Page 235 - 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. 235
“a cr itique of cr iticism”: an attempt to outline “mor e appropr iate” ...
Nevertheless, what became known as “the incident in the Union Hall”34
turned all these expectations on their head. The unfortunate occurrence
met with a harsh response from certain orthodox party ideologues who re-
sented above all the fact that at the end of the concert the choir chose to
honour the compositional contribution of the Catholic intellectual Mati-
ja Tomc. Before the concert the choir’s management had, in fact, been ex-
plicitly instructed that the cultural event must take place without any such
tribute being paid to the composer. Despite this, the conductor Gobec pre-
sented Tomc with a gold laurel wreath and the composer gave two bare-
ly perceptible bows to the enthusiastic audience from his place in the third
row. It appears that the success of a concert consisting of music incorporat-
ing sacred intermezzos35 was too much for the authorities of the period and,
as a consequence, the incident also required sanctions in the sphere of mu-
sic criticism.
The choir director Radovan Gobec was forced to resign from the par-
ty the very next day, and was later summoned for “re-education”36 because
of his collaboration with Tomc. The pressure on the choir was so great that
it also lost its conductor and almost broke up. According to Mitja Gobec,
his father Radovan once told him that he had to report to the secretary
of the OK ZKS Ljubljana (the local communist committee), Janez Vipot-
nik, the day after the premiere of Stara pravda because of the above-men-
tioned “incident”. Vipotnik and Gobec are said to have known each other
and been on good terms. Mitja Gobec writes that at the above-mentioned
meeting Vipotnik asked Gobec: “Radovan, do you have the Party book with
you can you show it to me?” Gobec allegedly showed him the book and Vi-
potnik then “deposited” it in a desk drawer, thus expelling Gobec from the
Communist Party.37
Gobec’s resignation as conductor could not take immediate effect, as
the choir was about to embark on a concert tour. After the last concert in
Zagreb, Gobec stepped down as conductor of the choir. According to the
account by Gobec’s wife, Jožica Gobec, it seems he resigned mainly because
34 S. B., “Ven iz teme. Ob XII. občnem zboru Akademskega pevskega zbora ‘Tone Tom-
šič’,” Tribuna 5, no. 16–17 (1957): 4.
35 BP, “Pojó, pojó, da še nikdar tako …,” 5.
36 Kmecl, “Vrtičkarjevi zimski dnevi,” 38.
37 Mitja Gobec, email message to Jernej Weiss, April 13, 2007.
235
Nevertheless, what became known as “the incident in the Union Hall”34
turned all these expectations on their head. The unfortunate occurrence
met with a harsh response from certain orthodox party ideologues who re-
sented above all the fact that at the end of the concert the choir chose to
honour the compositional contribution of the Catholic intellectual Mati-
ja Tomc. Before the concert the choir’s management had, in fact, been ex-
plicitly instructed that the cultural event must take place without any such
tribute being paid to the composer. Despite this, the conductor Gobec pre-
sented Tomc with a gold laurel wreath and the composer gave two bare-
ly perceptible bows to the enthusiastic audience from his place in the third
row. It appears that the success of a concert consisting of music incorporat-
ing sacred intermezzos35 was too much for the authorities of the period and,
as a consequence, the incident also required sanctions in the sphere of mu-
sic criticism.
The choir director Radovan Gobec was forced to resign from the par-
ty the very next day, and was later summoned for “re-education”36 because
of his collaboration with Tomc. The pressure on the choir was so great that
it also lost its conductor and almost broke up. According to Mitja Gobec,
his father Radovan once told him that he had to report to the secretary
of the OK ZKS Ljubljana (the local communist committee), Janez Vipot-
nik, the day after the premiere of Stara pravda because of the above-men-
tioned “incident”. Vipotnik and Gobec are said to have known each other
and been on good terms. Mitja Gobec writes that at the above-mentioned
meeting Vipotnik asked Gobec: “Radovan, do you have the Party book with
you can you show it to me?” Gobec allegedly showed him the book and Vi-
potnik then “deposited” it in a desk drawer, thus expelling Gobec from the
Communist Party.37
Gobec’s resignation as conductor could not take immediate effect, as
the choir was about to embark on a concert tour. After the last concert in
Zagreb, Gobec stepped down as conductor of the choir. According to the
account by Gobec’s wife, Jožica Gobec, it seems he resigned mainly because
34 S. B., “Ven iz teme. Ob XII. občnem zboru Akademskega pevskega zbora ‘Tone Tom-
šič’,” Tribuna 5, no. 16–17 (1957): 4.
35 BP, “Pojó, pojó, da še nikdar tako …,” 5.
36 Kmecl, “Vrtičkarjevi zimski dnevi,” 38.
37 Mitja Gobec, email message to Jernej Weiss, April 13, 2007.
235
