Page 17 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2026 Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes.../Composers’ Societies Past and Present...

Composers’ Societies Past and Present: Combining the Professional and the National
Fatima Hadžić and Amra Bosnić, who for the first time shed light on the
artistic activities of one of the most important members of the DSS and its
president (1972–1976) Dane Škerl in Sarajevo.
The challenges facing some important composers’ societies around
Europe are addressed in detail in the papers of the Hungarian composer
Máté Hollós (To be or not to be a civil association?), the long-serving sec-
retary general of the Croatian Composers’ Society, Antun Tomislav Šaban
(The Croatian Composers’ Society: 80 Years of Shaping National Cultural
and Social Life) and current Society of Slovene Composers (DSS) president
Dušan Bavdek, whose paper (The Society of Slovene Composers – Role in so-
ciety and today‘s challenges) presents the rich and multifaceted activities of
the Society of Slovene Composers and its role in society in the face of to-
day’s challenges.
We know from history that, even before the founding of the DSS, Slo-
vene composers formed more or less unified groups. Yet it was not until
the establishment of the DSS on 22 December 1945 that new opportunities
opened up for composers. To begin with, the DSS occupied itself with the
performance of new works. With the establishment of Edicije DSS in 1954,
however, it expanded its activities into music publishing, in this way laying
the foundations for the comprehensive fulfilment of the goals and needs of
Slovene composers. It realises its mission and helps ensure the quality and
prestige of Slovene music at home and abroad not only through music pub-
lishing, copyright protection, the promotion of musical works and interna-
tional connections, but also through original concert activities.
Sonja Kralj’s fundamental study of the work of the DSS in her disser-
tation is supplemented by complementary research in the form of papers
from Aleš Gabrič, a leading authority on Slovene cultural-political condi-
tions (The Cultural and Political Milieu of the Initial Period of Activity of the
Society of Slovene Composers), Niall O’Loughlin (The Slovene Composer Ivo
Petrić and Društvo slovenskih skladateljev) and Jernej Weiss (The Slavko Os-
terc Ensemble (1961–1981): The Principal Promoter of the Creativity of the So-
ciety of Slovene Composers Abroad).
The individual papers show how composers’ societies through-
out Europe are facing similar challenges: above all, cuts in state funding
and a consequent reduction in publishing and concert activities, declin-
ing membership, and integration into larger cultural and artistic associa-
tions, which frequently leads to a loss of identity. At the same time, howev-
er, the papers clearly show that, despite frequently unfavourable conditions,

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