Page 155 - 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

an attempt at an analysis of the factors influencing a conductor’s interpretation ...
We all started with operetta and then slowly progressed. Furtwängler,
Karajan, all of us. And what did we gain from this? Routine, technique,
and we learnt our craft. . . . First you have to consolidate your craftsman-
ship, and only then can the artistic work begin. 26
He also emphasised the importance of a broad education:

Young people should not only study music, they should also learn about
history, painting, sculpture. . . . They should go to Rome, to the Sistine
Chapel, and sit in front of Michelangelo for three hours. After that they
will conduct Beethoven better. 27
He worked in Belgrade from 1924 until 1932 and then spent one season
in Riga. He was in Zagreb from 1933 to 1938 and then returned to Belgrade,
where he remained until the start of the Second World War. He proved
himself everywhere with significant repertoire and artistic achievements,
attracting the attention of international reviewers and critics. He conduct-
ed the Wiener Symphoniker for the first time in the autumn of 1928 and
would continue to perform regularly with them throughout his career. He
also became a regular guest with the Berlin Philharmonic, having conduct-
ed the orchestra for the first time in the spring of 1936 at the express invita-
tion of Wilhelm Furtwängler (1886–1954). Not long after this came an invi-
tation to the Opéra-Comique in Paris, and he also conducted the Orchestra
National de France. 28
He returned to Ljubljana in 1935 and 1938, as a guest conductor of the
Ljubljana Philharmonic (founded in 1934). Although still made up of mem-
bers of several smaller Ljubljana orchestras, this new ensemble had bolder
artistic plans than its predecessors. It numbered around 70 members, which
was suitable for the repertoire of the time, and gave a total of 21 concerts
before the outbreak of the Second World War. Matačić conducted it on 28
October 1935 in a concert marking Czechoslovak Independence Day, with a
programme that included Smetana’s Vltava, Shostakovich’s First Sympho-
ny (performed for the first time in Slovenia) and the Passacaglia by Slovene
composer Slavko Osterc (1895–1941), considered the leading avant-gardist of
Slovene music in the interwar period. Matačić garnered excellent reviews
for this concert, particularly for the Shostakovich work, written barely
26 Kušar, “Lovro Matačić.”
27 Ibid.
28 Košir, Kuret, Bedjanič, Lovro Matačić v Sloveniji, 28.

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