Page 172 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2026 Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes.../Composers’ Societies Past and Present...

Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes | Composers’ Societies Past and Present
professionalisation of cultural, theatre and musical life, especially thanks to
the Minister of Culture and Education Izidor Kršnjavi, at a larger scale, and –
in the musical domain, and focusing on Zagreb – to the composer Ivan Zajc,
who served as director of the Opera and head of the Musikverein, as well as
being a music pedagogue and an extremely prolific composer.

Models of the relationship between music and politics
in 19 -century Croatia
th
The political dynamics outlined above influenced and shaped social and
cultural development. In this context, we will specifically examine the dy-
namics of the formation and types of musical associations in certain peri-
ods, as well as possible incentives and their desirable/undesirable influenc-
es in relation to the ruling political authorities.
The first (public secular) music school in Zagreb was opened on 13 May
1788, as part of the so-called Normal School, and it primarily educated fu-
ture teachers and organists. However, there was the possibility of musical
39
education for other public students as well. Branko Rakijaš emphasises that
by the end of the 18 century, “there were general social needs for the city of
th
Zagreb – which was increasingly taking on a leading role in political and cul-
40
tural-educational life – to have its own music school.” The opening of mu-
sic schools was part of an effort to improve the education system, that is,
to provide more adequate (and comprehensive) training for teaching staff,
thereby meeting the needs of both the church and state. This process was
accompanied by a legislative framework that was meant to support the rul-
er’s duty to take care of (and assume a leading role in relation to the church)
41
the education of conscious and diligent citizens. The school operated

39 Branko Rakijaš, “Pojava i značenje zagrebačke Muzičke škole iz XVIII st. u razvo-
th
ju naše muzičke culture [The emergence and significance of the 18 century Zagreb
Music School for the development of our musical culture],” Zvuk, no. 104–105 (1970):
184–99.
40 Ibid., 190.
41 For more on the legislative framework of general education in relation to professional
music education see in: Marija Benić Zovko, “Institucionalizacija glazbenoga obra-
zovanja u Zagrebu. Začeci glazbenoga obrazovnog sustava [The Institutionalization
of Musical Education in Zagreb. The Beginnings of the System of Musical Educa-
tion],” in Music, Arts and Politics: Revolutions and Restorations in Europe and Croa-
tia, 1815–1860. On the Occasion of 200th Anniversary of Vatroslav Lisinski and 160th
Anniversary of the Death of Ban Josip Jelačić, ed. Stanislav Tuksar, Vjera Katalinić,
Petra Babić, and Sara Ries (Zagreb: Department for History of Croatian Music, Cro-
atian Academy of Sciences and Arts – Croatian Musicological Society, 2021), 679–93.

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