Latvijas Zelts July 1995

Latvia, detail of a map of European Russia published in 1840 by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge

This was my fourth yearly trip to Latvia, all since independence.

Growing up, going to Latvian school, I learned history, literature, religion, geography, all the subjects I studied the rest of the week (except math!). Yes, the church was for worship, but that was on Sundays. Saturdays, the church was the focal point of our Latvian community in Brooklyn, a home away from home for my parents' generation. I only realize now how precious those moments were. And not because I learned enough geography to take a blank map with lines, dots, and crosses and name all the rivers, towns, and mountains.

Mountains? It was a rude awakening when I arrived in Latvia for the first time. Gaizinkalns, the highest point in Latvia, was 300 meters above sea level. Yet I was not disappointed in the least. Latvia still felt like home, even having never been there. Perhaps small, perhaps not quite as imposing as in my childhood imaginings, but still noble and proud. Over my first few trips, I had acclimated myself well, I thought. No problems driving around the countryside or taking walks around Riga. I thought I had gotten to know Latvia.

Then I picked up an organ music CD at Tower Record, on Broadway in Greenwich Village, in New York. February 17th, 1995. Or maybe it was the 19th. I'm not very good with dates. But I remember the day itself well. It was the day that irrevocably changed my image of Latvia.

The subtitle read, in German, "Recorded at the Church of the Holy Trinity, Libau, Lettland." Lettland I immediately recognized as Latvia. And Libau? Liepaja! I must have this! Even as I waited for the subway home, I opened the CD to read the notes. At the core of the organ, unchanged since its last expansion in 1885, was the very first organ, virtually intact, built in 1779 by Johann Sebastian Bach's favorite organ builder, Heinrich Andreas Contius. Contius had arrived in Latvia with a letter of recommendation from Bach himself. And of Contius' three organs still in existence, two were in Latvia!

When my mom and cousin Gaida were arranging our next trip and asked if there was anything I'd like to do, I said, "I don't care as long as we make it to Liepaja to see the organ. I've got to see it to believe it!" Well, I did get to see, and touch, the organ in Liepaja. And what a feast for the senses this trip turned out to be! Aglona, the organ at Liepaja, the history museum in Cesis, Rundales Pils, everywhere I looked, everywhere I went, places full of wonders and treasures!

Latvia was about more than Latvians just being proud of their homeland. Latvia was world-class! Latvia was where it was at! Latvia was a phenomenon!

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