Gabrielius Landsbergis-Žemkalnis

Landsbergis hailed from an old German Landsberg family that traced its roots to a ministerialis who lived in 1055 at the Werden Abbey.[2] Their last name comes the Landsberg Castle in the Duchy of Berg which translates as "land mountain". Landsbergis translated the name to Lithuanian and used Žemkalnis as his last name from around 1890.[2]

Landsbergis was born in the family manor in Birželiai near Pumpėnai to Wincenty Landsberg and Rozalia Jasińska.[3] His father died in 1857 leaving the family in a difficult financial situation; they relied on assistance provided by a local nobility committee.[2] His family, including his mother, two elder brothers, and two uncles, participated in the Uprising of 1863. At the age of 10, Landsbergis moved to Mitau (Jelgava) and later attended Šiauliai Gymnasium but did not finish it. At the gymnasium, he became friends with Petras Vileišis who encouraged him to speak Lithuanian and support the Lithuanian National Revival.[2] In 1870–1871, he studied at a telegraph school in Riga and got a job at the telegraph in Moscow in 1871.[4] At the same time, he studied at the Moscow University and passed exams to become a lawyer.[5]

In 1878,[5] he moved to Crimea where he was director of a telegraph station in Alupka. In 1884, he returned to Lithuania and lived in Joniškėlis and Linkavičiai village near Linkuva supervising the estates of the Karp family.[2] There he became acquainted with Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė (his first wife in 1879–1880 was her cousin)[2] and started contributing articles to Varpas and Ūkininkas, Lithuanian periodicals which were illegal in the Russian Empire due to the Lithuanian press ban.[5] He contributed about 50 articles and correspondences on issues of the Lithuanian language in public life, relations of Lithuanians and other nationalities, Polonized Lithuanian nobility, education.[4] Landsbergis' house became a meeting place of various Lithuanian intellectuals, including Vincas Kudirka, Jonas Jablonskis, Liudas Vaineikis, Antanas Kriščiukaitis, Jurgis Bielinis. In 1894, Pranas Mašiotas married Landsbergis' niece Marija Jasienskytė.[2]

In 1894, due to suspicions about his involvement in the Lithuanian book smuggling activities, Landsbergis was forced to leave Lithuania.[6] He lived in Moscow and worked as an inspector of the 1st City Hospital.[7] He continued to maintain contacts with various Lithuanian activists, including with Jonas Basanavičius and Juozas Tumas-Vaižgantas.[8] He visited Lithuania in summer 1900 when Lithuanian activists wanted to host further Lithuanian theater performances after the successful staging of America in the Bathhouse in 1899.[6] Tsarist police launched an investigation into activists connected with Liudas Vaineikis and Landsbergis was arrested on 6 October 1900 and sent to a prison in Liepāja for ten weeks.[6] According to his son's memoirs, he was released because his family managed to bribe Russian policemen, but he lost his job in Moscow.[7] On 27 February 1902, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia signed order sentencing 24 Lithuanians to various terms of exile.[9] Landsbergis was sentenced to two years of exile in Smolensk.[10]

Landbsbergis returned to Lithuania in March 1904 and settled in Vilnius. The Lithuanian press ban was lifted that spring and Landsbergis worked helping Petras Vileišis organize a Lithuanian printing press, bookstore, and periodical Vilniaus žinios.[11] He was administrator of the daily until 1908.[5] During the Russian Revolution of 1905, together with others, Landsbergis organized the Great Seimas of Vilnius which resolved to seek autonomy for Lithuania in the Russian Empire.[12] He was also active in Lithuanian cultural life in Vilnius. He was one of the founders of the Lithuanian Mutual Relief Society of Vilnius and the Lithuanian Scientific Society.[13] He was also elected chairman of the Union of Lithuanian Teachers (the founding meeting took place in his apartment in October 1905)[14] and later raised funds to pay for Lithuanian language lessons at city schools.[13]

However, he was most active in the Lithuanian amateur theater. He performed various roles – director, actor, playwright, critic.[5] He founded and chaired Kanklės of Vilnius Society which was active in 1905–1908 and organized various theater performances, concerts, cultural evenings. The largest production was the first national Lithuanian opera Birutė which was adapted by composer Mikas Petrauskas from a drama written by Landsbergis.[15] Landsbergis was also involved with the Daina Society.[16] In 1908–1909, he lived in Kaunas and was active in the Daina Society.[5] He then moved to Šiauliai where he worked as an inspector of an insurance company[17] and staged about 50 plays with Varpas Society.[5] Among the plays staged by Landsbergis were Pilėnų kunigaikštis by Marcelinas Šikšnys (1906), Mindaugas by Juliusz Słowacki (1908), Du keliu by Herman Heijermans (1913).[5] In April 1915, Landsbergis evacuated from Šiauliai[18] and returned to Vilnius where he organized cultural evenings on behalf of the Lithuanian Society for the Relief of War Sufferers.[5] His last play was staged on 26 June 1916.[1] However, Landsbergis was of poor health and he died on 28 August 1916 in Vilnius and was buried in Rasos Cemetery.[18]

2006 postal stamp for the 100th anniversary of opera Birutė