Page 177 - 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 …
(1796–1875, Ban 1842–1845), as well as the locumtenens banalis Bishop Juraj Haulik
(1788–1869, acting in the periods 1840–1842 and 1845–1848), the activities of mu-
sical societies were generally associated with a national component: the promo-
tion of the national language and folk music. This imperative is evident, for ex-
ample, in the Narodno ilirsko skladnoglasja društvo [Illyrian National Music
Society], founded in 1839 at the Archdiocesan Seminary in Zagreb, as well as
in the 1847 renaming of the Zagreb Music Institute to the Skladnoglasja družt-
53
vo zagrebačko [Music Society of Zagreb]. The statement of purpose of the Nar-
odno ilirsko skladnoglasja društvo from 1845 emphasised the universality of the
feeling of belonging to one’s own nation, criticising the society’s deviation from
this noble mission, claiming that it had directed its efforts solely toward enter-
taining the youth of the seminary. This mission was to be achieved through the
cultivation of the national language and, subsequently, national music. 54

Since, after his Creator, a man’s nationality is his first and foremost iden-
tity, which must not be desecrated, and is sacred; and since music holds
this identity closely and loyally as its companion and protector – then the
highest aspiration of the Illyrian National Music Society must be that na-
tional prosperity and one’s own nationality become its only and ultimate
sanctity; that it may soften the hearts of the sons of this gracious mother-
land and raise them to the highest level of refinement and education; for
blessed is only that nation whose families are cultured and educated […] 55
Immediately following the revolution, in the early 1850s, the Zagreb
Music Institute continued to pursue the goals of the Illyrian movement –
undertaking restructuring, changing the name to Družtvo prijateljah muz-
ike u Zagrebu [Society of Friends of Music in Zagreb] in 1852, collaborat-

53 From 1836 to 1846, the president of the Music Institute in Zagreb was Antun Kukul-
jević. During that period, Ljudevit Gaj, Janko Drašković and others (Herman Bužan,
Pavao Štoos, Dimitrija Demeter, Mirko Lopašić, Ivan Kralj, Josip Juratović) were ap-
pointed honorary members of the Institute. Cf. Šaban, 150 godina Hrvatskog glaz-
benog zavoda, 64.
54 It is important to emphasise that certain entrenched views regarding the two sklad-
noglasja societies merit critical re-examination – specifically, the characterisation
of the Music Institute as “purely German” and the Seminary Society as the “true (or
first) Croatian” one. These notions persist even in more recent scholarship, despite
the corrective efforts of Ladislav Šaban. Cf. Ibid., 64–70, vs Katarina Koprek, “Ivan
pl. Zajc i glazbeno pjevačko društvo ‘Vijenac’,” introductory study in Pjevačko dru-
štvo “Vijenac” i Ivan pl. Zajc: skladbe Ivana pl. Zajca posvećene pjevačkom društvu
“Vijenac”, eds. Ines Fočić and Viktorija Čop (Zagreb: Katolički bogoslovni fakultet
Sveučilišta u Zagrebu, Hrvatsko društvo crkvenih glazbenika, 2017).
55 Osnova Ilirskog Narodnog Skladnoglasja Družtva [Rules of the Illyrian National Mu-
sic Society], The Archdiocesan Seminary Archives, Vijenac Collection, box 2.

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