FORMER YUGOSLAVIA

SLOVENIA is the most prosperous and trouble-free of the former Yugoslavian countries; its Austrian appearance, its Slavic soul and the Italian traits in the utmost west doesn’t seem to be contradictory. The musical history reflect this constellation; its composers (incl. Gallus and Tartini) drew from different sources, and so does the folklore. The Slovenian language differs substantially from Serbo-Croatian.

Concert hall of the Slovene Philharmonic Orchestra, which came forth from the Academia Philharmonicorum (1701, of Italian imprint), the Philharmonische Gesellschaft (1794) and other predecessors. The building is from 1891 and has two halls, with resp. 507 and 200 seats.

The music academy was established in 1926 as a State Conservatory and is today a part of the University. It is housed since 1939 in the baroque Stiška palace. At its predecessor from 1816, the young Schubert applied in vain for the post of teacher.

This institution was established in 1872 as a Slovene counterbalance for the German dominated musical life. Its objectives include the collection of folk music, the formation of choirs, education and the publication of books and sheet music.

National musicians are honoured by medallions on the façade of the building and by busts in front of it, including the great Slovene polyphonist Jacobus Gallus (1550-1591) and the organist and conductor Antonin Foerster (1837-1926), the uncle of the better known Czech composer Josef Bohuslav Foerster.

At the Staleško gledališče (Theatre of the Estates, 1765, not extant) worked Emanuel Schikaneder from 1779 to 1782; Gustav Mahler was conductor at the second theatre during the season of 1881/82; this building burnt down in 1887. The present building by the Czech architects Hrásky and Hruby was opened in 1892. It has c 600 seats.

The birthplace of Hugo Wolf (*1860), whose ancestors were Austrian, Slovene and Italian, is now the local music school. There are no authentic pieces, but the recital hall on the first floor renders by means of numerous pictures a biography of the great song composer.

Photos from the 1980s and after restoration.

Hugo Wolf started his study at this baroque gymnasium in 1873. His school reports were riddled with poor marks, except for ‘singing’. In 1875 he left the school for Vienna.

The composer Slavko Osterc (1895-1941) was born in this village. His compositions were in line with the Central European avant-garde of his age: expressionist and 12-note atonality. Numerous (copies of) documents, pictures etc. are displayed in a memorial room in the local government office. 

Bust of Slavko Osterc, facing his birthplace (with plaque).

Jakob Handl or Jakub Petelin ─ the name stands for ‘rooster’ in German resp. Slovene ─ is best known as Jacobus Gallus. He was born in Reifnitz/Ribnica in 1550 and is honoured by a monument ─ from 1973, since its predecessor was destroyed in 1933.

After a long career in numerous places of the Austrian empire he landed in Prague in the mid 1580s, where he died in 1591, leaving behind a fine oeuvre of skilfully composed vocal polyphony. 

Memorial room of the composer Marij Kogoj, born in Trieste in 1892 and died in 1936 after four years in an asylum on account of schizophrenia. He was a pupil of Schreker and Schönberg and the composer of the expressionist opera Črne maske (1929) and other operas and choir songs.

His house and monument are on the main square (not verified). A festival Kugojevi dnevi is dedicated to new Slovene music and held yearly in the autumn.

Birthplace of the great violinist and composer Giuseppe Tartini, *1692. The permanent exhibition includes his violin by Amati (c 1720), his death mask, pictures and some material which refers to his mathematical and acoustical research.

Outside, on the main square, stands his tall monument.

This is Tartini’s baptismal church; the Tartini family was buried here since 1699.

The wealthy Tartini family owned a fine mansion at the seashore, with a view on Piran. In the 20^th century it was used by the State for representative purposes, today it is a hotel.

CROATIA’s inland was until 1919 ruled by Hungarians, the Adriatic coast until 1797 by Venice. The musical life of the inland was shaped after the Austrian model and an Italianate musical culture flourished at the coast during the 16th to 18th century. Nationalist tendencies are rooted in the 19th century ‘Illyric movement’. There is folklore with Slavic, Hungarian and Italian traits.

This institute, formerly the Musikverein, was established in 1827 and includes a publishing house, a library and an office for the organisation of festivals, such as Zagredački Biennale (since 1916, first chairman Milko Kelemen). The building contains the Pejačević archive and a good concert room (400 seats).

