Jānis Mediņš

Jānis Mediņš (October 9, 1890 — March 4, 1966) was a Latvian composer. He was born in Riga. He was a vital force in musical life during the short-lived first independent Latvian republic (1918—40). He almost singlehandly established in his country both the balletic genre – with Mīlas uzvara (‘Love's Victory’, 1934) – and the operatic with Uguns un nakts (‘Fire and Night’, 1913—19) and Dievi un cilvēki (‘Gods and People’, 1921). It was as a result of multiple invasions of his country that Mediņš left Latvia in 1944, eventually settling for good in Sweden.

Jānis Mediņš

Jānis Mediņš (October 9, 1890 — March 4, 1966) was a Latvian composer. He was born in Riga. He was a vital force in musical life during the short-lived first independent Latvian republic (1918—40). He almost singlehandly established in his country both the balletic genre – with Mīlas uzvara (‘Love's Victory’, 1934) – and the operatic with Uguns un nakts (‘Fire and Night’, 1913—19) and Dievi un cilvēki (‘Gods and People’, 1921). It was as a result of multiple invasions of his country that Mediņš left Latvia in 1944, eventually settling for good in Sweden.