Page 161 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2026 Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes.../Composers’ Societies Past and Present...

Between Music and Politics: The Role of Composers in Musical Societies …
The process of establishing national institutions was not just a nat-
ural development from private initiatives (such as private concerts, thea-
tres, salons and other similar gatherings) to public institutions, but was also
linked with the political situation of the time. Namely, the greater part of
the first half of the century was a period of absolute dominance of Prince
Metternich, who thought that nations should be constructive, and not de-
constructive elements of the Empire. He thus strongly opposed political
nationalism, but was instead supportive of modernisation efforts (initiat-
ed by certain aristocrats in different parts of the country) and of so-called
cultural nationalism, believing that participation in different cultural as-
sociations would sufficiently satisfy national sentiments and eliminate the
desire for political association or the activation of politically and national-
5
ly conscious individuals. For that reason, a great number of museums, li-
braries, theatres and different learned societies were founded in this peri-
od all over the Habsburg Empire, including in Croatia. The most important
institutions founded in this period were Matica ilirska (1842, Matica Hr-
vatska since 1874), the National Museum (1846), Croatian-Slavonian Eco-
nomic Society (1841), and Society for History and Antiquities of the South
Slavs (1850), as well a number of theatres, such as Amadé’s theatre in Za-
greb (1797), Andrija Ljudevit Adamić’s theatre in Rijeka (1805), and Alek-
sandar Stanković’s theatre in Zagreb (1834), and music institutions, includ-
ing Musikvereins in Križevci (1813), Varaždin (1827), Zagreb (1827), Osijek
6
(1830), Senj (1837/1842) and Petrinja (1841). These institutions will be dis-
cussed in more detail later in the text.
From the sociological standpoint, this was still a period of a hierarchi-
cally strongly divided society in which the nobility and high clergy consti-
tuted the natio politica. They held the entirety of political power and were
extremely economically potent, while the majority of the population con-
sisted either of serfs or of (much lesser in numbers) free peasants, with

5 Philipp Decker, “The Building of Nations in Habsburg Central Europe, 1740–1914”
(PhD thesis, London School of Economics and Political Science, 2017), 137, 158–9
6 The Zagreb Music Institute underwent several name changes throughout its histo-
ry. It was founded in 1827 as Societas filharmonica zagrabiensis, a name it retained
until 1847. During this period, it was also informally referred to as Musikverein in
Agram. Subsequent names included Skladnoglasja družtvo zagrebačko (1847–1852),
Družtvo prijateljah muzike u Zagrebu (1852–1861), Narodni zemaljski glazbeni za-
vod (1861–1895), and Hrvatski zemaljski glasbeni zavod (1895–1925). Since 1925, it has
been known as the Hrvatski glazbeni zavod (Croatian Music Institute). Cf. Ladislav
Šaban, 150 godina Hrvatskog glazbenog zavoda [150 Years of the Croatian Music In-
stitute] (Zagreb: Hrvatski glazbeni zavod, 1982), 42–3.

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