The historical concert hall in the palace of count Amadeus de Várkony, the city´s musical centre of the 18^th century in the Mešička street, was demolished in 1895.

Vatroslav Lisinski (1819-54) is considered the father of the Croatian composed music, having written the first opera in Croatian language, Ljubav i zloba (1845), which was widely admired. The rest of his life however was tragic and he died from dropsy, only 34 years old, but his compositional output includes ouvertures and many songs and choruses. On his house is a plaque and opposite a modest monument.

House of the composer Ivan Zajc (1832-1914). He was born in Fiume (now Rijeka) as Giovanni von Zaytz; he kept this name until he moved to Zagreb in 1870 and adopted its Slavic equivalent. He became the director of the opera and revived the stagnant musical life after the death of Lisinski. His enormous output covers more than thousand works in all genres.

Inside the city museum is a memorial room of ‘maestro’ Zajc, a reconstruction of his elegant studio.

The National Opera, designed by the renowned Helmer and Fellner, was opened in 1895; its capacity is 850 seats.

The modern Ferinport building facing the opera houses the Music Academy. It started in 1827 as the music school of the Musikverein , from 1916 called Conservatory of the Glasbeni Zavod; it became State sponsored in 1821 and was upgraded into Academy of Music in 1922, its present status.

This large concert hall was opened in 1973 and has two halls with resp. 1851 and 313 seats.

The monumental Mirogoj cemetery is worth visiting. And naturally here are the graves of the Croatian composers Lisinski, Zajc and Jakov Gotovac (1895-1982); the latter wrote Simfonijsko kolo (1926) and the popular opera Ero s onogo svijeta (1935). Also the Czech operetta composer and conductor Oskar Nedbal (1874-1930; best known work: Polenblut) was buried here; being in unsolvable debts, he committed suicide by jumping from a window of Zagreb’s National theatre on Christmas eve 1930.

Other graves: Puccini’s favourite Tosca singer Milka Perdrina and the conductor Lovro Matačić.

This little 18^th century castle – now the city museum – was the house of Ferdo Livadić (1799-1879). He was born as Ferdinand Wiesner, but adhered the Croatian nationalism and changed his name (livada = Wiese). He filled several high positions in Samobor, in between he composed many patriotic songs and thus paved the way to a genuine Croatian musical life. Better known abroad is his Notturno in f-sharp minor.

 The most remarkable object in the room devoted to him is his Viennese piano, which certainly was played by Liszt, who visited him in 1846. In the garden is a bust by Ferdo Ivanščak.

The grave of Livadić is at Samobor cemetery; a plaque is at the town hall .

The composer Josip Slavenski (or Štolcer-Slavenski; his original name was Josef Stolzer) was born here in 1896, but he lived in Belgrade from 1924 until his death in 1955. He was not a nationalist but a lover of Balkan folklore as the basis of his sometimes experimental compositions. 

The exhibits which refer to his more important life in Belgrade should have been removed from the memorial room in the regional museum, as a result of the animosity between Croatia and Serbia! Fortunately there should be a Slavenski room in Belgrade too.

The composer Marko Tajčević (1900-1984) was born in Osijek, studied and worked in Zagreb and from 1940 in Belgrade. His music, imbued with the spirit of folk music, is very accessible; nr 5 from his piano work Seven Balkan Dances (1926) is widely known, also in an orchestrated version.

Dora Pejačević (1885-1923) is perhaps the best known Croatian composer. Her oeuvre, covering 58 opuses, includes late romantic piano- and chamber music, songs and an impressive symphony; most of it is on CD. She belonged to a noble family and lived on a large estate (with composing pavillon), now accessible to the public. Complications of childbirth caused Dora’s untimely death. Her grave is nearby, across the V. Nazora street.

She is the protagonist in the movie Contessa by Zvonimir Berković (1993).

Like Tartini, his compatriot Luigi Dallapiccola (1904-1975) was born on the Istrian peninsula; in 1922 he moved to Florence, where he lived until his death. He became a pioneer of dodecaphony in Italy and his opera Il prigioniero (1949) was a sensation. Before 1935 however, his compositions were in a tonal, sometimes archaic idiom. His birthplace became a hospital after 1922.

