Page 247 - 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. 247
the foundation of a free state is a free (music) association? continuity and change ...
In conclusion, I would like to come back to the Associations’ Act from
1867, which for its addressees announced key changes promised by the rev-
olutionary year 1848: freedom of association and that of assembly. Having
presented the five cases, introduced at the very beginning by quotations
from the legal life and tradition of several music corpora from Vienna and
Ljubljana in the long 19th century from the select points of view, tailored to
the notion of ‘association’ synchronically and diachronically, and above all,
led by the newly found archival material, here are some of the answers to
the two main research questions.
To the first question, as to what extent was the notion of association it-
self redefined by the 1867 Act, one must say that the most obvious differ-
ence in principle between any pre- and post-1867 associations – still largely
under the unaltered names be it Verein or Gesselschaft, družba or društvo,
Associazione, Società –, was the exclusion of the profit-oriented ones from
the overall umbrella notion. Most of the other necessary elements, or better,
criteria of permanence, of a common goal in favour of the association, and
of a voluntary membership remained unaltered. However, if there was one
element that one would expect from the 1867 Act adopted under the ban-
ner of liberality, to be significantly altered was that of a substantial reduc-
tion of the authorities’ right to supervision and intervention. At best, the
change in this direction can be assessed as partial, for it only concerned the
freedom of association and the adoption of the so-called application mod-
el in lieu of the concession one. The freedom of assembly continued to be
shortcut by virtually the same mechanisms of authorities’ right to supervi-
sion and intervention, known from previous decades under the absolutist
ruler. The idea of self-management in the everyday life of an association as
we know it today was still far from achieved. It is from the point of view of
different strategies of adaptation to this legal reality by the associations se-
lected for this contribution, that further conclusions to the second question
can be drawn.
If on the one hand, the Philharmonic Society in Ljubljana, which with
its predecessors predates any systematic state regulation on associations by
several decades, in the course of the 19th century followed diligently any
new regulation the state may have introduced by altering its Statutes, the
prepared a concert program, featuring a string of Jeraj’s short pieces for soprano and
piano, arranged for strings by Hvala and beautifully performed by Nika Gorič, to-
gether with Gondoljera (published in Novi akordi 4, no. 1 (1902): 69–71, http://www.
dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:doc-R2Q1OBI6), in Hvala’s arrangement, as well, a part
of later Jeraj’s most elaborate work, the melodram Lepa Vida.
245
In conclusion, I would like to come back to the Associations’ Act from
1867, which for its addressees announced key changes promised by the rev-
olutionary year 1848: freedom of association and that of assembly. Having
presented the five cases, introduced at the very beginning by quotations
from the legal life and tradition of several music corpora from Vienna and
Ljubljana in the long 19th century from the select points of view, tailored to
the notion of ‘association’ synchronically and diachronically, and above all,
led by the newly found archival material, here are some of the answers to
the two main research questions.
To the first question, as to what extent was the notion of association it-
self redefined by the 1867 Act, one must say that the most obvious differ-
ence in principle between any pre- and post-1867 associations – still largely
under the unaltered names be it Verein or Gesselschaft, družba or društvo,
Associazione, Società –, was the exclusion of the profit-oriented ones from
the overall umbrella notion. Most of the other necessary elements, or better,
criteria of permanence, of a common goal in favour of the association, and
of a voluntary membership remained unaltered. However, if there was one
element that one would expect from the 1867 Act adopted under the ban-
ner of liberality, to be significantly altered was that of a substantial reduc-
tion of the authorities’ right to supervision and intervention. At best, the
change in this direction can be assessed as partial, for it only concerned the
freedom of association and the adoption of the so-called application mod-
el in lieu of the concession one. The freedom of assembly continued to be
shortcut by virtually the same mechanisms of authorities’ right to supervi-
sion and intervention, known from previous decades under the absolutist
ruler. The idea of self-management in the everyday life of an association as
we know it today was still far from achieved. It is from the point of view of
different strategies of adaptation to this legal reality by the associations se-
lected for this contribution, that further conclusions to the second question
can be drawn.
If on the one hand, the Philharmonic Society in Ljubljana, which with
its predecessors predates any systematic state regulation on associations by
several decades, in the course of the 19th century followed diligently any
new regulation the state may have introduced by altering its Statutes, the
prepared a concert program, featuring a string of Jeraj’s short pieces for soprano and
piano, arranged for strings by Hvala and beautifully performed by Nika Gorič, to-
gether with Gondoljera (published in Novi akordi 4, no. 1 (1902): 69–71, http://www.
dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:doc-R2Q1OBI6), in Hvala’s arrangement, as well, a part
of later Jeraj’s most elaborate work, the melodram Lepa Vida.
245
