In Shkodër was born Lec Kurti, composer, diplomat and political activist. He studied music in Pesaro (Italy) and then at the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice, for composition. His musical creativity spans the years 1900–1916 and includes works of different genres: sonatas, variations, trios, romances, quartets, chamber music, choral music, symphonic music, etc. In 1915, he composed the opera “Arbëreshja”, with a theme from Albanian life and his own libretto, but he did not finish it completely. It is regarded as the first evidence of Albanian composers in operatic music. From 1918 to 1939, Kurti served in diplomacy: as a functionary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1918–1920), then in Albanian diplomatic representations in Bari and Rome (1920–1924), in the Albanian legation in Athens (1926–1929), as Albania’s full minister to the League of Nations in Geneva (1930–1935), and as Albania’s full minister to Great Britain (1935–1939), where he was the first to internationally denounce the fascist Italian occupation of Albania. In May 1939, at the invitation of Faik Konica, he went to the United States of America and was elected president of the pan-Albanian federation “Vatra”. He later returned to his homeland; in 1942 he was among the founders of the Balli Kombëtar organization and was elected its chairman for the prefecture of Shkodra. With the re-creation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (October 1943) he entered the diplomatic service again. In November 1944 he emigrated to Italy, where he became one of the main activists of the Albanian political emigration. On 28.07.1946 Lec Kurti signed a memorandum in defense of Albania and the Albanian issue, sent to the Peace Conference in Paris. He passed away in Rome in 1948. (In the photo: Lec Kurti)
Text: Albanian encyclopedic dictionary – Vol. 2, Academy of Sciences of Albania, “Kristalina-KH”, Tirana, 2008, page 1421.
Photo: © Institute of Historical Studies “Lumo Skëndo”.
Graphic processing: AHCF