Franz von Suppé, the founder of the Viennese operetta tradition and of Belgian descent, was born in 1819 in Split as Francesco Ezechiele Ermenegildo Cavaliere Suppé Demelli. At the age of 13 he wrote a Missa dalmatica and later an overture on Dalmatian folksongs, but his fame is based on the over 200 stageworks, incl. Dichter und Bauer, Die schöne Galathea, Die leichte Cavallerie and Boccaccio. On the location of his birthplace is a plaque. He died in Vienna in 1895.

The 16^th century Bishop’s palace was originally the house of the noble family Sorkočević which filled high positions in the Republic of Ragusa. Luka Sorkočević was born in this palace in 1734 and became the envoy of Ragusa in Vienna, where he got acquainted with Haydn and Gluck. A composer himself, he wrote the first Croatian symphonies. He died in 1789; desperate due to illness and pain, he threw himself from the second floor of the palace.

The Sorkočević estate, including Luka’s manuscripts, is kept in the archive of the monastery of the friars minor. He was also buried here.

Probably there also may be documents by and about Ivan Mane Jarnović, a famous violinist and modest composer. He was born in Ragusa in 1740 and died in 1804 in St. Petersburg after numerous successful tours throughout Europe.

This magnificent palace at the seashore in the Lopad quarter was built in 1521 for the Sorkočević family. Today it is a luxurious holiday resort.

SERBIA is the largest of the former Yugoslavian states. Medieval Serbia was conquered by the Turks in the 14^th century and regained independency in the 1870s. It became the dominating heart of unified Yugoslavia but has lost power since this fell apart. The predominant religion, Serbian Orthodoxy, is a decisive factor in the national awareness.

The national theatre, opened in 1869, was designed by Aleksander Bugarski. At first, only spoken drama was performed, opera- and ballet followed from 1894. Reconstructions took place in 1922 and 1989. There are 700 seats. 

Belgrade’s main concert hall belongs to the Ilja Kolarac Foundation. It was opened in 1930; the architect was Petr Bajalović. The Belgrade PO and the National folklore ensemble Kolo are important users. There are 1200 seats.

The music academy, established in 1937, is since 1973 a part of the University of Arts.

Serbia has two other music academies, in Niš and in the capital of Vojvodina, Novi Sad.

In 1999 a second, private theatre was opened for opera, musical, ballet and drama. Its modern attitude and self declared ‘open mind’ result into a more adventurous repertoire than is offered by the National Theatre.

The composer Josip Slavenski (or Štolcer-Slavenski; his original name was Josef Stolzer) was born in Croatia in 1896, but made his career in Belgrade from 1924 until his death in 1955. He was not a nationalist but a lover of Balkan folklore as the basis of his sometimes experimental compositions. The present existence of the memorial room, established in 1983, could not be verified.

Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac (1856-1914) is considered the ‘father of Serbian art music’. He modernised the Serbian-Orthodox church music and collected numerous folk songs during his tours throughout Serbia and its southern neighbours, resulting in 15 volumes of choir songs under the name of Rukoveti [bouquets], which became very popular. Mokranjac lived in this house from 1887 until the year of his death.

A bust of Stevan Mokranjac by Riste Stijović was placed in 1964 within the walls of the former fortress of Kalemagdan, today a pleasant park with a splendid view on the confluence of the rivers Sava and Danube.

Birthplace of Stevan Mokranjac. His museum was built and furnished in traditional Serbian style in 1964 under the auspices of the local Krajina museum.

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA were occupied by the Austrians during some decades after centuries of Turkish rule. Since the cruel civil war of the 1990s, the mixed population of Muslims, Orthodox Serbs and Roman Catholic Croats doesn’t seem to be able or willing to create a mutual sense of nationhood; Serbian areas formed their own Republika Srpska within the state.

The National Theatre was built in 1899 after the design of the Czech architect Karel Pařík and has 432 seats. Originally serving as a social facility, it became a drama theatre in 1921; the performance of Smetana’s Bartered Bride in 1946 was the beginning of the modest tradition of two operas and two ballets a year. Also the concerts of the Sarajevo PO (est. 1923) take place in the fine building.

