Dovgjallo, Georgs (1931 - 2009)
Biography Works
“The conductor Jānis Dreimanis once told me something like: “If you won’t be a conductor – you will be a composer, if you won’t be a composer – then you will at least be a musician.” What has happened and resulted for me – I still don’t know! But what do you think?”
Georgs Dovgjallo
BIOGRAPHY
Georgs (Georgijs) Dovgjallo was born on October 24th, 1931 in Liepāja. He died on February 2nd, 2009. He finished the Liepāja Blaumanis Primary School (1946) and the Liepāja College of Music (1950), where he first studied violin with Ādolfs Lindenbaums, and later choir conducting with Jānis Dreimanis and parallel studied composition. In 1950, he enrolled in the Latvian State Conservatory in the choir-conducting department, where, in his first year, he studied with Jānis Dūmiņš, and later continued his studies with Mendelis Bašs. He graduated the Conservatory in 1955.
His first experiences with composition for choir were in the towns of Medze and Bunka, in the Liepāja region, while studying at the Liepāja College of Music. The premiere of his first songs for choir happened in October of 1948. While studying in the Conservatory, he worked with choirs in Riga, Ciemupe (Ogre), and the Bulduri Agricultural Technical School. After graduating the Conservatory, he worked in the Iecava Secondary School. For more than 30 years, he has worked with varied vocal ensembles in the Riga Polytechnic Institute, the Latvian State University, the Latvian Sport Academy, the Latvian Agricultural Academy and the Latvian Science Academy. For 10 years he led the Philharmonia men’s vocal quartet, for 18 years – the mixed choir Rīdzene.
For many years, he worked as the accompanist for many different dance groups (beginning in 1949 in Liepāja). He has worked with the choreographers Alma Zālīte, Osvalds Štrauss, Harijs Sūna, Oskars Pūce, Milda Lasmane, Imants Magone, Alfrēds Spura, Baiba Šteina, Uldis Šteins, Dailonis Rudovics, Gunta Skuja, Jānis Purviņš, Aija Baumane, and others. For six years, he worked in the Riga Polytechnic Institute dance group Vektors. His music for stage dancing has been performed in large events for students at both a national and Riga level (1962, 1967, 1972, 1979, 1983, 1984, 1989, 1995) and for adults at other large events (1965, 1977, 1981, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1993, 1998, 2001).
