refugee boat. They arrived first in Gotland, and later went to Stockholm. To earn a living, VÃÂtra took odd jobs, including hard physical labour. As VÃÂtra had worked at the Opera, the Refugee Aid Bureau sent him to the Royal Opera, where he had to work in a dark cellar, writing in the sheet music books the text of operas in Swedish. VÃÂtra became an active author for the recently formed press edition "Latvju Zià Âas".
In 1946, VÃÂtra was offered work at the Canadian Opera, so he gave a farewell concert, which was reviewed by Oüãerts Bià ¡tÃÂvià Âà ¡; the review has survived. In January 1947, VÃÂtra and family moved to Canada, where the situation in the meantime had changed, and he was refused the job; therefore VÃÂtra went to Halifax and started working at the Conservatoire of Halifax, where he founded an opera course.
In Halifax, VÃÂtra did substantial organizing work, looking for employers, so as to make it easier for the Latvian refugees to survive in Canada until they could to return to Latvia. Initially VÃÂtra himself met each ship bringing refugees and tried to help them. The group of local Latvians formed the Latvian Relief Association in order to aid VÃÂtra and Teodors Brilts (former baritone of the Latvian National Opera) also financially; VÃÂtra was the first Head of the Association.
In 1950, jointly with Canadian Latvian National Association of Toronto (headed by K. Dobelis), it founded the united Latvian National Association in Canada.
While working in Halifax, where there were neither an Opera house, nor an orchestra, VÃÂtra together with his students gave concerts of opera excerpts, and in 1949, inviting also other musically gifted people, staged the opera "Don Giovanni", which was the first opera production in the city. The inhabitants of Halifax appreciated the quality of the performances, and it helped VÃÂtra to promote the formation of the Nova Scotia Opera Association, in which he together with the conductor and pianist AlfrÃÂds Strombergs performed the functions of the art director and stage director. The Opera Association started to support opera productions financially. VÃÂtra also stimulated the formation of the symphonic orchestra of the Conservatoire of Halifax. He produced productions of "Stories of Hoffmann" by Offenbach, "La Traviata" by Verdi (both in 1950), "Madame Butterfly" by Puccini and "Le Nozze di Figaro" by Mozart (both in 1951), as well as the operetta "Graefin Mariza" by I. Kalman (1952).
In 1953, VÃÂtra and his family moved to Toronto, where he formed the Vocal Studio. One of the most outstanding pupils was Marta Macvicar, who despite being of Irish descent, also sang in Latvian. The Studio gave concerts and even toured the United States.
In 1954, the publishing house "GrÃÂmatu Draugs" in New York published the memoirs by VÃÂtra "Mans Baltais nams" ("My White House") and "Karaüa viesi" ("The King's Guests"). His books "Rëga toreiz..." ("Riga at that time...", 1955) and "Sestàkolonna" ("The Sixth Column", 1957) were also published there. VÃÂtra wrote many publications for newspapers as well: "Latvju Zià Âas" (in Sweden), "Laiks" (in the USA), "Latvija AmerikÃÂ" (in Canada) and "Latvija" (in Germany). In all the books and articles there is a rich heritage material. During the USSR years, people were arrested for reading and having at home the books by VÃÂtra. VÃÂtra's writing became legal in Latvia only in 1990.
VÃÂtra was an active participant in the culture and social life of Canadian Latvians even until 1962, when he had a stroke and could not sing any more. He died on December 24, 1965, in Toronto, and was buried in the local Latvian cemetery in the territory of the North York cemetery.