written by sofia wallace
Near the center of Tartu, Estonia rests the Vanemuine theater, the first Estonian language theater, which hosts a variety of performances, including plays, ballets, operas, and more. Facing the building is a statue of a conductor with large empty seats in front of him. This conductor is Eduard Tubin, a 20th century Estonian composer claimed by Estonia as one of its national composers.
Eduard Tubin was born in Estonia in 1905 and lived, studied and worked there for many years. He even conducted at the Vanemuine theater itself. There is no question as to why Estonia has chosen Tubin as a representative of their national music. However, Tubin as a composer had a much more complicated relationship with Estonian national music. While he began his career in Estonia, using Estonian folk music in his compositions, he fled in Estonia after the Soviets reoccupied the country in 1944. He spent the rest of his life in Sweden, and there he wrote some of his most famous works. These works moved away from a distinctly Estonian style to an international one.
The statue of Eduard Tubin differs from those of Lithuania in that it honors someone of Estonian origin rather than foreign musicians. It also honors someone who wrote classical music influenced by Estonian tradition, rather than the honoring the rebelliousness of rock musicians like Frank Zappa and John Lennon. While Lithuania uses foreign music as symbols of defiance against Soviet oppression, Estonia uses Tubin as a symbol of the freedom to express and have pride in Estonian culture. Despite this, all of these statues have connections to worlds outside of the Baltic states and outside of the Soviet Union, going to show how much culture has been influenced by Soviet occupation.
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