Page 176 - 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
of church music is emphasised as a “faithful and reliable servant of the true
faith”, serving the purpose of elevation in liturgical celebration; on the oth-
er hand, secular music is described as a “means of ennobling the minds and
hearts of young people and educating their reason”, functioning both as ar-
49
tistic enjoyment and moderate entertainment. The very founding of the
music society as a civic association is explained as the unification of small
and weak individual forces in a shared endeavour (as articulated in the so-
ciety’s purpose): “great things can arise only from the energetic and endur-
ing spirit of community”. Finally, among the objectives of the music asso-
50
ciation, we find elements already present in earlier musical institutions: the
promotion of certain charitable aims for those in need, and the provision of
free musical education for talented but impoverished children. One of the
essential components of this type of association – key to the development
of civil society – is the promotion of civic equality. This is clearly articu-
51
lated in Article 7 of the statutes of both the Varaždin and Osijek societies:
Since the music association is a moral and artistic society in which all
its members are to work toward one and the same noble goal, all mem-
bers have the same duties and, accordingly, the same rights within the
association.
52
The importance and influence of these societies can also be seen through
the names of their patrons and maecenas (as mentioned earlier in the text).
During the period of the Croatian National Revival (1835–1848), particular-
ly under the Bans Franjo Vlašić (1766–1840, Ban 1832–1840) and Franjo Haller

49 Statuten der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde der könglichen Freystadt Varasdin
(Varaždin: Gedrucktt bey Johann Sangilla, 1830).
50 Ibid.
51 As Iskra Iveljić points out: “Associations are an important part of modernity because
they are contrary to the class principle and function on the basis of civil equality. Mem-
bers are connected by a common interest, whether it is music, theatre or pleasant so-
cialising in reading rooms, and not by class affiliation. Associations also promote a
typical bourgeois lifestyle, in which leisure is filled with cultural, entertainment or
charitable activities in which women can also participate. Furthermore, the activities
of associations are important because they do not take place in a strictly private sphere
or a narrow circle of the class elite.” Iskra Iveljić, “Kulturna politika u Banskoj Hrvat-
skoj 19. stoljeća [Cultural Policy in Banal Croatia in the 19th Century],” Historijski
zbornik 69, no. 2 (2016): 341–2.
52 Statuten […] Varasdin; Statuten der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde der königlichen
Freystadt Eszek (Essegg: Gedruckt bei M. A. Diwald, k. k. priv. Buchdrucker, 1830).
In the statute of the Zagreb Musikverein see Art. 2: “Members of the Association are
divided into executive, supporting and honorary members, who enjoy the same rights.”
Statuten des Musik-Vereins in Agram (Agram: Gedruckt bei Franz Suppan, 1827).

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