Page 245 - 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. 245
the foundation of a free state is a free (music) association? continuity and change ...
handwritten in German.72 They are preserved in NUK. 73 A born and edu-
cated Viennese, Jeraj was certainly a Slovenian by conviction (and from fa-
ther’s side of the family), but not by (mother’s) tongue. To my surprise, the
Erinnerungen in any of the versions never until then made their way back to
the community of Jeraj’s former colleagues, to the shared memory of who,
together with their illustrious conductors, composers and soloists such as
Mahler, Dvořak or Caruso on the Christmas day in 1938, Jeraj wrote them
in the first place.
From the perspective of a member of an association with a long and
prestigious tradition – for this purpose regardless of its later formal re-
structuring – I would especially like to draw the attention to a very specific
event. To my knowledge, it has not yet been dealt with in the Slovenian lit-
erature at all, even though showcased in the history of the Vienna Philhar-
monic by Clemens Hellsberg.74
On June 12, 1914, towards the end of the session of the association’s
general assembly, Jeraj took to the floor, and expressed his protest in the
light of a performance by some of his colleagues at events, celebrating Ger-
man national feelings a few weeks before. According to the minutes pre-
served, his words provoked a thunderous response by virtually everyone in
the orchestra, accusing him of inciting national differentiation. Despite Jer-
aj’s apologies, voices to exclude him from the association were not appeased
until a couple of weeks later, after the fatal shots in Sarajevo, and the death
of the archduke Franz Ferdinand. Given the later history of Vienna Phil-
harmonic, for Hellsberg this event (i. e. the Jeraj case) symbolically foretold
the future events.75
It is difficult to assess to what extent the event still played on Jeraj’s
mind in 1918 and in consequence helped to persuade him into accepting the
72 The original version in German is somewhat longer. The most obvious difference
from the point of view of content is the lack of the short vignette on Arthur Rubin-
stein in the Slovenian version. This might be explained by the fact that the Slovenian
version was published in the newspaper Jutro in 1944, i. e. during the II World War
in the Nazi occupied Ljubljana.
73 I would like to thank Lidija Podlesnik Tomášik from NUK Music Collection first for
her help with the Erinnerungen, and later, for the purpose of this contribution, es-
pecially with the archival material on Orkestralno društvo, first Slovenian Philhar-
monic and Philharmonic Society, kept in the Collection.
74 Hellsberg, Demokratie, 386–7.
75 Ibid., 387.
243
handwritten in German.72 They are preserved in NUK. 73 A born and edu-
cated Viennese, Jeraj was certainly a Slovenian by conviction (and from fa-
ther’s side of the family), but not by (mother’s) tongue. To my surprise, the
Erinnerungen in any of the versions never until then made their way back to
the community of Jeraj’s former colleagues, to the shared memory of who,
together with their illustrious conductors, composers and soloists such as
Mahler, Dvořak or Caruso on the Christmas day in 1938, Jeraj wrote them
in the first place.
From the perspective of a member of an association with a long and
prestigious tradition – for this purpose regardless of its later formal re-
structuring – I would especially like to draw the attention to a very specific
event. To my knowledge, it has not yet been dealt with in the Slovenian lit-
erature at all, even though showcased in the history of the Vienna Philhar-
monic by Clemens Hellsberg.74
On June 12, 1914, towards the end of the session of the association’s
general assembly, Jeraj took to the floor, and expressed his protest in the
light of a performance by some of his colleagues at events, celebrating Ger-
man national feelings a few weeks before. According to the minutes pre-
served, his words provoked a thunderous response by virtually everyone in
the orchestra, accusing him of inciting national differentiation. Despite Jer-
aj’s apologies, voices to exclude him from the association were not appeased
until a couple of weeks later, after the fatal shots in Sarajevo, and the death
of the archduke Franz Ferdinand. Given the later history of Vienna Phil-
harmonic, for Hellsberg this event (i. e. the Jeraj case) symbolically foretold
the future events.75
It is difficult to assess to what extent the event still played on Jeraj’s
mind in 1918 and in consequence helped to persuade him into accepting the
72 The original version in German is somewhat longer. The most obvious difference
from the point of view of content is the lack of the short vignette on Arthur Rubin-
stein in the Slovenian version. This might be explained by the fact that the Slovenian
version was published in the newspaper Jutro in 1944, i. e. during the II World War
in the Nazi occupied Ljubljana.
73 I would like to thank Lidija Podlesnik Tomášik from NUK Music Collection first for
her help with the Erinnerungen, and later, for the purpose of this contribution, es-
pecially with the archival material on Orkestralno društvo, first Slovenian Philhar-
monic and Philharmonic Society, kept in the Collection.
74 Hellsberg, Demokratie, 386–7.
75 Ibid., 387.
243
