Page 221 - 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. 221
lucijan marija škerjanc: critic of the jutro newspaper from 1927 to 1942
Conservatoire in Ljubljana. He was a great opponent of romanticism and
sentimentality and an ardent advocate of new music, expressionism, neo-
classicism and Hába’s quarter-tone compositional technique. Although Šk-
erjanc spoke in positive terms about Osterc’s work in the review just quot-
ed, his opinion changed in the years that followed and the two became
great enemies.
The year 1935 was marked by the 250th anniversaries of the births of two
musical giants, Bach and Handel. In contrast to his reaction to the Beethov-
en centenary some years before, Škerjanc responded to these commemora-
tions with great respect for the two baroque masters. Regarding the impor-
tance of Handel, he wrote:
His greatest monument is the one he erected himself through his life’s
work, which consists of an enormous number of compositions of all the
genres customary in his day. While he may not have been the pioneer of
a new musical age, he was a giant and an undisputed master of the ba-
roque era. His works will live on for as long as the world is peopled by
civilised nations.24
The year 1934 saw the foundation of the Ljubljana Philharmonic Or-
chestra, the culmination of years of effort in this direction. An amalgama-
tion of the Ljubljana Opera Orchestra, the orchestra of the Glasbena Mati-
ca Orchestral Society and the orchestra of the State Conservatoire, the new
symphony orchestra set itself the goal of giving three major concerts a year,
at which it would perform works from the international repertoire along-
side works by Slovene composers, under the baton of eminent guest conduc-
tors. The guest conductor in the orchestra’s first year was the Czech maestro
Václav Talich (1883–1961), who had been the first conductor of the Sloveni-
an Philharmonic Orchestra in the early years of the century, while in 1935
Ljubljana’s new orchestra was conducted by the French maestro Rhené-Ba-
ton (1879–1940). Škerjanc was enthusiastic about the latter and full of praise
for the efforts of the performers, who in his view exceeded all expectations.
Confidently predicting that the orchestra would go on to even better things
in the future, he hailed the decision to found the ensemble and wrote:
The performance of the young Philharmonic Orchestra was a success-
ful demonstration of the ambition, hard work and artistic enthusiasm
that characterises this young company, which has been entrusted with
the task of filling such a sensitive gap in our musical life. Two concerts
24 L. M. Š., “Ob 250 letnici G. F. Haendla,” Jutro 16, no. 45 (23 February 1935): 3–4,
http://www.dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:doc-EI1EDNGJ.
221
Conservatoire in Ljubljana. He was a great opponent of romanticism and
sentimentality and an ardent advocate of new music, expressionism, neo-
classicism and Hába’s quarter-tone compositional technique. Although Šk-
erjanc spoke in positive terms about Osterc’s work in the review just quot-
ed, his opinion changed in the years that followed and the two became
great enemies.
The year 1935 was marked by the 250th anniversaries of the births of two
musical giants, Bach and Handel. In contrast to his reaction to the Beethov-
en centenary some years before, Škerjanc responded to these commemora-
tions with great respect for the two baroque masters. Regarding the impor-
tance of Handel, he wrote:
His greatest monument is the one he erected himself through his life’s
work, which consists of an enormous number of compositions of all the
genres customary in his day. While he may not have been the pioneer of
a new musical age, he was a giant and an undisputed master of the ba-
roque era. His works will live on for as long as the world is peopled by
civilised nations.24
The year 1934 saw the foundation of the Ljubljana Philharmonic Or-
chestra, the culmination of years of effort in this direction. An amalgama-
tion of the Ljubljana Opera Orchestra, the orchestra of the Glasbena Mati-
ca Orchestral Society and the orchestra of the State Conservatoire, the new
symphony orchestra set itself the goal of giving three major concerts a year,
at which it would perform works from the international repertoire along-
side works by Slovene composers, under the baton of eminent guest conduc-
tors. The guest conductor in the orchestra’s first year was the Czech maestro
Václav Talich (1883–1961), who had been the first conductor of the Sloveni-
an Philharmonic Orchestra in the early years of the century, while in 1935
Ljubljana’s new orchestra was conducted by the French maestro Rhené-Ba-
ton (1879–1940). Škerjanc was enthusiastic about the latter and full of praise
for the efforts of the performers, who in his view exceeded all expectations.
Confidently predicting that the orchestra would go on to even better things
in the future, he hailed the decision to found the ensemble and wrote:
The performance of the young Philharmonic Orchestra was a success-
ful demonstration of the ambition, hard work and artistic enthusiasm
that characterises this young company, which has been entrusted with
the task of filling such a sensitive gap in our musical life. Two concerts
24 L. M. Š., “Ob 250 letnici G. F. Haendla,” Jutro 16, no. 45 (23 February 1935): 3–4,
http://www.dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:doc-EI1EDNGJ.
221
