Background
Emilis Melngailis was born to a teacher"s family in Vidriži parish, Igate, in 1874.
Emilis Melngailis was born to a teacher"s family in Vidriži parish, Igate, in 1874.
He wrote 53 original songs for a capella choir, and finished numerous national folk songs. He studied in Igate, Lēdurga, Rauna and Vecpiebalga church schools. During the period from 1887 to 1891, he studied at Riga City Gymnasium.
He was an organizer and chief conductor of Latvian Song and Dance Festival several times. East. Melngailis was also a good chess player and participated in the leadership of Latvian Chess federation. During the last school year he lived with Rūdolfs Blaumanis.
In 1896 he left to study in Dresden conservatory for one year.
While in Dresden, he composed several compositions, including the later compose "Latvian Requiem". In 1898, he went to St. Petersburg Conservatory of Music.
In 1901, he finished learning in Conservatory and in the following year he released his first choral song collection in "Birzēs i norās" book Later, he worked for some time in St. Petersburg newspaper "Saint Petersburger Zeitung".
In 1904, East. Melngailis went to Tashkent, where he lived until 1920.
There he worked in cadet corps as a pedagogue. In 1920, he released the second "Birzēs i norās" book In 1920 he returned to Latvia, where he began to work as a choir conductor, and carried out a number of other works to make a living.
Melngailis became the head of Latvian Conservatory in Folklore Department.
He founded a new choir and went to tour all around Latvia. He was a chief conductor in two general song festivals - The Seventh Latvian Song Festival in 1931 and The Song Festival on Remembrance Day in 1933, which later was renamed as The Eighth Latvian Song Festival.
East. Melngailis died on 20 December 1954 in Riga. I II South. J.