Page 117 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2023. Glasbena društva v dolgem 19. stoletju: med ljubiteljsko in profesionalno kulturo ▪︎ Music societies in the long 19th century: Between amateur and professional culture. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 6
P. 117
oi: https://doi.org/10.26493/978-961-293-217-6.115-124
Musical associations and their place
in the musical life of Bratislava
in the 19th century1
Michal Ščepán
Muzikološki inštitut Slovaške akademije znanosti
Institute of Musicology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences
By the decision of the emperor Joseph II, Bratislava (then Pressburg/Poz-
sony/Prešpork) ceased to be the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1783.
After the crown jewels were taken to Vienna and almost all central offices
moved to Buda, followed by a large segment of the aristocracy, the city star-
ted to lose its importance. These significant changes also affected the lo-
cal musical life. After disbanding the number of aristocratic music bands,
its character changed, when dominant role had continuously been taken
over by bourgeois/townspeople. This fact was also reflected in the institu-
tional basis the pillar of which became music associations. As a qualitati-
vely new institutional form, they were associating music lovers and were
adapted to social and cultural interests of the newly established middle
class, i.e., townspeople. However, the aristocracy did not disappear from
the music life completely, when participated on music activities, in additi-
on to organizing, mainly through the function of patron of individual asso-
ciations. The basic function of the associations was cultivating artistic sin-
ging and art music as such but, at the same time, the associations worked
as a medium of spending one’s spare time in a cultivated and meaningful
manner with the unwritten requirement of developing creativity of their
1 This article is the outcome of the implementation of the Personality and Work in
the History of Musical Culture of the 18th–20th Centuries in Slovakia (No. 2/0116/20)
project supported by the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, Sci-
ence, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Academy of Scienc-
es, Bratislava, Institute of Musicology of the SAS, 2020–2023.
115
Musical associations and their place
in the musical life of Bratislava
in the 19th century1
Michal Ščepán
Muzikološki inštitut Slovaške akademije znanosti
Institute of Musicology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences
By the decision of the emperor Joseph II, Bratislava (then Pressburg/Poz-
sony/Prešpork) ceased to be the capital of the Kingdom of Hungary in 1783.
After the crown jewels were taken to Vienna and almost all central offices
moved to Buda, followed by a large segment of the aristocracy, the city star-
ted to lose its importance. These significant changes also affected the lo-
cal musical life. After disbanding the number of aristocratic music bands,
its character changed, when dominant role had continuously been taken
over by bourgeois/townspeople. This fact was also reflected in the institu-
tional basis the pillar of which became music associations. As a qualitati-
vely new institutional form, they were associating music lovers and were
adapted to social and cultural interests of the newly established middle
class, i.e., townspeople. However, the aristocracy did not disappear from
the music life completely, when participated on music activities, in additi-
on to organizing, mainly through the function of patron of individual asso-
ciations. The basic function of the associations was cultivating artistic sin-
ging and art music as such but, at the same time, the associations worked
as a medium of spending one’s spare time in a cultivated and meaningful
manner with the unwritten requirement of developing creativity of their
1 This article is the outcome of the implementation of the Personality and Work in
the History of Musical Culture of the 18th–20th Centuries in Slovakia (No. 2/0116/20)
project supported by the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education, Sci-
ence, Research and Sport of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Academy of Scienc-
es, Bratislava, Institute of Musicology of the SAS, 2020–2023.
115
