Jānis Mediņš's memoir Toņi un pustoņi (‘Tones and Semitones’, published in Stockholm in 1964), provides posterity with many details of his early years. As an old man – it was written between autumn 1962 and spring 1963 in collaboration with Jānis Rudzītis – he characterised his life as ‘rich in experience, though difficult ... having lived through Tsarist eras [Latvia was under Russian rule until 1918], Latvian independence [including the dictatorship of Kārlis Ulmanis 1934‒40], Soviet occupation [1940 and again in 1944] and German occupation, finally’. Unlike many of his Latvian contemporaries, he ‘had no famous teachers and had to find [his] own way musically’. But he had the advantage in being born into a highly musical family: his brother Jekabs taught at a seminary of music teachers in Valmiera (one of the first music education institutions in Latvia). His father was also a musician and took his children to concerts. Jānis started to play the piano aged four or five, and was taught to read music by his sister Marija, with whom he played duets. Marija gave recitals as a solo pianist and in duos and other chamber ensembles. She died young in 1912 from an accidental overdose resulting from a mistake in a pharmacy. Another brother – Jāzeps –became another notable figure in Latvian music of the first half of the 20th century, and one of the country's first symphonists.
