Page 120 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2025. Glasbena interpretacija: med umetniškim in znanstvenim┊Music Interpretation: Between the Artistic and the Scientific. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 8

glasbena interpretacija ... | music interpretation ...
Series competition. The competition was announced in June 1912 and was
35
open to composers from all over the world. The total prize fund was $3,000,
with the first prize being $500, the second $300, and the third $200. It also
included the publication of the awarded composition by the Art Publica-
tion Society in accordance with the “top style” of the music editions of the
36
said publisher. However, as it was pointed out in the invitation, the prize
money was not the main advantage of the competition, but the promotion
of the works of contemporary composers and the acquisition of (new) ad-
37
mirers of their music. The main goal of the Art Publication Society as the
organizer when announcing the competition was to support music educa-
tion in the sense of encouraging and distributing suitable compositions by
contemporary composers. That is why it is highlighted:

It is acknowledged by the leading musical authorities all over the world,
that in order to attain a thorough musical education, it is necessary for
students to become familiar with the modern progress in Musical Art,
as is exemplified by the best living Composers. 38

The competition board planned to collect 15 of the targeted 50 compo-
sitions by contemporary composers. It was divided into three categories ac-
cording to the expected difficulty of the performance: Class A for advanced
pianists, Class B for good students up to the 6 year of study and amateur
th
pianists (“and suitable for public performance by good amateur pianists”),
and Class C for students up to the 4 year of study:
th
– Class A: Brilliant and Effective Concert Piano Solo. Form left to
the composer, but must be melodious, and not of an involved na-
ture, such as fugues, variations, &c.
– Class B: Melodious and Attractive Solo, of character suited for
drawing-room. Form unprescribed.
35 The Art Publication Society, “Prize Competition,” The Musical Times 53, no. 833
(1912): 431, https://www.jstor.org/stable/906885.
36 “The Prize Compositions and all those purchased will be published in superior style,
each one carrying a photograph of its author, a short biographical sketch, a list of some
of his representative works, together with a description of the poetic idea of the Com-
position, with suggestions as to the study necessary to give a successful performance of
the work.” Ibid.
37 “The Art Publication Society desires to acquaint the many thousands [of?] students
using its publications, with the best modern composers of the world, and through the
style of publishing, with annotations for intelligent study, every composition will gain
admirers, thus opening the way for other works by the same composers.” Ibid.
38 Ibid.

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