Page 170 - 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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glasbena društva v dolgem 19. stoletju: med ljubiteljsko in profesionalno kulturo
ty “Kolo” (Pjevačko društvo ‘Kolo’) in Šibenik, a city on the Croatian coast.
After the Second World War, the folklore ensemble in Belgrade, which still
operates today, was named “Kolo” (Ansambl pesama i narodnih igara Srbije
“Kolo”). The word kolo means wheel, and in a broader sense a circle-shaped
object that rotates around an axis. It is more important, however, that kolo
is one of the basic dances, not only among Croats, but also in general, a
group dance in a circle, which here symbolizes unity. Due to the use of this
word associated with folk music, it was a particularly apt name for a singing
society that openly advocated for national Croatian interests.
GM –The society Glasbena matica has no English translation. In the
first statute, the second word was written with a capital letter (Matica), anal-
ogous to the rules of the German language. Let us dwell briefly on the word
matica, which means the same in Slovenian and Croatian: cultural society
or organization. The root of the word is mother (mati). In the national re-
vival, in 1842, a cultural society Matica hrvatska was founded in Zagreb.6
Some twenty years later (in 1864), the Slovenska matica was founded in Lju-
bljana. It still exists today, and is engaged primarily in publishing books.
There are other meanings of matica in both languages, i. e. in mechan-
ical engineering it means a hollow roller with internal threads (nut); in zo-
ology of social insects (bees, wasps, ants) it is a female that lays eggs from
which young insects lay. However, the following meanings are more im-
portant for this topic: the main, the central, the strongest current in a wa-
ter flow or a river; a book in which certain data are systematically entered,
a registry book; a thing that is central, around which other segments gath-
er or from what they originate. Or, as we read in the Croatian Encyclopedia:
in the age of national revival movements of the Slavic peoples in the
19th century, the name for cultural institutions, i. e. societies that
promoted the national and cultural identity of their nation by pub
lishing books and magazines.7
The Glasbena matica has thus taken over the already common word
for a cultural society. The geographical indication “Ljubljana” was a usual
addition to the society’s location, and was later useful to distinguish it from
the Matica’s branches in other towns.
6 Official English translation is actually in Latin: Matrix Croatica (matrix = female
parent, queen bee).
7 Anon., “matica,” Hrvatska enciklopedija, online edition (Zagreb: Leksikograf-
ski zavod Miroslav Krleža, 2021), http://www.enciklopedija.hr/Natuknica.aspx-
?ID=39429.
168
ty “Kolo” (Pjevačko društvo ‘Kolo’) in Šibenik, a city on the Croatian coast.
After the Second World War, the folklore ensemble in Belgrade, which still
operates today, was named “Kolo” (Ansambl pesama i narodnih igara Srbije
“Kolo”). The word kolo means wheel, and in a broader sense a circle-shaped
object that rotates around an axis. It is more important, however, that kolo
is one of the basic dances, not only among Croats, but also in general, a
group dance in a circle, which here symbolizes unity. Due to the use of this
word associated with folk music, it was a particularly apt name for a singing
society that openly advocated for national Croatian interests.
GM –The society Glasbena matica has no English translation. In the
first statute, the second word was written with a capital letter (Matica), anal-
ogous to the rules of the German language. Let us dwell briefly on the word
matica, which means the same in Slovenian and Croatian: cultural society
or organization. The root of the word is mother (mati). In the national re-
vival, in 1842, a cultural society Matica hrvatska was founded in Zagreb.6
Some twenty years later (in 1864), the Slovenska matica was founded in Lju-
bljana. It still exists today, and is engaged primarily in publishing books.
There are other meanings of matica in both languages, i. e. in mechan-
ical engineering it means a hollow roller with internal threads (nut); in zo-
ology of social insects (bees, wasps, ants) it is a female that lays eggs from
which young insects lay. However, the following meanings are more im-
portant for this topic: the main, the central, the strongest current in a wa-
ter flow or a river; a book in which certain data are systematically entered,
a registry book; a thing that is central, around which other segments gath-
er or from what they originate. Or, as we read in the Croatian Encyclopedia:
in the age of national revival movements of the Slavic peoples in the
19th century, the name for cultural institutions, i. e. societies that
promoted the national and cultural identity of their nation by pub
lishing books and magazines.7
The Glasbena matica has thus taken over the already common word
for a cultural society. The geographical indication “Ljubljana” was a usual
addition to the society’s location, and was later useful to distinguish it from
the Matica’s branches in other towns.
6 Official English translation is actually in Latin: Matrix Croatica (matrix = female
parent, queen bee).
7 Anon., “matica,” Hrvatska enciklopedija, online edition (Zagreb: Leksikograf-
ski zavod Miroslav Krleža, 2021), http://www.enciklopedija.hr/Natuknica.aspx-
?ID=39429.
168
