Sound Works for the Sapieha Palace

The Path’s Voice draws inspiration from the architecture of the Sapieha Palace and the surrounding park, and is a meditation on pain, life, and the places they inhabit – our bodies. The origins of Monika Kalin’s work are closely tied to events that took place several years ago, when, as part of plans to restore a former baroque garden, trees in the Sapieha Park were meant to be cut down, thus destroying an environment beloved by both people and birds. 

The attempt to understand cruelty and to numb its pain are recurring themes in Kalin’s work. One of the ways she does this is through meditation – listening to various recordings when the silence is unbearable. Meditation also helps us to stay in touch with our own thoughts while distancing ourselves from the external world. 

The Path’s Voice guides us along a direct route through the Sapieha Park towards the palace. When walking and listening to the meditation, real and imaginary architectural elements, visions of past events and glimpses of nature emerge. It draws our thoughts towards the recognition that palaces, churches and even gardens established by those with wealth and power often have roots steeped in historical, economic, and social violence. Sometimes, they further perpetuate cruelty and deepen existing divisions. Just as we inhabit our bones and tissues, we live surrounded by spaces that we did not necessarily choose. Yet, by engaging with and exhaling different stories, we can change our own narratives and that of our homes. 

MONIKA KALIN (KALINAUSKAITĖ) is a writer and curator. Her texts bounce between the boundaries of art criticism, fiction and poetry, celebrating the fluidity of language and the emotional extremities hiding in simple concepts. Monika Kalin’s work has been featured in the literary magazines Fireflies, PaperWork, The Happy Hypocrite 10: Tolstoevsky et al., exhibitions and catalogues (most recently – the catalogue and vinyl for Sun & Sea (Marina) for the Lithuanian National Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale and Emilija Škarnulytė’s project Manifold at the 22nd International Triennale di Milano, both in 2019) and Lithuanian and international art publications. A digital collection of her texts, Mirror Mirror, was published in 2020. As a curator, she has worked on the JCDecaux Award exhibition series at the Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius between 2018 and 2019, and has curated independent projects by emerging artists. She is currently a curator at the Lithuanian National Museum of Art in Vilnius.

Strong, sometimes exaggerated emotions and maximal contrasts inherent in Baroque culture – between theatricality and naturalness, hedonism and asceticism, refinement and crudeness – are vividly depicted in this sound work, which responds to two striking episodes in the life of Kazimierz Jan Paweł Sapieha (Kazimieras Jonas Sapiega), a nobleman of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Commander-in-Chief of the army. In 1694, Sapieha faced the most severe ecclesiastical punishment for stationing army troops on church property during the winter. He was publicly excommunicated in the cathedral by Vilnius Bishop Konstanty Kazimierz Brzostowski (Konstantinas Kazimieras Bžostovskis), who separated him from the church and put a curse upon him. In response, Sapieha held a raucous feast for the nobility and gentry at his residence.

These two episodes from the life of Kazimierz Jan Paweł Sapieha, along with the contrasts between the ecclesiastical and secular life of the Baroque era, are illuminated in Renata Dubinskaitė’s piece through an interplay of a dynamic narrative and music. The narrative, which embodies all that can be seen, heard, and sensed, offers a gateway into the dramatic and contradictory worldview of a Baroque person. Complementing this narrative, the music – composed by contemporaries of Kazimierz Jan Paweł Sapieha (1637–1720) around the time the Sapieha Palace was being constructed – further deepens the understanding of the epoch.

During the Baroque era, music, a constant companion to secular and ecclesiastical occasions, was played in Sapieha Palace as well, and is evidenced by a fresco of musicians adorning one of the halls at the palace. The two vocal pieces performed by Renata Dubinskaitė were recorded in the Great Hall of the Sapieha Palace with the Swedish musician Karl Nyhlin, who played the theorbo – a string instrument – and the Baroque guitar. These pieces not only reflect the contrasts of the Baroque worldview, but also relate to the different zones of the Sapieha Palace ensemble. 

The first is the chaconne Sans frayeur dans ce bois by the French composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier (1643–1704). Charpentier is associated with Louis XIV, whose influence shaped the conception of the Sapieha Palace. The playful dance narrates the story of a girl who ventures fearlessly into a grove (or perhaps a Baroque garden?) and encounters the shepherd Tirsi, but remains undisturbed (the shepherd symbolises a connection to nature and naturalness). The girl ponders whether she should feel frightened. Moral norms would probably dictate caution when encountering a member of the opposite sex alone. However, being young and innocent of heart, she lacks an understanding of the potential social and sexual dangers of such an encounter.

Later, an aria from the motet Angelorum ad convivia by the Italian composer Giovanni Legrenzi (1626–1690), known for his work at the Venice Saint Mark’s Basilica, is heard. Italian artists were a major influence on the architecture, art, and music of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 17th century. Legrenzi’s motet explores the theme of the Blessed Sacrament, inviting the faithful to partake in the consumption of Christ’s body and blood, thereby being united with God through a profound bodily experience. The second aria of the motet, which we hear at the end of the sound work, calls us to wash away our sins and to seek the salvation that comes to us in the form of this holy food, thus restoring us to perfection. The Sapieha Palace and monastery, crafted by Italian masters, likely served as venues for the performance of Italian music – a tradition that had been cultivated in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since the time of Leon Sapieha (Leonas Sapiega) in the early 17th century.

