Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis (Polish: Mikołaj Konstanty Czurlanis; 22 September [O.S. 10 September] 1875 – 10 April [O.S. 28 March] 1911) was a Lithuanian composer, painter, choirmaster, cultural figure, and writer in Polish.
Čiurlionis contributed to symbolism and Art Nouveau, and was representative of the fin de siècle epoch. He has been considered one of the pioneers of abstract art in Europe. During his short life, he composed about 400 pieces of music and created about 300 paintings, as well as many literary works and poems. The majority of his paintings are housed in the M. K. Čiurlionis National Art Museum in Kaunas, Lithuania. His works have had a profound influence on modern Lithuanian culture.
Childhood and early music studies
Mikalojus Konstantinas Čiurlionis was born in Senoji Varėna, a town in southeastern Lithuania which at the time was part of the Russian Empire. His mother Adelė (Adelaidė) Ona Marija Magdalena née Radmanaitė (Radmann) (1854-1919) came from a Lutheran family of Bavarian origin, born in Vileikiai village (Lazdijai region). She finished elementary school in Seirijai. Orphaned at the age of 14, she worked as a nanny in Count Oppermann's estate in Aniškis. His father, Konstantinas Čiurlionis (1851-1914, born in Guobiniai) was an organist and a choirmaster who briefly played the organ in Liškiava, where the couple met.
The newly formed family moved to Senoji Varėna, where their eldest child, Mikalojus, was born. There were nine siblings altogether: Mikalojus Konstantinas (1875-1911), Marija (1879-1969), Juzė (1882-1969), Povilas (1884-1945), Stasys (1887-1944), Petras (1890-1924), Jonas (1891-1955), Valerija (1896-1955), and Jadvyga (1898-1992).
Even though Čiurlionis' family spoke Polish, Mikalojus Konstantinas could understand and read Lithuanian, albeit not fluently, receiving assistance from his fiancée from 1907 onwards.
In 1878, his family moved to Druskininkai, 30 miles (48 km) away, where his father went on to serve as the town organist. This is where Mikalojus Konstantinas, called Konstantinas or Kastukas by the family, started publicly displaying his musical proficiency - he was a musical prodigy: he could play by ear at the age of five and could sight-read music freely by the age of seven. He would often fill in for his father playing the organ at Mass, while he played piano at home. A family friend, doctor Jozef Markiewicz noticed his natural talent and, upon Mikalojus' graduation from the folk school of Druskininkai, wrote a letter to the Lithuanian noble Michał Mikołaj Ogiński recommending to enrol M. K. Čiurlionis to the Palace Orchestra School in Plungė.
M. K. Čiurlionis studied in the Plungė Palace Orchestra School from 1889 to 1893. Here he played the flute, received his first orchestra uniform and musical theory basics. He would often travel with the orchestra to play concerts in Rietavas, Palanga, Riga. He had a close relationship with M. Ogiński, who granted him a scholarship which allowed the composer to study in Warsaw.
Supported by Prince Ogiński's scholarship Čiurlionis studied piano and composition at Warsaw Institute of Music from 1894 to 1899. He studied piano with the guidance of Antoni Sygietyński, and composition with the guidance of the composer Zygmunt Noskowski. Here he met the future Polish composer and director of the Warsaw Conservatory Eugeniusz Morawski-Dąbrowa. Together they discussed music and paintings, critiqued each other's compositions, and went on vacation at Morawski's parents' place in Zakroczym. Here he met his friend's sister Maria Morawska. Her father, after noticing the love of his young daughter for the - at the time unknown - artist, intervened and married Maria off to a widower. M. K. Čiurlionis buried himself in work: he wrote preludes, fugues, canons, and cycles of variations for the piano. For his graduation, in 1899, he wrote a cantata for mixed chorus and symphonic orchestra titled De Profundis, and received the diploma for composition. He declined the offer to become the orchestra master for Lublin's Music Society Choir and continued creating - in 1900 he finished his first symphonic poem "In the Forest", which was dedicated to E. Morawski.
