Page 379 - 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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the role and contribution of immigrant musicians to the music societies ...
harmonic Association, as performers, conductors, composers, and teach-
ers. With few exceptions, the musicians of the association were immi-
grants, mostly from Bohemia and Austrian cities, who studied mainly in
Prague and Vienna. As teachers at the Maribor Philharmonic Association,
they made a significant contribution to music education by modernizing
the curriculum, raising the level of instruction, and introducing individ-
ual instrumental lessons. Between 1882 and 1913, they gave more than 200
concerts. Their concert programmes included overtures or shorter works
for orchestra, supplemented by concertos for violin, piano or cello with or-
chestral accompaniment, chamber music works and works for various vo-
cal ensembles.
Musical Life in Ptuj
In the late eighteenth century, music in Ptuj was cultivated by the local no-
bility, the theatre, the Church of St. George, and brass bands under the aus-
pices of the Civic Guard.188 The insights we can gain into the musical ac-
tivity of the local nobility are partly due to the rich collection of musical
manuscripts and printed secular instrumental compositions, which prob-
ably originated in the castles around Ptuj.189 Music was also present in the
town in the context of theatrical performances. The theatre building in Ptuj
was built in 1786 by the local nobility as well as merchants and craftsmen.
The performances were organized by the local Association of Dilletantes
(Dilettantenverein).190 In 1826, the first guest theatre troupe performed op-
erettas. Later, the theatre groups, which usually stayed in the town for one
or more years, were touring groups from Celje, Maribor and Varaždin. Be-
sides serious and classical works, burlesques, farcical comedies and oper-
ettas were also performed, and occasionally an opera. The theatrical per-
188 Towards the end of the eighteenth century, Ptuj received a civic cavalry corps, the
Uniformed Civic Cavalry Corps (Das Uniformirte bürgliche Cavallerie Corps). The
Civic Guard traditionally had its own brass band, and the military brass band was
also part of the corps. Civic Corps brass band activity increased towards the end of
the eighteenth century and peaked in the 1830s when the brass band was disband-
ed. In 1848, a National Guard was formed with a brass band, which was disbanded
in 1851, when it officially ceased to exist for several years. See: Ferdinand Raisp, Pet
tau Steiermarks älteste Stadt und ihre Umgebung, topographisch-historisch geschil
dert (Graz: A. Leykam, 1958), 194–211; Alenka Bagarič, “Ptujsko glasbeno društvo v
letih 1878–1882” (Bachelor’s thesis, Univerza v Ljubljani, 1999), 14–5.
189 Janez Höfler and Ivan Klemenčič, Glasbeni rokopisi in tiski na Slovenskem do leta
1800, catalogue (Ljubljana, Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, 1967).
190 Raisp, Pettau Steiermarks älteste Stadt, 239.
377
harmonic Association, as performers, conductors, composers, and teach-
ers. With few exceptions, the musicians of the association were immi-
grants, mostly from Bohemia and Austrian cities, who studied mainly in
Prague and Vienna. As teachers at the Maribor Philharmonic Association,
they made a significant contribution to music education by modernizing
the curriculum, raising the level of instruction, and introducing individ-
ual instrumental lessons. Between 1882 and 1913, they gave more than 200
concerts. Their concert programmes included overtures or shorter works
for orchestra, supplemented by concertos for violin, piano or cello with or-
chestral accompaniment, chamber music works and works for various vo-
cal ensembles.
Musical Life in Ptuj
In the late eighteenth century, music in Ptuj was cultivated by the local no-
bility, the theatre, the Church of St. George, and brass bands under the aus-
pices of the Civic Guard.188 The insights we can gain into the musical ac-
tivity of the local nobility are partly due to the rich collection of musical
manuscripts and printed secular instrumental compositions, which prob-
ably originated in the castles around Ptuj.189 Music was also present in the
town in the context of theatrical performances. The theatre building in Ptuj
was built in 1786 by the local nobility as well as merchants and craftsmen.
The performances were organized by the local Association of Dilletantes
(Dilettantenverein).190 In 1826, the first guest theatre troupe performed op-
erettas. Later, the theatre groups, which usually stayed in the town for one
or more years, were touring groups from Celje, Maribor and Varaždin. Be-
sides serious and classical works, burlesques, farcical comedies and oper-
ettas were also performed, and occasionally an opera. The theatrical per-
188 Towards the end of the eighteenth century, Ptuj received a civic cavalry corps, the
Uniformed Civic Cavalry Corps (Das Uniformirte bürgliche Cavallerie Corps). The
Civic Guard traditionally had its own brass band, and the military brass band was
also part of the corps. Civic Corps brass band activity increased towards the end of
the eighteenth century and peaked in the 1830s when the brass band was disband-
ed. In 1848, a National Guard was formed with a brass band, which was disbanded
in 1851, when it officially ceased to exist for several years. See: Ferdinand Raisp, Pet
tau Steiermarks älteste Stadt und ihre Umgebung, topographisch-historisch geschil
dert (Graz: A. Leykam, 1958), 194–211; Alenka Bagarič, “Ptujsko glasbeno društvo v
letih 1878–1882” (Bachelor’s thesis, Univerza v Ljubljani, 1999), 14–5.
189 Janez Höfler and Ivan Klemenčič, Glasbeni rokopisi in tiski na Slovenskem do leta
1800, catalogue (Ljubljana, Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, 1967).
190 Raisp, Pettau Steiermarks älteste Stadt, 239.
377