Playing in the background of the sound work is also included a fragment from the passacaglia for Baroque guitar by the Spanish composer Gaspar Sanz (1640–1710). Spanish influences reached the Sapieha Palace through the monks of the Trinitarian Order. 

RENATA DUBINSKAITĖ studied art history and theory at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, defending her doctoral thesis in art history. She has worked as a curator at the Contemporary Art Centre, lectured at the Vilnius Academy of Arts, and written critical essays on contemporary art. Since 2017, she has focused on singing and early music, primarily from the Baroque era. She studied solo singing at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in Vilnius and obtained her Master’s degree in singing from the Vytautas Magnus University Music Academy in Kaunas. 

Since 2013, she has been the principal soloist of the international early music ensemble Canto Fiorito, producer of the ensemble and the International Kretinga Early Music Festival, member of the ensemble Duo Barocco and creator of concert programmes. Since 2023, she has been the art director of the early music ensemble Lux Maris. Dubinskaitė’s 2021 solo album Barbara Strozzi. La voce sola, dedicated to the Baroque singer and composer, was released by Brilliant Classics (the Netherlands) and has been broadcast on BBC Radio, France Musique, US and Australian radio programmes.

Renata Dubinskaitė has performed solo recitals with the ensemble Canto Fiorito and has been featured in three to five soloist ensemble concerts across numerous European cities. Additionally, she has prepared seven roles in Baroque opera. Since 2019, she has been singing with the Choeur de Chambre de Namur (Belgium) and the early music ensemble Cappella Mediterranea (France) in opera productions and concerts in major concert halls such as the Royal Opera House and the Chapel of Versailles, Dijon and Nancy opera houses, the Bozar in Brussels, the RadioFrance Concert Hall and the Champs-Elysees in Paris, the Auditorium in Lyon, the Victoria Hall in Geneva, and the National Auditorium of Madrid. 

Dies Irae is an attempt to symbolically reestablish the connection between the Sapieha Palace and the Trinitarian Monastery, thereby restoring the historical unity of the architectural ensemble comprising the palace, the monastery, and the park. This unity was disrupted by the annexation of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania by the Russian Empire.

The song, composed and performed by Lina Lapelytė, uses one of the earliest translations of the church hymn Dies Irae (Latin for ‘Day of Wrath’) into Lithuanian. The Latin poem, attributed to the Franciscan monk Tommaso da Celano, describes the Last Judgement Day, serving as a reference to the turbulent times of today. The voices in the background belong to the heirs of the Trinitarian monastery, the Brothers of Saint John: Dismas, Paulius Juozapas, and Reno Marija. The recording of the morning prayer, which begins with a knock on wood, recorded in the monastery chapel, transforms into a rhythmic accompaniment to the song: voices overlap, repeat, and at times get cut off. Like a manifestation of the historical pulse, it invites listeners not to dismiss abstracted language but to become immersed in it, to discover new possibilities of sound and melody, to hear the links between echoes of the past and realities of the present, with the monks’ voices serving as a symbolic bridge. Against this backdrop of the monks’ rhythmic voices, the singing artist’s female voice offers a potential shift in dominance within the traditionally masculine context of the monastery and palace’s history.

The monks of the Trinitarian Order were invited to Lithuania by the Duke and Commander-in-Chief of the army, Kazimierz Jan Paweł Sapieha (Kazimieras Jonas Sapiega). The first representatives of the Order arrived in Vilnius from Spain in 1693. Sapieha provided them with a foundation in Antakalnis, on the territory of his manor. A stone monastery and the Church of Jesus of Nazareth (now the Church of Christ the Redeemer) were built there. The monastery existed until 1864 when it was closed and handed over to the Russian army, while the church underwent conversion into a Russian Orthodox church. The northern gate of the park, serving as a direct pathway to the church and accentuating the visual continuity between the park’s avenue and the Trinitarian monastery ensemble, was demolished. The construction of the Tsarist hospital buildings opposite the church dealt a final blow to the integrity of the monastery, the church, and the park. The Trinitarian Order has never returned to Lithuania. Presently, both the Church of Christ the Redeemer and the adjacent monastery are occupied by the Brothers of Saint John.

The sound work uses an excerpt from Dies Irae translated into Lithuanian by Pranciškus Šrubauskis. Below is its translation in English:

Day of wrath and doom impending!

David’s word with Sibyl’s blending,

Heaven and earth in ashes ending!

Oh, what fear man’s bosom rendeth,

When from heaven the Judge descendeth,

On whose sentence all dependeth.

Wondrous sound the trumpet flingeth;

Through earth’s sepulchres it ringeth;

All before the throne it bringeth.

Death is struck, and nature quaking,

All creation is awaking,

To its Judge an answer making.

Lo, the book, exactly worded,

Wherein all hath been recorded,

Thence shall judgement be awarded. 

