Page 148 - 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 ...
the interpretation of the chosen work. This paper will consider the influ-
ence of musical training, scientific analysis and findings, capacity for indi-
vidual expression, pulsations of the cultural environment and, last but not
least, the abilities of performing ensembles on the overall principle of ar-
tistic expression, with reference to a specific conductor, Lovro von Matačić
(1899–1985), who was influential in Slovenia in the interwar period and be-
yond. Possessed of prodigious musical talent and the recipient of an excel-
lent education, he was notable for his sensitivity towards musical literature,
his deft command of instrumental forces and, last but not least, his cosmo-
politanism, which also carried over into his artistic presence. This paper fo-
cuses on the period between the two world wars, when he was active in Lju-
bljana. This was a period that saw him move beyond the initial stage of his
conducting career and enter a phase of mature artistic activity.
Lovro von Matačić came from a prominent Croatian noble family of
military officers, high officials and artists. His father Koloman studied law
at the University of Vienna while simultaneously studying solo singing at
the conservatoires of Milan and Vienna. In 1902, having spent a few years
in senior administrative posts in Rijeka, he dedicated himself to opera sing-
ing, winning renown in prestigious opera houses from Milan to Vienna
and Berlin and ending his career in his old age as a member of the en-
semble of the Zagreb Opera. His first marriage, to Baroness Hervojić, pro-
duced three children. After she died, he met the Romanian actress Con-
stanța Nichitescu-Rizo during a stay in Opatija. A professional actress with
engagements at the Volkstheater and the Theater in der Josefstadt in Vien-
na, she performed under the nom de théâtre Constanze von Linden (taking
the German surname of her mother’s side of the family). The two married
and their son Lovro was born in 1899. His wide-ranging abilities were un-
doubtedly connected to both his father’s and his mother’s genes, while his
upbringing and domestic environment were no less important. Some com-
mentators have linked his spirited conducting to his Mediterranean origin,
while others relate it to his Romanian roots on his mother’s side. He grew
up with the children of his father’s first marriage and their grandmother,
a woman of considerable culture. The family spoke German and French at
home and before long the young Lovro was also conversant in Croatian and
1
Italian. His multilingual background served him well in his later endeav-
ours in the operatic field and in his artistic career in general. His half-sister
1 An extensive biography of Lovro von Matačić appears in the monograph Matačić,
ed. Eva Sedak (Zagreb: Fond Lovro & Lilly Matačić, 1996). The chapter “Životopis
glazbom” is by Eva Sedak, 21–187.

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