Page 180 - 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
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glasbena kritika – nekoč in danes | music criticism – yesterday and today
surrounding the realization of a common idea or goal is evaluated. We will
single out three examples characteristic of Karlovac:
1. establishment/reorganization of a singing society
2. functioning of the music school, and
3. the need to establish city music.31
In 1866, the Karlovac Singing Society (from 1868 the First Croatian
Singing Society “Zora” in Karlovac) at the incentive of Gjuro Klarić (1838–
1909),32 began a reorganization which, as Polović points out, turned the so-
ciety into “a serious and orderly civil society.”33 In an article published in the
newspaper Karlovački viestnik, Klarić points out the advantages of singing
as an activity (desirable entertainment, no initial investment is required,
serves as comfort, it is an expression of educated people), foregrounds the
society’s task of spreading songs in the vernacular, but also calls for civ-
il pride:
Wouldn’t it be a shame for us, the famously patriotic city of Karlovac, if
on the occasion of that celebration [Zrinski’s 300th anniversary, op. L.
K.] it didn’t have its own singing society?34
Responding to that article in the text “Dvie tri o družtvih” [Two or
three words about societies] the unsigned author (possibly the newspaper
editor Ljudevit Tomšić) emphasizes the importance of citizen association
and warns of two factors that hinder the work of societies – interference in
politics and discord.35 However, he raises the issue of the organization of so-
ciety to a general level by saying:
A city without a singing society seems dead to us, and Karlovac does
not deserve to be judged that way. Only diligently and harmoniously!
31 The author gave a more detailed presentation on discussions about Karlovac socie-
ties and institutions in the nineteenth-century press at an International Round Ta-
ble within the framework of the MusInst19 project in Zagreb, 8 October 2022.
32 About the life of Gj. Klarić see: Strohal, Grad Karlovac, 239–41. Cf. also: Vjeran Kur-
sar, “Hrvati u gradu na Bosporu: hrvatsko iseljeništvo u osmanskoj prijestolnici Is-
tanbulu u dugom 19. stoljeću,” Hrvatska revija, no. 4 (2013), https://www.matica.hr
/hr/399/hrvati-u-gradu-na-bosporu-22748/.
33 Ivan Ott, Draženka Polović, and Ljiljana Ščedrov, Pjesmom za dom. Prvo hrvatsko
pjevačko društvo “Zora”, Karlovac 1858–2008 (Karlovac: Gradsko kazalište Zorin
dom, Grad Karlovac, 2008), 20.
34 Gjuro Klarić, “Karlovačko pjevačko družtvo,” Karlovački viestnik 1, no. 2 (13 Janua-
ry 1866): 9–10.
35 Anon., “Dvie tri o družtvih,” Karlovački viestnik 1, no. 3 (20 January 1866): 18–9.
180
surrounding the realization of a common idea or goal is evaluated. We will
single out three examples characteristic of Karlovac:
1. establishment/reorganization of a singing society
2. functioning of the music school, and
3. the need to establish city music.31
In 1866, the Karlovac Singing Society (from 1868 the First Croatian
Singing Society “Zora” in Karlovac) at the incentive of Gjuro Klarić (1838–
1909),32 began a reorganization which, as Polović points out, turned the so-
ciety into “a serious and orderly civil society.”33 In an article published in the
newspaper Karlovački viestnik, Klarić points out the advantages of singing
as an activity (desirable entertainment, no initial investment is required,
serves as comfort, it is an expression of educated people), foregrounds the
society’s task of spreading songs in the vernacular, but also calls for civ-
il pride:
Wouldn’t it be a shame for us, the famously patriotic city of Karlovac, if
on the occasion of that celebration [Zrinski’s 300th anniversary, op. L.
K.] it didn’t have its own singing society?34
Responding to that article in the text “Dvie tri o družtvih” [Two or
three words about societies] the unsigned author (possibly the newspaper
editor Ljudevit Tomšić) emphasizes the importance of citizen association
and warns of two factors that hinder the work of societies – interference in
politics and discord.35 However, he raises the issue of the organization of so-
ciety to a general level by saying:
A city without a singing society seems dead to us, and Karlovac does
not deserve to be judged that way. Only diligently and harmoniously!
31 The author gave a more detailed presentation on discussions about Karlovac socie-
ties and institutions in the nineteenth-century press at an International Round Ta-
ble within the framework of the MusInst19 project in Zagreb, 8 October 2022.
32 About the life of Gj. Klarić see: Strohal, Grad Karlovac, 239–41. Cf. also: Vjeran Kur-
sar, “Hrvati u gradu na Bosporu: hrvatsko iseljeništvo u osmanskoj prijestolnici Is-
tanbulu u dugom 19. stoljeću,” Hrvatska revija, no. 4 (2013), https://www.matica.hr
/hr/399/hrvati-u-gradu-na-bosporu-22748/.
33 Ivan Ott, Draženka Polović, and Ljiljana Ščedrov, Pjesmom za dom. Prvo hrvatsko
pjevačko društvo “Zora”, Karlovac 1858–2008 (Karlovac: Gradsko kazalište Zorin
dom, Grad Karlovac, 2008), 20.
34 Gjuro Klarić, “Karlovačko pjevačko družtvo,” Karlovački viestnik 1, no. 2 (13 Janua-
ry 1866): 9–10.
35 Anon., “Dvie tri o družtvih,” Karlovački viestnik 1, no. 3 (20 January 1866): 18–9.
180