After receiving the approval and further scholarship from M. Ogiński, M. K. Čiurlionis enrolled at the Leipzig Conservatory from 16 October 1901 until 14 July 1902. There he was taught composition, his main subject, by Carl Reinecke, counterpoint by Salomon Jadassohn and music theory by Emil Paul, as well as organ by Paul Homeyer and piano by Carl Heinrich Heynsen. Though he was not proficient in German, he still enrolled in aesthetics, history, and psychology classes. It is apparent from letters that M. K. Čiurlionis felt very lonely in Leipzig and wanted to come back to Druskininkai; he constantly wrote letters to his family and E. Morawski.
As he was in Leipzig, he listened to and studied the works of G. F. Haendel, P. Tchaikovsky, R. Wagner, F. Liszt, H. Berlioz, and R. Strauss, and created the symphonic overture "Kęstutis". Since he couldn't come back home, he started drawing during his free time. The sudden death of M. Ogiński and disrupted financial support made it harder to finish his studies, but he succeeded in receiving the teacher's license from Leipzig's Conservatory.
M. K. Čiurlionis returned to Warsaw in 1902 and joined the Warsaw Drawing School where he was taught drawing by Jan Kauzik. As he was living in Warsaw, he had to work as a private music tutor to support himself and his brothers, who were also studying in Warsaw. With the strong decision to paint, he refused to teach at Warsaw's Institute of Music. In 1903, he painted the 7-painting cycle "Funeral Symphony", but also did not forget music: he started creating his second symphonic poem "The Sea".
He continued his painting studies in Warsaw School of Fine Arts from 1904 to 1906. His main teacher in Warsaw was symbolist painter Kazimierz Stabrowski, who was also the founder of the first lodges of the Theosophical Society in Poland and passed to Čiurlionis an interest in Theosophy and other esoteric subjects. In the School he was taught drawing by Karol Tichy and Konrad Krzyżanowski, sculpture by Xawery Dunikowski, painting by Ferdynand Ruszczyc, and went to the organized plein-air sessions. In 1904 he showed 19 of his works (stained glass projects, cycle of 6 paintings "The Storm", book covers) in the private exhibition of the School. In 1905 M. K. Čiurlionis held an exhibition where he showed the 10-painting cycle "Fantasies"; in the same year he also participated in the first annual exhibition of Warsaw School of Arts.
As he was working as a private music tutor, he acquainted himself with the family of Wolmans, who quickly became his friends. He had an especially warm relationship with Bronisława Wolman, who sponsored M. K. Čiurlionis' painting. As a thank you, M. K. Čiurlionis gifted her numerous paintings including "Friendship" (1906/1907). In 1905 B. Wolman invited M. K. Čiurlionis with a couple of his friends to the resort town of Anapa, near the Black Sea. Here M. K. Čiurlionis traveled the Caucasus, painted, photographed, and searched for inspiration.
B. Wolman gave M. K. Čiurlionis money for his trip through Europe: he went to Prague, Dresden, Nuremberg, Munich, Vienna; the artist adored the works of Van Dyck, Rembrandt, Böcklin. In 1906 he showed his works in the exhibition of Warsaw's School of Fine Arts in Saint Petersburg (the cycles "Creation of the World", "Day", "The Storm" and other creations). Articles started appearing in the press about M. K. Čiurlionis, the first Lithuanian article was in "Vilniaus žinios" (no. 123).
In 1906, M. K. Čiurlionis wrote to his brother Povilas: "I am going to dedicate all of my previous and future work to Lithuania". As he received the invitation to participate in the First Exhibition of Lithuanian Art in 1907 at Vileišis Palace, Vilnius, he sent his paintings (33 paintings shown), and also helped organize it. Soon after this event, the Lithuanian Art Society was founded, and Čiurlionis was one of its 19 founding members.