Page 221 - 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. 221
the foundation of a free state is a free (music) association? continuity and change ...
(i. e. Associations’ Act of 1867) until 1908. What is more, even then, it only
actually happened upon the gentle indirect coercion by the courts. How-
ever, with respect to the Vienna Philharmonic, and contrary to Hellsberg’s
view, I intend to show, first, that Vienna Philharmonic did exist in a “ juris
tisch existierende form”12 before 1908, only in one, inherently different from
the association as we understand it post 1867 until today. Second, touch-
ing upon the workings of the 1867 Association Act directly, I will also pres-
ent my thesis on why it may have been that the reconfiguration process into
a form of an association in the sense of the Act in 1872, despite having al-
ready been agreed upon among the members of the Orchestra, was not af-
terwards carried through.
In the following two introductory quotations, I evoke first, the process
of the merger of Ljubljanska društvena godba (Laibacher Vereinskapelle)
with Glasbena matica before the I. World War and the intriguing advice by
a reputed jurist that the legal link between them should be as loose as pos-
sible. The one that follows afterwards is the case of Orkestralno društvo
[Orchestral Association], an orchestra of largely amateurs founded under
the umbrella of Glasbena matica several years later, right after the break-
up of the old Monarchy. I will argue that the curious fate of the Orkestral-
no društvo was to the large extent determined by the fact that the main
spiritus agens behind the beginnings of this music corpus, Karel Jeraj, in
1919 having come to Ljubljana from Vienna, was never really accepted by
the circle of the influential personalities of the Ljubljana music life. I will
demonstrate that consequently and with a tinge of slight irony, Orkestralno
društvo, contrary to its very name [Orchestral Association], under which
it continues to appear in the musicological literature to this day, never met
the legal criteria, necessary to become an association in the sense of 1867
Act in its own right.
Last but certainly not least, I would like to shed new light onto the per-
sonality of Karel Jeraj himself, especially onto his two decades with Vien-
na Philharmonic (1901–1919),13 from 1908 along with all his fellow orchestra
Tradition. A short History of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (Wien: Amalthea
Verlag, 2017).
12 Hellsberg, Demokratie, 368 (as if in the initial quotation).
13 Judging from the dates on the contract between Karel Jeraj and the Court (later
State) Opera, his employment with this iconic institution lasted from February 26,
1901, until April 30, 1919. AT-OeStA/HHStA, HA Oper, SR 70-155. As Jeraj passed
the very demanding selection process to become also a Philharmoniker right after
that, it is fair to take these dates also as the dates of this parallel and much sought
after career. In his short biography, Jeraj’s counting of the years, amounting to two
219
(i. e. Associations’ Act of 1867) until 1908. What is more, even then, it only
actually happened upon the gentle indirect coercion by the courts. How-
ever, with respect to the Vienna Philharmonic, and contrary to Hellsberg’s
view, I intend to show, first, that Vienna Philharmonic did exist in a “ juris
tisch existierende form”12 before 1908, only in one, inherently different from
the association as we understand it post 1867 until today. Second, touch-
ing upon the workings of the 1867 Association Act directly, I will also pres-
ent my thesis on why it may have been that the reconfiguration process into
a form of an association in the sense of the Act in 1872, despite having al-
ready been agreed upon among the members of the Orchestra, was not af-
terwards carried through.
In the following two introductory quotations, I evoke first, the process
of the merger of Ljubljanska društvena godba (Laibacher Vereinskapelle)
with Glasbena matica before the I. World War and the intriguing advice by
a reputed jurist that the legal link between them should be as loose as pos-
sible. The one that follows afterwards is the case of Orkestralno društvo
[Orchestral Association], an orchestra of largely amateurs founded under
the umbrella of Glasbena matica several years later, right after the break-
up of the old Monarchy. I will argue that the curious fate of the Orkestral-
no društvo was to the large extent determined by the fact that the main
spiritus agens behind the beginnings of this music corpus, Karel Jeraj, in
1919 having come to Ljubljana from Vienna, was never really accepted by
the circle of the influential personalities of the Ljubljana music life. I will
demonstrate that consequently and with a tinge of slight irony, Orkestralno
društvo, contrary to its very name [Orchestral Association], under which
it continues to appear in the musicological literature to this day, never met
the legal criteria, necessary to become an association in the sense of 1867
Act in its own right.
Last but certainly not least, I would like to shed new light onto the per-
sonality of Karel Jeraj himself, especially onto his two decades with Vien-
na Philharmonic (1901–1919),13 from 1908 along with all his fellow orchestra
Tradition. A short History of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (Wien: Amalthea
Verlag, 2017).
12 Hellsberg, Demokratie, 368 (as if in the initial quotation).
13 Judging from the dates on the contract between Karel Jeraj and the Court (later
State) Opera, his employment with this iconic institution lasted from February 26,
1901, until April 30, 1919. AT-OeStA/HHStA, HA Oper, SR 70-155. As Jeraj passed
the very demanding selection process to become also a Philharmoniker right after
that, it is fair to take these dates also as the dates of this parallel and much sought
after career. In his short biography, Jeraj’s counting of the years, amounting to two
219