LINA LAPELYTĖ is an artist, musician and composer. Her practice is rooted in music and performance and flirts with pop culture, gender stereotypes and nostalgia. Her works engage trained and untrained performers often in the act of singing through a wide range of genres such as mainstream music and opera. The singing takes the form of a collective and affective event that questions vulnerability and silencing.

Lapelytė holds a BA in classical violin from the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre in Vilnius; a BA in Sound Arts from the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London; and an MA in Sculpture from the Royal College of Art in London. In 2019, her opera-performance Sun & Sea (Marina), created together with Rugilė Barzdžiukaitė and Vaiva Grainytė, and curated by Lucia Pietroiusti, won the Golden Lion award at the 58th Venice Biennale in 2019. In 2020 Lapelytė received the Lithuanian National Culture and Art Prize.

Lapelytė has had solo shows at Frac des Pays de la Loire, Nantes; Lafayette Anticipations, Paris; Space, London. Her work has been shown at Biennale Gherdëina 8, Val Gardena; Haus der Kunst, Munich; MOCA, Los Angeles; Tai Kwun Contemporary, Hong Kong; Glasgow International; Riga Biennial – RIBOCA2; Kunsthalle Praha; National Gallery of Art, Vilnius; Moderna Museet, Malmö; Rupert, Vilnius; Serpentine Pavilion, London.

Deimantė Bulbenkaitė and Audrius Pocius, the hosts of the radio programme Puota (Feast), interview philosopher Kristupas Sabolius. He presents a strange and confusing series of incidents in which episodes from his own life intertwine with the storylines of the Baroque period in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The central figure of the narrative is Teresa Korwin Gosiewska (Teresė Korvin Gosievskytė), an overlooked noblewoman of Lithuania and a significant figure in the history of the Sapieha Palace. While many of the historical facts and personal details discussed in the conversation are rooted in reality, fiction begins to play a significant role as the interview progresses, allowing for the perception of historical reality through a new lens. ‘In order to know, we must imagine for ourselves’, remarked the French philosopher and art historian Georges Didi-Huberman. Imagination is sparked when anonymous facts transform into personal experiences. It might be argued that in this programme, everything is imaginary and real at the same time.

KRISTUPAS SABOLIUS is a professor of philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy of Vilnius University and a research affiliate at MIT Climate Visions (US). In his research, Sabolius examines the theories and practices of imagination as conceptual tools to unlock environmental, sociocultural, and ontological problems. He has published numerous essays and is the author or editor of seven scientific monographs.

Sabolius collaborated in curating several exhibitions, including Swamp School, which represented Lithuania at the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale in 2018, and was curated by Nomeda and Gediminas Urbonas. In 2017, he co-founded The School of Creativity – an interactive platform of education that is designed to foster creative takes on traditional school curricula, for which he continues to lecture and host projects. Sabolius is also an active public intellectual and a writer of novels, theatre plays and film scripts, including The Gambler (2014) and Invisible (2019), both co-written with director Ignas Jonynas.

Delights is a soundtrack based on the pseudo-scientific phenomenon of the early internet: audio-psychotropic substances inducing altered states of consciousness through specific frequencies and psychoacoustic perturbations. As in the case of auditory drugs, Delights employs binaural rhythms as one of the techniques of sound production capable of causing psychedelic states. At the same time, the work draws inspiration from historical pharmacopoeias spanning the 15th to 17th centuries, incorporating blends of both real and fictional herbs, minerals, and synthetic substances documented within them. These often fictitious tinctures were supposed to function similarly to audio-psychotropic substances, manipulating the listener’s (or the patient’s) mood and emotional state, thereby altering their perception of reality.

Since the 18th century, a much stricter understanding of medicine has prevailed in the Western world. However, the interconnection between healing, pleasure, and sacred rituals persisted within folk medicine, esoteric, and shamanistic practices. In the mid-20th century, this tradition saw a resurgence through popular counter-cultural and New Age movements, where therapeutic and psychotropic substances are often associated with auditory and visual stimuli. Delights acts as a similarly intoxicating guide to the Sapieha Palace, capable of transforming the listener, and thus their experience of the palace space, much like the auditory form of an ancient pharmacopoea.

ANDRIUS ARUTIUNIAN is an Armenian-Lithuanian artist and composer, holding a BA and MA in music composition from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague. He works with hybrid sound forms in installations, films, sculptures and performances. In his practice, Arutiunian explores sonic dissent, aural cosmologies, and vernacular histories. His research experiments with speculative instruments, non-Western knowledge, and alternate methods for world-ordering. Through playful investigation of hypnotic and enigmatic forms, his installations, films, and performances challenge the concepts of musical and political attunement.

In 2022 Andrius Arutiunian represented Armenia at the 59th Venice Biennale with the solo show Gharīb. He has also shown work at the 14th Shanghai Biennale; Centre Pompidou, Paris; the 14th Kaunas Biennial; 2nd Riyadh Biennale; Medūza art space, Vilnius; M HKA, Antwerp; FACT, Liverpool; Stroom Den Haag, The Hague; documenta 14 Parliament of Bodies, Kassel; Contemporary Art Centre, Vilnius; and elsewhere. He is a DAAD fellow in Berlin in 2024.