Capital of Latvia. Riga's musical history developed against a background of influence from both East and West. Music in medieval Riga was cultivated in the Catholic churches and by the so-called Stadtmusikanten, initially migrants from Germany, but later also including Polish and Czech musicians. From 1552, after the Reformation, Lutheran hymns were introduced to Riga churches and schools. Latvia was conquered by Russia in the 18th century; however, the capital city's cultural life retained a strong German influence for the next 100 years. In the mid-18th century Riga became a stop on the way to St Petersburg for many Western European virtuosos. A large number of outstanding musicians visited Riga, including John Field (1805), Liszt (1842), Robert and Clara Schumann (1844), Berlioz (1847) and Anton Rubinstein (first in 1849); Bach's pupil J.G. Müthel worked there between 1753 and 1788. Wagner was there from 1837 to 1839, and although this was a largely unproductive period for him because of domestic strife, he began work on Rienzi, conducted at the theatre and established a concert series.
In the 18th and 19th centuries German organ builders installed excellent organs in many churches in Riga. The organ of the cathedral, installed by the Walcker company in 1884, was at that time the largest in Europe. The cathedral, converted into a concert hall in 1962, had a choir from 1240; the organ, with 125 stops and four manuals, attracts many virtuosos.
In 1782 O.H. von Vietinghoff founded the German Riga City Theatre, where many important operas were produced soon after their first performance: for example, Die Entführung aus dem Serail was given in 1785, Fidelio in 1818 and Der Freischütz in 1822. In 1913 Pāvuls Jurjāns founded another opera theatre at Riga, Latviešu Opera (Latvian Opera). In 1919 the theatre became the state-owned Latvian National Opera, and after World War II the State Opera and Ballet Theatre of the Latvian SSR; in 1990 it again became the Latvian National Opera.
During the 17th century public concert life was promoted by the collegium musicum and from 1760 for more than a century by the Musikalische Gesellschaft. In the 19th century Riga became the centre of Latvian musical development, then more strongly under Russian influence. Latvian concerts were under the supervision of the musical commission of the Latvian Society of Riga (1888–1913). Regular orchestral concerts took place in nearby resort towns from 1870 and have continued to this day. Concerts of orchestral Latvian music have been held since 1901. As the capital of the independent Latvian republic from 1919, Riga was the home of all the important Latvian musical institutions. The Latvian RSO, which has become the main orchestra, was founded in 1926, a year after broadcasting began in Riga. Choral music was sponsored by the Rīgas Latviešu Dziedāšanas Biedrība (Riga Latvian Singing Society) from 1879 to 1949. From 1941 concert life was monopolized by the State Philharmonia of the Latvian SSR. In Soviet Latvia professional choirs were established at the Latvian Radio (1940) and the Philharmonia (1942). From 1945 Riga's significance as a European musical centre declined because of the shift of Western cultural exchange away from Latvia to the rest of the USSR.
The impressive Schwarzhaupter Haus was used as a concert hall from the 18th century, but was destroyed in World War II, along with the Latvian Radio library with its many manuscripts of Latvian music. From 1946 the Lielā Gilde (‘Great guild’) was used as the Philharmonia concert hall. Summer seasons have been held in the Dzintaru Koncertzāle (Amber Concert Hall) on the Bay of Riga (opened in 1960 with capacity of 2500). An open-air concert pavilion was built in 1955 for choir performances, with seating for 10,000 singers and an audience of 30,000. In the first building of the Riga City Theatre where Wagner worked, the Wagner Concert Hall was opened in 1988. The theatre of the Latvian National Opera, built in 1882, was reopened after restoration in 1995.
The first music school in Riga was begun in 1840 by P. Feigerl. In 1919 Jāzeps Vītols founded the Latvian Conservatory (from 1990 Jāzepa Vītola Lavijas Mūzikas Akadēmija), and a Folk Conservatory (from 1940 the Musical College) was opened in 1929. The Emīls Dārziņš' Music School, for school-age children, was founded in 1945. A Latvian composers' union (Skaņražu kopa, 1923–40) was founded by Vītols, and the Soviet Latvian Composers' Union was founded in 1944 by Melngailis. Since the restoration of Latvian independence in 1990, Riga has hosted numerous international music festivals.
L.E. Salzmann: Almanach des Rigaer Stadttheaters (Riga, 1837)
R. Behling: 100 Jahre der Musikalischen Gesellschaft zu Riga (Riga, 1860)
M. Rudolph: Die Rigaer Oper von 1782–1886, Statistische Zusammenstellung (Riga, 1887)
M. Rudolph, ed.: Rigaer Theater und Tonkunstler-Lexikon (Riga, 1890/R)
N. Busch: ‘Zur Geschichte des Rigaer Musiklebens im 17. Jahrhundert’, Sitzungsberichte der Gesellschaft für Geschichte und Altertumskunde der Ostseeprovinzen Russlands (1910), 25
D. Reimers: Geschichte des Rigaer Theaters von 1782–1822 (Poznań, 1942)
W. Schwarz: ‘Aus Heinrich Dorns Rigaer Zeit’, Musik des Ostens, iii (Kassel, 1965), 169–74
J. Braun, ed.: ‘Rizhskiye godï’ [The Riga years], Bruno Valter: Tema s variatsiyami (Moscow, 1969), 35–51
J. Braun: ‘National interrelationship and conflicts in the musical life of 17th- and 18th-century Rīga’, Journal of Baltic Studies, ix/1 (1980), 62–72
I. Grauzdina: ‘Sto lat organów katedralnych w Rydze’ [A hundred years of the cathedral organ in Riga], Zeszyty naukowe: Akademia Muzycna im. Stanislawa Moniuszki w Gdansku, xxv (1986), 319–38 [with Eng. summary]
I. Brege: ‘Das Rigaer Stadttheater von 1782 bis 1863 und das Wiederaufleben der Musiktradition in unserer Zeit’, Die Musik der Deutschen im Osten und ihre Wechselwirkung mit den Nachbarn: Cologne 1992, 163–7
E. Stöckl: ‘Die Bedeutung der Musikstadt Riga für die musikalische Kultur der Deutschen in Petersburg und Moskau’, ibid., 113–6
J. Torgans: ‘Aus dem Rigaer Musikleben um 1800’, ibid., 153–61
P. Madgwick: ‘Music in Riga Towards the End of the 16th Century and Paulus Bucenus Philorodus’, Music History Writing and National Culture: Tallinn 1995, 44–53
I. Breģe: Teātris senajā Rīgā [Theatre in the old Riga] (Riga, 1997)
JOACHIM BRAUN/ARNOLDS KLOTIŅŠ