Page 346 - 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
ic Society, soloist and conductor of the Philharmonic in chamber concerts
and at various charity events, Gerstner performed in 12 to 15 concerts a year,
totalling nearly 600 in all. As a soloist and chamber musician, he partici-
pated in more than 200 concerts of the Society.29
By 1919, more than 40 immigrant musicians were employed by the So-
ciety as orchestral directors (concertmasters), Kapellmeisters (conductors),
choirmasters, and teachers, and they participated in more than 1,200 ma-
jor concerts held by the Society. The majority of the Philharmonic Socie-
ty’s musicians were born in Vienna and the Czech lands.30 A smaller group
of musicians was born beyond the borders of the Austrian Empire, such as
in Rorschach (CH), Meiningen (DE), and Lichtenstein (DE), and even in
distant cities as far as Jeglava (LV) and Odessa (UA). They usually did not
come directly from their hometowns in the empire, but from cities where
they had previously worked. In general, the Philharmonic Society in Lju-
bljana attracted mainly young, unknown musicians who were still at the
beginning of their careers. Many of them sought employment in Ljublja-
na in their mid- to late twenties, the youngest even immediately after com-
pleting their studies at the conservatories in Prague, Vienna and Leipzig.
Musicians often spent only a short time in Ljubljana before finding bet-
ter employment opportunities elsewhere. Only a few musicians settled and
fully integrated into the new cultural environment in which they worked,
in some cases for several decades, as in the case of Hans Gerstner, who lived
in Ljubljana for almost 70 years. Sometimes matters of the heart (and en-
suing marriages) were the primary reason for capable musicians to stay in
Ljubljana. Occasionally, women who were musicians’ themselves joined an
already musically active spouse, as in the case of the pianist Friederike Ben-
esch and the singer Amalie Maschek.
The National Reading Society (Ljubljanska narodna čitalnica)
The nationally conscious Slovenian enthusiasts took up the United Slove-
nia (Zedinjena Slovenija) programme as early as 1848 and developed read-
29 The data were collected from more than 1200 transliterated concert programmes of
the Philharmonic Society. I would like to thank Špela Lah for her help.
30 The following Society’s musicians were from the Czech Lands: Joseph Jellemnitzky
(Bílí Újezd), Joseph Benesch (Batelov), Caspar Maschek (Prague), Karl Paul Seifert
(Teplice), Franz Löhrl (Žatice), Anton Nedvěd (Hořovice), Hans Gerstner (Žlutice),
Georg Stiaral (Zadní Třebaň), Karl Bitsch (Malá Moravka), Rudolf Paulus (Do-
mažlice), Josef Kaspárek (Rožmitál pod Třemšínem), Josef Sklenář (Hředle), Gustav
Moravec (Hlinsko).
344
ic Society, soloist and conductor of the Philharmonic in chamber concerts
and at various charity events, Gerstner performed in 12 to 15 concerts a year,
totalling nearly 600 in all. As a soloist and chamber musician, he partici-
pated in more than 200 concerts of the Society.29
By 1919, more than 40 immigrant musicians were employed by the So-
ciety as orchestral directors (concertmasters), Kapellmeisters (conductors),
choirmasters, and teachers, and they participated in more than 1,200 ma-
jor concerts held by the Society. The majority of the Philharmonic Socie-
ty’s musicians were born in Vienna and the Czech lands.30 A smaller group
of musicians was born beyond the borders of the Austrian Empire, such as
in Rorschach (CH), Meiningen (DE), and Lichtenstein (DE), and even in
distant cities as far as Jeglava (LV) and Odessa (UA). They usually did not
come directly from their hometowns in the empire, but from cities where
they had previously worked. In general, the Philharmonic Society in Lju-
bljana attracted mainly young, unknown musicians who were still at the
beginning of their careers. Many of them sought employment in Ljublja-
na in their mid- to late twenties, the youngest even immediately after com-
pleting their studies at the conservatories in Prague, Vienna and Leipzig.
Musicians often spent only a short time in Ljubljana before finding bet-
ter employment opportunities elsewhere. Only a few musicians settled and
fully integrated into the new cultural environment in which they worked,
in some cases for several decades, as in the case of Hans Gerstner, who lived
in Ljubljana for almost 70 years. Sometimes matters of the heart (and en-
suing marriages) were the primary reason for capable musicians to stay in
Ljubljana. Occasionally, women who were musicians’ themselves joined an
already musically active spouse, as in the case of the pianist Friederike Ben-
esch and the singer Amalie Maschek.
The National Reading Society (Ljubljanska narodna čitalnica)
The nationally conscious Slovenian enthusiasts took up the United Slove-
nia (Zedinjena Slovenija) programme as early as 1848 and developed read-
29 The data were collected from more than 1200 transliterated concert programmes of
the Philharmonic Society. I would like to thank Špela Lah for her help.
30 The following Society’s musicians were from the Czech Lands: Joseph Jellemnitzky
(Bílí Újezd), Joseph Benesch (Batelov), Caspar Maschek (Prague), Karl Paul Seifert
(Teplice), Franz Löhrl (Žatice), Anton Nedvěd (Hořovice), Hans Gerstner (Žlutice),
Georg Stiaral (Zadní Třebaň), Karl Bitsch (Malá Moravka), Rudolf Paulus (Do-
mažlice), Josef Kaspárek (Rožmitál pod Třemšínem), Josef Sklenář (Hředle), Gustav
Moravec (Hlinsko).
344
