Page 212 - 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. 212
glasbena kritika – nekoč in danes | music criticism – yesterday and today
which he was also the conductor between 1950 and 1955. In 1965 he became
the concert critic of the Delo newspaper, where he remained a regular col-
laborator. His last article appeared just three days before his death.
The present paper focuses on the period in which he wrote for Jutro.
Published between 1920 and 1945, Jutro was the principal Slovene news-
paper for business, education and politics in the interwar period and was
highly regarded for the quality of its journalism. As a collaborator of Jutro,
Škerjanc published around 240 critical articles between 1927 and 1942. Most
of these appeared in the main newspaper in the Kulturni pregled (“Cultural
review”) column, while some are found in the Monday supplement Poned-
eljek (“Monday”). He also published in another supplement, Življenje in svet
(“Life and the world”), for the most part sketches and essays on great com-
posers such as Wagner, Haydn, Handel, and Bach.
Škerjanc began collaborating regularly with Jutro in January 1927. For
the first two years he only published a modest number of reviews, around
eight or nine a year, while between 1929 and 1938 he published between 20
and 25 reviews annually, which meant that he was reviewing the major-
ity of concerts at the Philharmonic Hall and the Union Hall. He also in-
troduced and commented on new musical compositions that appeared in
various publications, in this way keeping the reading public informed of
current developments in this field. Towards the end of his time at Jutro, be-
tween 1939 and 1941, he only published eight or nine reviews. His last review
appeared in 1942, the only one he published that year. The years in which he
published most prolifically stand as a remarkable chronological overview of
the concert calendar and of general cultural life in Ljubljana in the period
between the wars and in the first years of the occupation of the city, when
concert activities came to an almost entire halt. If his early critical publi-
cations up to 1926 tended to be short pieces written in an elegant, elevat-
ed, even somewhat poetic style (though he was also capable of being quite
severe and uncompromising towards individual performers), over time he
developed into a refined connoisseur of critical thought with a great sense
of professional responsibility.
Drawing on a range of relevant models, he developed his own meth-
odology of critical writing and adopted a format that he continued to use
until the end of his collaboration with Jutro. As a musician of broad edu-
cation and a frequenter of concerts in major centres such as Prague, Vien-
na and Paris, where he had been a student and where he returned in later
years, he was well acquainted with the mission of the critic and aware of his
212
which he was also the conductor between 1950 and 1955. In 1965 he became
the concert critic of the Delo newspaper, where he remained a regular col-
laborator. His last article appeared just three days before his death.
The present paper focuses on the period in which he wrote for Jutro.
Published between 1920 and 1945, Jutro was the principal Slovene news-
paper for business, education and politics in the interwar period and was
highly regarded for the quality of its journalism. As a collaborator of Jutro,
Škerjanc published around 240 critical articles between 1927 and 1942. Most
of these appeared in the main newspaper in the Kulturni pregled (“Cultural
review”) column, while some are found in the Monday supplement Poned-
eljek (“Monday”). He also published in another supplement, Življenje in svet
(“Life and the world”), for the most part sketches and essays on great com-
posers such as Wagner, Haydn, Handel, and Bach.
Škerjanc began collaborating regularly with Jutro in January 1927. For
the first two years he only published a modest number of reviews, around
eight or nine a year, while between 1929 and 1938 he published between 20
and 25 reviews annually, which meant that he was reviewing the major-
ity of concerts at the Philharmonic Hall and the Union Hall. He also in-
troduced and commented on new musical compositions that appeared in
various publications, in this way keeping the reading public informed of
current developments in this field. Towards the end of his time at Jutro, be-
tween 1939 and 1941, he only published eight or nine reviews. His last review
appeared in 1942, the only one he published that year. The years in which he
published most prolifically stand as a remarkable chronological overview of
the concert calendar and of general cultural life in Ljubljana in the period
between the wars and in the first years of the occupation of the city, when
concert activities came to an almost entire halt. If his early critical publi-
cations up to 1926 tended to be short pieces written in an elegant, elevat-
ed, even somewhat poetic style (though he was also capable of being quite
severe and uncompromising towards individual performers), over time he
developed into a refined connoisseur of critical thought with a great sense
of professional responsibility.
Drawing on a range of relevant models, he developed his own meth-
odology of critical writing and adopted a format that he continued to use
until the end of his collaboration with Jutro. As a musician of broad edu-
cation and a frequenter of concerts in major centres such as Prague, Vien-
na and Paris, where he had been a student and where he returned in later
years, he was well acquainted with the mission of the critic and aware of his
212
