Page 165 - 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 …
establishment of national institutions (such as a national bank and univer-
sity), and the introduction of liberal reforms (freedom of press, religion,
14
public gathering, equity in the court process). However, the king accept-
ed only the first demand and appointed Jelačić as Ban, while advising the
delegation to have other issues discussed in the Parliament. Nevertheless,
1848 was one of the turning points of Croatian history, and largely precise-
ly because of Josip Jelačić’s actions. He abolished serfdom (25 April 1848),
thus ending the feudal period in Croatia. He also convened the first repre-
sentative Parliament (5 June 1848), with both of these actions marking the
beginning of a new social order and the inception of the development of
bourgeois society. And, since the Hungarian side was trying to strengthen
its rule over parts of Croatia, Jelačić had also declared a formal cessation of
all political and legal relations between the two states (25 April 1848) until
the Parliament reached a new compromise with Hungary (which would not
happen for the next 20 years). In the Hungarian independence war, which
broke out in the autumn of 1848, Jelačić and Croatian troops fought on the
15
Austrian side against the revolution. With that, they were not only con-
firming their loyalty to the ruler and the Monarchy, but were also defend-
ing Croatian interests as best as possible at the time.
While no revolution took place in Croatia in 1848, the crushing of the
Prague uprising and the Italian revolution in 1848, as well as of the Hun-
garian War of Independence in 1849, prompted the Emperor and the Vi-
enna authorities to prevent any possible future uprisings. The dominant
political figures of the Empire were aware that the previous system of the
ancien regime was too rigid, and that the country needed to be modern-
ised in order to survive, but wanted at the same time to exclude from polit-
ical life those parts of society that had led the revolutions. Thus, the March/
Octroi Constitution was proclaimed in 1849. Often ironically described as
“a Constitution Croatians were rewarded with, and Hungarians punished”,
the March Constitution made no distinction between lands that rebelled
against the Empire and those that fought on its side. While it was intended
to be a compromise between the achievements of the revolutions and tradi-
tional Austrian absolutism, the March Constitution represented the funda-
mental opposite of all liberal principles. This constitution placed the vast
16
14 Cf. “Zahtijevanja naroda,” in Hrvatska enciklopedija, online edition, https://
enciklopedija.hr/clanak/zahtijevanja-naroda.
15 Cf. Pavličević, Povijest Hrvatske, 260–3; Nikša Stančić, “Jelačić, Josip,” Hrvatski bio-
grafski leksikon, online edition, https://hbl.lzmk.hr/clanak/jelacic-josip-ban.
16 Cf. Mirjana Gross, Počeci moderne Hrvatske (Zagreb: Globus, 1985), 14–5.

165