Juozas Indra ✝

Singer (lyric tenor), composer and conductor Juozas Indra, until 1943. - Padlecki, born in 1918. March 18 Jurbarka county Pavietava village
Juozukas also sang in a musical and abundant family from an early age. Brother Stasys organized a family choir, which became famous and performed in the neighborhood, and in 1934.
was even invited to sing on the Kaunas State Radio. Their repertoire included harmonized Lithuanian folk songs: "Oi motule ma" by M. Petrauskas, Č. Sasnauskas's "Where Šešupė runs", J. Naujalis's "Liethuva deari", J. Neimont's "I have sowed a green ruta", etc. Juozukas often helped the eldest brother as well. He would teach the housemates individual parts, and his brother would later combine them. K. Padleckis remembers: "Then the eldest brother played the organ further away from home and could not always come. Then Juozukas took the choirmaster's baton. And even though he was 11-12 years old, he performed his duties honestly and diligently." This was J. Indra's first music school, and he acquired knowledge of general education at the nearby Armeniškai elementary school. This is where the first "debut" of the future singer took place - after graduating from school, Juozas sang S. Šimkus's "Kur bakuže samanota" in a public concert. There was a harmonium in the house. Juozas would sit with her all day, improvising on the themes of the songs he heard. 1934-1937 In Seređi, Juoz had the opportunity to get to know the specifics of the brass band, because his brother Stasys decided to revive the brass band that used to exist here and played viola and later baritone in it. When composing the repertoire, they transcribed notes from other orchestras, and sometimes they also instrumented this and that. Juoz's perfect hearing was especially useful here - after listening to the piece from the record, he wrote down the parts of the instruments. in 1935 composer S. Šimkus celebrated the 30th anniversary of his work, all of Seredžius was preparing for the celebrations. The family choir led by S. Padleckis also participated in it, singing ten songs by S. Šimkaus. Juozukas sang "Oi kas sodai do sodelei" harmonized by S. Šimkaus. It was the first meeting with the composer S. Šimkus. J. Indra was not only attracted by music. He had taught himself several languages, was very interested in literature, wrote poems and sometimes thought that maybe this was his calling. But life took a different course. in 1935 The orchestra of the Kėdainiai Regiment, led by Kapellmeister B. Jonuš, came to Seredii to play Bach-Gunn's "Ave Maria" in the church during the mass, and Juozas also sang a solo in it. The manager B. Jonušas was interested in his extraordinary musicality and asked him to join the regimental orchestra. in 1936 J. Indra came to Kėdainii and became a pupil of the orchestra of the III infantry regiment. In 1938, J. Indra was accepted as a free listener to the vocal department of the Kaunas Conservatory and assigned to E. Vitinga's class (E. Vitinga traveled to classes from Riga, where he lived permanently), and in 1939. is accepted by the actual listener. Unfortunately, he cannot study calmly and seriously, because he has to support himself, he has to stay in the regimental orchestra and carry a double burden - traveling from Kėdainiai to lectures in Kaunas. In 1942, when he was in the 4th year of the conservatory, he left his studies, the brass band and went to Vilnius, where the opera troupe was gathering. In difficult wartime conditions, his debut as an opera soloist and his first public concerts took place. The first public performance took place in 1943. November 7 in the symphony concert conducted by J. Kačinskas. J. Indra sang Alfred's aria from J. Verdi's opera Traviata. After the war, he returned to Kaunas and joined the Opera troupe, continued his studies at the conservatory.
In 1945-1948 he was exiled to the Komi ASSR. J. Indra joined the musical life of Vorkuta, he did not neglect his creativity, he gave many concerts. This is where the third vocation dawned - Mr. Indra became an assistant conductor. In 1948-1953, after returning from exile, he lived and worked in Vilnius. Soon he became one of the main tenors of the Lithuanian Opera and Ballet Theater, sang many of the most important parts and earned great sympathy from the audience. The attraction to other branches of music became more and more evident. He visited the Composers' Union not only to listen to his colleagues' new works, but also submitted one of his own songs or instrumental works for audition. Since 1948 J. Indra worked in the opera preparation department of the conservatory. Under the direction of K. Petrauskas, he staged excerpts from W. A. Mozart's Don Giovanni, P. Tchaikovsky's Jolanto, G. Bizet's Carmen, Ch. Gounod's Faust. A particularly significant work is the production of A. Dargomyžskis' "Mermaid" in 1953. The Opera preparation class led by J. Indra was attended by a whole group of well-known singers of the republic: M. Aleškevičiūtė, V. Blažys, I. Jasiūnaitė, A. Lietuvninkas, L. Muraška, I. Žukaitė and others.
In 1954-1965, Mr. Indra worked as the chief conductor of the Kaunas Musical Theater, in 1965-1968 as a conductor. In 1954, he was admitted to the composers' union, awarded with medals "For excellence in work". The success of this new creative work was the ballet "Storm". J. Indra's biography of the composer is enriched not only by the ballet "Storm", but also by the great symphony "City of Ruins". in 1957 J. Indra becomes the laureate of the Republic Prize (for "Audrone"), 1959. he is awarded the title of the meritorious artist of the LSSR.
In 1968, preparations were made for J. Indra's fiftieth anniversary. He promised
In Vilnius to sing Germanus P. Tchaikovsky op. "Queen of Spades", but on March 14, the thread of his life ended unexpectedly and painfully early...

Juoz Indra's creative style was formed under the influence of Lithuanian folk music, and the most important part of his creative legacy consists of harmonized Lithuanian folk songs for women, men, mixed choirs, duets and soloists. Wrote 12 original songs and romances, harmonized about 150 folk songs. Considerable attention is paid to solo songs, as well as in works for the choir there is a tendency to emphasize the solo voice. Instrumental accompaniment is diverse - from traditional piano, country band to string quartet, piano trio, symphony orchestra. Having started his career by harmonizing folk songs, Juozas Indra won the Republic Prize for the ballet "Audronė", which has a strong national color, and the symphony "City of Ruins", based on the poem of the same name by Salomeja Nėries, became the first Lithuanian program symphony.
The composer's archive contains music for several films, drama performances, a number of instrumental works for various ensembles, but mostly they are fragments of works, several versions of them.