Page 178 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2024. Glasbena kritika – nekoč in danes ▪︎ Music Criticism – Yesterday and Today. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 7
P. 178
glasbena kritika – nekoč in danes | music criticism – yesterday and today
ers – you and me. Do you know what’s new? Quietly, quietly, so that no
one hears!24
Since the beginning of publication of the Svjetlo newspaper in 1884, we
have found detailed reviews and musical reviews of concerts in Karlovac
that go a step further than the impression of the performance itself. Thus,
already in the second issue of Svjetlo 1884, an unsigned reporter critically
reviews the concert of the Singing Society “Zora” held on New Year’s Eve
1883. The author reviews not only the quality of the performance of certain
points of the program, the precision of the choir’s intonation, but also the
compositions themselves, as well as the quality of the rendition of the Ger-
man text into Croatian.25 In this sense, in the newspaper Sloga, the contri-
butions signed by D. L. [probably by Dušan Lopašić, op. L. K.] from 1887
should be highlighted, which very precisely dissect individual points of the
concert program, emphasizing that everything was written with the best
intentions. However, for Zora’s “humorous concert” on 5 February 1887, he
concludes: “That’s how we evaluated that ‘humorous’ concert. There was lit-
tle humour and little ‘concert’, as well.”26
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the death of the Croatian
composer Dora Pejačević (1885–1923), let us also mention that in 1904 the
citizens of Karlovac also had the opportunity to hear her compositions.
Namely, on his tour the Czech violinist Jaroslav Kocián (1883–1950), a stu-
dent of Otakar Ševčik, played, among other things, two of the countess’s
compositions: Canzonetta and Menuetto (probably op. 8 and op. 18, the lat-
ter dedicated to Kocian).27 At the concert held on 26 January 1904 in the
Zorin-dom (Zora’s Hall) “without previous noise, without any advertising,”
as stated by Svjetlo, he played an extensive program in front of a full hall
accompanied by the Italian pianist Tullio Voghera (1879–1943) and delight-
ed both with his technical skill and his interpretation. For Dora Pejačević’s
compositions, the author of the review wrote that “the songs [...] are quite
24 “Ajde da opet šurujemo, da se uhvatimo u liepo kolo, da stavimo glavu uz glavu, pak
da vam šapnem koju u uho. Al samo vi, mile čitalice – vi i ja. Al znate šta nova? Tiho,
tiho, da nitko nečuje!,” Anon., “Karlovačke pošurice,” Glasonoša 4, no. 18 (1 May
1864): 2–3.
25 Anon., “Koncert ‘Zore’,” Svjetlo 1, no. 2 (3 January 1884): 1.
26 D. L., “Šaljivi koncert ‘Zore’,” Sloga 2, no. 7 (13 February 1887): 3.
27 Koraljka Kos, Dora Pejačević (Zagreb: JAZU, Muzikološki zavod Muzičke akademi-
je, 1982), 189–90.
178
ers – you and me. Do you know what’s new? Quietly, quietly, so that no
one hears!24
Since the beginning of publication of the Svjetlo newspaper in 1884, we
have found detailed reviews and musical reviews of concerts in Karlovac
that go a step further than the impression of the performance itself. Thus,
already in the second issue of Svjetlo 1884, an unsigned reporter critically
reviews the concert of the Singing Society “Zora” held on New Year’s Eve
1883. The author reviews not only the quality of the performance of certain
points of the program, the precision of the choir’s intonation, but also the
compositions themselves, as well as the quality of the rendition of the Ger-
man text into Croatian.25 In this sense, in the newspaper Sloga, the contri-
butions signed by D. L. [probably by Dušan Lopašić, op. L. K.] from 1887
should be highlighted, which very precisely dissect individual points of the
concert program, emphasizing that everything was written with the best
intentions. However, for Zora’s “humorous concert” on 5 February 1887, he
concludes: “That’s how we evaluated that ‘humorous’ concert. There was lit-
tle humour and little ‘concert’, as well.”26
On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the death of the Croatian
composer Dora Pejačević (1885–1923), let us also mention that in 1904 the
citizens of Karlovac also had the opportunity to hear her compositions.
Namely, on his tour the Czech violinist Jaroslav Kocián (1883–1950), a stu-
dent of Otakar Ševčik, played, among other things, two of the countess’s
compositions: Canzonetta and Menuetto (probably op. 8 and op. 18, the lat-
ter dedicated to Kocian).27 At the concert held on 26 January 1904 in the
Zorin-dom (Zora’s Hall) “without previous noise, without any advertising,”
as stated by Svjetlo, he played an extensive program in front of a full hall
accompanied by the Italian pianist Tullio Voghera (1879–1943) and delight-
ed both with his technical skill and his interpretation. For Dora Pejačević’s
compositions, the author of the review wrote that “the songs [...] are quite
24 “Ajde da opet šurujemo, da se uhvatimo u liepo kolo, da stavimo glavu uz glavu, pak
da vam šapnem koju u uho. Al samo vi, mile čitalice – vi i ja. Al znate šta nova? Tiho,
tiho, da nitko nečuje!,” Anon., “Karlovačke pošurice,” Glasonoša 4, no. 18 (1 May
1864): 2–3.
25 Anon., “Koncert ‘Zore’,” Svjetlo 1, no. 2 (3 January 1884): 1.
26 D. L., “Šaljivi koncert ‘Zore’,” Sloga 2, no. 7 (13 February 1887): 3.
27 Koraljka Kos, Dora Pejačević (Zagreb: JAZU, Muzikološki zavod Muzičke akademi-
je, 1982), 189–90.
178
