Page 183 - 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 …
musical development through both performance and the appreciation of
“good music”. 68
The singing societies established during the tenure of the Ban Levin
Rauch were one church-affiliated society – the Croatian Singing Society “Vi-
jenac” (Zagreb, 1868) – as well as two founded in the territory of the Military
Frontier – the Croatian Singing Society “Danica” (Sisak, 1869) and the City
Singing Society “Sokol” (Glina, 1870). At the same time, however, the found-
ing of the opera ensemble at the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb was
successfully accomplished, thanks to concerted efforts to bring Ivan pl. Zajc
from Vienna and secure increased annual state subsidies for the theatre.
The trend of founding singing societies would continue with almost
equal intensity until the 1890s. The establishment of the Hrvatski pjevački
savez [Croatian Singing/Choral Union] in 1875 may be seen as the culmi-
nation of this singing movement. The primary objective of the Croatian
Singing Union was to promote national musical art, to support the work of
individual societies, and to encourage the establishment of new choral so-
cieties throughout the country. Initially, these societies were predominant-
ly civic in character; however, a diversification soon followed, with societies
forming around various professional and social groups, including students,
workers, craftsmen, civil servants, and educators. It is also important to
note that many singing societies maintained instrumental ensembles with-
in their membership. From the 1880s onward, tamburitza ensembles be-
came particularly widespread. Notable among them were the tamburitza
ensemble of the Music Society “Dunav” from Vukovar and the ensemble
affiliated with the student singing society “Hrvatska lira”. In 1886, an inde-
pendent tamburitza society – the Croatian Commercial Tamburitza Soci-
ety – was founded in Karlovac. Its aims were not only to promote national
music but also to adapt tamburitza music for performance in the bourgeois
69
salon setting. By this period, Sisak and Petrinja, now part of civil Croatia,
had become recognised centres for the making of tamburitzas. 70
68 At present, no evidence has been found to suggest that such a society, intended to
gather amateurs as a counterpart to the Music Institute – which at the time was in-
creasingly oriented toward professionalisation – was established.
69 See more in: Lucija Konfic, “Rasprave o glazbenim institucijama i društvima u kar-
lovačkom tisku u ‘dugom’ 19. stoljeću [Discussions on Musical Institutions and Soci-
eties in the Karlovac Press in the ‘Long’ 19 Century],” Arti musices 54, no. 2 (2023):
th
433–64.
70 Cf. Nada Bezić, “Tamburica – hrvatski izvozni proizvod na prijelazu 19. u 20. sto lje-
će [The Tamburitza – A Croatian Export Product at the Turn of the 19 to the 20 th
th
Century],” Narodna umjetnost 38, no. 2 (2001): 97–115.

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