Mariss Vētra (19 July 1901 – 24 December 1965) was a Latvian opera singer, stage director, educator, and writer.
Biography
Mariss Vētra (known as Morics Blumbergs till 1922) was born on 19 July 1901, at Dārta Estate of Tirza Civic Parish in the present-day Republic of Latvia (in 1901 a part of the Russian Empire). He was one of four children in a farming family. His father, Jēkabs Blumbergs, rented the estate from the local baron Alfred von Zeimern. His mother was Emma Blumberga, née Perlbach. His brother was Nikolajs, who studied medicine, became a lecturer at the University of Latvia, and was one of the founders of the Baltic University). His sisters were Austra (later a chemist) and Maiga (later an architect). After 1906, the family lived in Rīga.
Early life
Vētra studied at the Alexander Classical School of Riga, which during World War I was evacuated to Dorpat (now Tartu, Estonia). He later studied at the 2nd Classical School of Riga, from which he graduated in 1919. During his studies, Vētra worked as a clerk at the Statistics Bureau. His position at Bureau allowed to save his mother from being shot in 1919 during the temporary soviet government of Pēteris Stučka.
In June 1919, Vētra joined the new Latvian Army and took part in the Latvian War of Independence. In September 1919, as a soldier, he was admitted to the recently formed Conservatoire of Latvia. In October 1919, both German and Russian troops were approaching Rīga and his regiment fought its first battles. Vētra was wounded near Babīte. He also participated in liberation of Jelgava.
1920–1930
In January 1920, and Vētra began his studies at the new Conservatoire of Latvia with Professor Pauls Sakss. At the same time he entered the Faculty of History and Philosophy of the University of Latvia; however, for lack of time, he did not study there, although he audited some lectures. To earn his living, he worked at the Board of Railway. In 1921, Vētra gave a concert in Liepāja.
In 1922, Vētra urged his family to change their surname from Blumbergs to Vētra; Morics changed his first name to Mariss.
During his studies, in September 1922, Mariss Vētra became the premier of the recently founded opera of Liepāja, until the spring of 1923 singing with success in more than 70 performances. The Latvian National Opera took interest in him and invited him to give guest performances. In May 1923, Vētragave a guest performance as Don Jose in the Verdi opera "Carmen". Since the autumn of 1923, he was already a full-fledged soloist of the National Opera.
In the spring of 1924, Vētra graduated from the Conservatoire of Latvia, in September he sang at the National Opera, but in October, aided by the Culture Foundation of Latvia, went to Italy, and until the spring of 1926 improved his singing skills with the professors of Naples and Rome. Short of money, he also worked as a foreign correspondent for newspapers "Latvijas Vēstnesis" and "Rīgas Ziņas".
From the autumn of 1926 until the spring of 1928. Vētra was the soloist of the National Opera of Latvia. In June 1928, Vētra went on tour to the Vienna Opera; in Autumn he concluded a contract with the Opera of Frankfurt am Main, where he worked for two seasons; however, he was obliged to discharge the contract, as he was drafted in the army to serve the missing months. In July 1930, he returned to Riga, joined the military service and served till February 1931 as a sergeant of an artillery regiment. The National Opera concluded a contract for separate performances.
At that time Vētra met the ballet-dancer Irene Veil in Germany. They became a couple and he brought her to Rīga. They had two sons, Pēteris and Andrejs.
1930–1939
In August 1930, Vētra became ill and sought a cure at a sanatorium; he had his tonsils removed. After that Vētra returned to the military service. On October 2, while singing Lensky in the opera "Eugen Onegin", he lost his voice. The management of the Opera had forgotten to recall him in time from the service, and after some heavy load, he had arrived running for the performance. The reviewer Ernests Brusubārda wrote a destructive critique, declaring that Mariss Vētra is a tenor lacking a sense of duty. On October 25 Vētra publicly slapped him. Because of this, the Director Prande fired Vētra, although many persons defended him.
Nonetheless Vētra continued performing. He performed in a number of solo concerts and had material written for him by composers such as Jāzeps Vītols, Jēkabs Poruks, Jānis Zālītis, Lūcija Garūta, Jānis Ķepītis and Alberts Jērums.