The Academy of Music was established in 1955. Despite damage and underutilisation due to the war of the 1990s, the institute recovered. The curriculum covers all branches of music education.

Sevdah is a typical Bosnian genre of popular folk music and has its own museum. In the annex café one can drink a Turkish coffee, listening to melancholic or sentimental sevdalinke. A real ‘Balkan experience’ is guaranteed.

Banja Luka, the capital of the ‘Republika Srpska’, has created its own conservatory in 1998, thus demonstrating the split population of the country. The Department of Music is housed in the Academy of Arts of Banja Luka University.

House of the composer Vlado Milošević (1901-92). He wrote the first Bosnian opera, Jazavac pred sudom [the badger before the court], founded the music school of his town and worked also as an ethnomusicologist and conductor. The house belongs to the Academia of Arts; there should be a memorial room (if not, then try the previous address or Vidovdanska ulica 45).

MONTENEGRO (Crna Gora), in earlier times a principality on which the Turks never could exercise full authority, joined with Serbia in 1918. It became an independent republic in 2006. The epic songs by guslari  (singing fiddlers) form an outstanding aspect of the folklore (photo).

The National Theatre of the present capital offers occasionally opera or ballet.

The town of Herceg Novi, at the touristic coast, organises a small opera festival, Operosa, annually in August.

A music academy was established in 1980 in the capital, then called Titograd, but it moved to Cetinje, the old capital during the era of the principality.

KOSOVO ’s declared independency (2008) is not recognised by the Serbs, who consider it their historical territory but have to cope with the Albanian, mostly Muslim majority and domination. The North functions as Republika Srpska now  – just like in Bosnia – and the splendid old monasteries, scattered all over the country, are a sort of Serbian enclaves – with beautiful church music... (Photos: manastir Gračanica)

For more information, cf. www. en/qwewiki/wiki/Classical music in Kosovo

A Kosovo Philharmonia was established in 2000, in fact a chamber orchestra which can be expanded with guest musicians from Albania or Macedonia. They play in the ‘Red Hall’ of the culture- and sports palace at Luan Haradinaj street and in some churches (the Mother Teresa cathedral and the church Shën Ndou). In 2004 an opera company was founded, but there is no opera theatre. The conservatory, established in 1975, moved in 1999 to Zvečan near the divided city of Mitrovica and is supposedly under Serbian jurisdiction now.

NORTH MACEDONIA is the new name (since 2019) of the Former Yugoslavian Republic Of Macedonia (‘FYROM’). By comparison with the rest of former Yugoslavia, its striking folk music is – just like its language – more related to Bulgaria; also more Turkish traits have survived, as the Turks left the country only in 1912. Classical music is advancing.

The National Theatre was built in 1927, damaged in the 2^nd World War, destroyed during the earthquake of 1963 and reconstructed in 2013 within the scope of the controversial neo-classical rebuilding of the city. The first opera, Cavalleria rusticana, was performed in 1947, the first ballet in 1949.

There was already another theatre for opera and ballet, built in the 1980s by the Slovene architects of Biro71, with 811 seats and a second stage with 200 seats. Influenced by Finnish organic architecture, it looks like a white landscape; all colours have been avoided.

This concert hall was opened in 2017 after the design of Victor Mihajlov. The Macedonian PO was established in 1944 as a branch of the Broadcast corporation but became a autonomous institute in 1960.

Skopje has no musical academy; the only one in the country is linked to the University of Štip.

The attractive city of Ohrid adds lustre to the touristic high season with a great number of cultural events, including since 1962 a Balkan festival, at which folklore groups from the Balkan countries present their songs and dances (July).

How a spontaneous folk tradition is kept living can still be observed at Sveti Naum, situated south of the city. During the first weekend of July, people gather around the monastery to light candles and pray in the church, but above all to eat and drink and to sing and dance, accompanied by virtuoso gypsy musicians. (So was the situation in the 1970s; the festivities still exist, but possibly have become more commercialised and less authentic.)

In the remote village of Galičnik, the inhabitants used to celebrate all weddings of a year in one day in mid July, full of ‘pump and circumstance’. Because this tradition threatened to get lost due to depopulation, it was revived by means of a ‘role play’ with all authentic ingredients – rites, music, costumes – and hundreds of participants. The magnificent spectacle can be attended by visitors.