Органист католической церкви в Литве: профессия или миссия? Взгляд историка

ENAn organist is one of the most deeply rooted musical professions in the history of Europe, as well as that of Christian Lithuania (since 1387). The profession of a church organist encompasses a particularly wide spectrum of activity. The church organist is a performer, a teacher, a choir leader, a conductor, a vocal specialist, an improviser, an expert of liturgics, and rather commonly also a composer. A particularly significant factor of disseminating and establishing the traditions of organ art is a specifically oriented system of educating professional organists, i.e. its school. The goal of this paper is to research the functions and other relevant issues pertaining to the contemporary multifaceted profession of organist. The analysis is performed by investigating archival documents and carrying out the empirical research of the current state of Lithuanian organists. In addition, the paper sets out to reveal the change of the organistís mission since the late 19th century to this day. The processes that affected the organistsí multifunctionality have been analysed in this paper by applying a socio-cultural approach. The research aim and key objectives of the study: by analysing the historical development of the organistís profession to distinguish the tendencies of stability and variability in the education in this musical field; to establish former and contemporary priorities and relevant issues in the complex contemporary profession of the organist. The relevance of the present study: the specificity of a church musicianís profession and the problematic character as to its social aspect has not been extensively researched as a complex phenomenon. The research methods: the historical research method; the analysis of archival documents; empirical research.