Page 145 - 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
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oi: https://doi.org/10.26493/978-961-293-217-6.143-161
Visits of Vienna choral societies to Sarajevo
– an occasion for redefining local societies’
concert activity in the late 19th century?
Lana Šehović
University of Sarajevo
Introductory remarks about the circumstances of Sarajevo
musical life in the late 19th century
Sarajevo musical life at the turn of the century was shaped by socio-polit-
ical changes that included the change of political powers – the Ottoman
Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire on the Bosnian soil. After more
than four centuries of the Ottoman administration (1463–1878), Bosnia and
Herzegovina was occupied by Austro-Hungary, which would stay there for
40 years (1878–1918). The change of authorities led to a complete transfigu-
ration of the political, social and cultural circumstances, which implied the
shift from the Timar feudal system and Oriental cultural values to the abso-
lutist system of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.1 In daily practice, it meant
that Bosnia and Herzegovina, where many buildings, mosques, bridges and
other significant architectural monuments of the Ottoman culture, was to
turn toward social and cultural trends promoted by Vienna and Budapest.
In the contexts of musical life, the departure of Ottomans and the begin-
ning of the Austro-Hungarian occupation initiated by the decision of the
25th Congress of Berlin meant that the musical life of Sarajevo, which pre-
viously relied upon the Bosnian and Herzegovinian folk music (sevdalin
ka), Turkish military bands mehterhanas, and the shadow theatre (karađoz)
1 Noel Malcom, Bosna: kratka povijest (Sarajevo: Buybook, 2011), 120–1.
143
Visits of Vienna choral societies to Sarajevo
– an occasion for redefining local societies’
concert activity in the late 19th century?
Lana Šehović
University of Sarajevo
Introductory remarks about the circumstances of Sarajevo
musical life in the late 19th century
Sarajevo musical life at the turn of the century was shaped by socio-polit-
ical changes that included the change of political powers – the Ottoman
Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire on the Bosnian soil. After more
than four centuries of the Ottoman administration (1463–1878), Bosnia and
Herzegovina was occupied by Austro-Hungary, which would stay there for
40 years (1878–1918). The change of authorities led to a complete transfigu-
ration of the political, social and cultural circumstances, which implied the
shift from the Timar feudal system and Oriental cultural values to the abso-
lutist system of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.1 In daily practice, it meant
that Bosnia and Herzegovina, where many buildings, mosques, bridges and
other significant architectural monuments of the Ottoman culture, was to
turn toward social and cultural trends promoted by Vienna and Budapest.
In the contexts of musical life, the departure of Ottomans and the begin-
ning of the Austro-Hungarian occupation initiated by the decision of the
25th Congress of Berlin meant that the musical life of Sarajevo, which pre-
viously relied upon the Bosnian and Herzegovinian folk music (sevdalin
ka), Turkish military bands mehterhanas, and the shadow theatre (karađoz)
1 Noel Malcom, Bosna: kratka povijest (Sarajevo: Buybook, 2011), 120–1.
143
