Page 168 - 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. 168
glasbena društva v dolgem 19. stoletju: med ljubiteljsko in profesionalno kulturo
time the leading musician in Zagreb. He was also a good lawyer and was fa-
miliar with the statute of the Philharmonic Society. 5
“Kolo” – The Croatian Singing Society “Kolo” was founded in 1862, 35
years after the Croatian Music Institute, in other political circumstances.
Even today, some historians claim that the main reason for the foundation
of the “Kolo” was a reaction to the policy of the Musikverein (the Croatian
Music Institute), where German language was in use in the music school,
and German music was dominant. Those were the times of intensive Ger-
manisation in Croatia. The decade 1850–1860 in Croatia was marked by the
administration of Alexander Bach, who was then the Austrian Minister
of internal affairs (so-called “neo-absolutism”, in the Croatian history re-
ferred to as “Bach’s absolutism”). After the year 1860, the political and cul-
tural life in Croatia was revived, and many singing societies were founded.
The majority of singing societies from different parts of Croatia would in
1875 unite into the Croatian Singing Association (Hrvatski pjevački savez).
GM – In 1867, Austria and Hungary divided the empire. Since then,
Zagreb, like other places in continental Croatia, belonged to the Hungar-
ian part, while Ljubljana as a town in Slovenia, belonged to the Austrian
part, together with, interestingly, the Croatian coastal province Dalmatia.
Slovenia was in similar position as Croatia regarding Germanisation. The
Philharmonic Society in Ljubljana was German-oriented and didn’t nur-
ture Slovenian music, so the Glasbena matica took the opposite side, fight-
ing for the national Slovenian culture. It was the role similar to the one of
the “Kolo” in Croatia, but with an important difference: the other music so-
ciety in Zagreb, the Croatian Music Institute, was not German-oriented, al-
though it was often accused of it.
Name
CMI – The second criterion of comparison is the name of the society, from
which we can draw some interesting conclusions. In 1827, when the stand-
5 I have done research on the history of the Croatian Music Institute compared to the
Philharmonic Society: Nada Bezić, “Hrvaški glasbeni zavod v Zagrebu in Filhar-
monična družba v Ljubljani – primerjava in kontakti,” in Ob 300. obletnici ustano
vitve Academiae philharmonicorum labacensium in 100. obletnici rojstva skladatelja
Blaža Arniča (Slovenski glasbeni dnevi), ed. Primož Kuret (Ljubljana: Festival, 2001),
75–82; and research on Glasbena matica and Croatian Music Institute conservato-
ries: Nada Bezić, “Konservatorij Hrvaškega glasbenega zavoda v Zagrebu in kon-
servatorij Glasbene matice v Ljubljani – primerjava,” in Konservatoriji: profesiona
lizacija in specializacija glasbenega dela, ed. Jernej Weiss (Koper, Ljubljana: Založba
Univerze na Primorskem, Festival, 2020), 355–68.
166
time the leading musician in Zagreb. He was also a good lawyer and was fa-
miliar with the statute of the Philharmonic Society. 5
“Kolo” – The Croatian Singing Society “Kolo” was founded in 1862, 35
years after the Croatian Music Institute, in other political circumstances.
Even today, some historians claim that the main reason for the foundation
of the “Kolo” was a reaction to the policy of the Musikverein (the Croatian
Music Institute), where German language was in use in the music school,
and German music was dominant. Those were the times of intensive Ger-
manisation in Croatia. The decade 1850–1860 in Croatia was marked by the
administration of Alexander Bach, who was then the Austrian Minister
of internal affairs (so-called “neo-absolutism”, in the Croatian history re-
ferred to as “Bach’s absolutism”). After the year 1860, the political and cul-
tural life in Croatia was revived, and many singing societies were founded.
The majority of singing societies from different parts of Croatia would in
1875 unite into the Croatian Singing Association (Hrvatski pjevački savez).
GM – In 1867, Austria and Hungary divided the empire. Since then,
Zagreb, like other places in continental Croatia, belonged to the Hungar-
ian part, while Ljubljana as a town in Slovenia, belonged to the Austrian
part, together with, interestingly, the Croatian coastal province Dalmatia.
Slovenia was in similar position as Croatia regarding Germanisation. The
Philharmonic Society in Ljubljana was German-oriented and didn’t nur-
ture Slovenian music, so the Glasbena matica took the opposite side, fight-
ing for the national Slovenian culture. It was the role similar to the one of
the “Kolo” in Croatia, but with an important difference: the other music so-
ciety in Zagreb, the Croatian Music Institute, was not German-oriented, al-
though it was often accused of it.
Name
CMI – The second criterion of comparison is the name of the society, from
which we can draw some interesting conclusions. In 1827, when the stand-
5 I have done research on the history of the Croatian Music Institute compared to the
Philharmonic Society: Nada Bezić, “Hrvaški glasbeni zavod v Zagrebu in Filhar-
monična družba v Ljubljani – primerjava in kontakti,” in Ob 300. obletnici ustano
vitve Academiae philharmonicorum labacensium in 100. obletnici rojstva skladatelja
Blaža Arniča (Slovenski glasbeni dnevi), ed. Primož Kuret (Ljubljana: Festival, 2001),
75–82; and research on Glasbena matica and Croatian Music Institute conservato-
ries: Nada Bezić, “Konservatorij Hrvaškega glasbenega zavoda v Zagrebu in kon-
servatorij Glasbene matice v Ljubljani – primerjava,” in Konservatoriji: profesiona
lizacija in specializacija glasbenega dela, ed. Jernej Weiss (Koper, Ljubljana: Založba
Univerze na Primorskem, Festival, 2020), 355–68.
166
