Page 189 - 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 …
executive member, serving as head of the school from 1848 to 1850, and
he played a key role in the reorganisation of the school in 1850. Upon the
founding of the Croatian Singing Society “Kolo”, he was named an honor-
ary member, alongside Josip Juratović (1796–1872) and Ferdo Livadić. In his
will, he bequeathed all his compositions and a donation of 100 forints to the
Music Institute.
By the mid-19 century, several other important musical figures may also
th
be mentioned: Ivan Padovec (1800–1873), guitarist and composer – while his
exact role in the founding of the Zagreb Music Institute has not been firmly es-
tablished, he was one of its earliest members; Valentin Ježek/Jeschek (?–1835),
composer, violinist, and music pedagogue – a violin teacher at the Institute’s
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music school in Zagreb; Antun Kirschhofer (1807–1849), violinist, composer,
and conductor – a violin teacher at the newly established music school of the
Zagreb Music Institute; Josip Juratović (1796–1872), composer, organist, and
conductor – a representative of sacred music, he served as a singing teacher at
the Zagreb seminary (1821–1867) and worked to improve both the repertoire
and performance standards of the Zagreb cathedral. Juratović was active both
in the Narodno ilirsko skladnoglasja društvo and in the Zagreb Music Institute
(as a member of the governing board from 1838 to 1868, and from 1851 on the
committee for the music school and concert organisation).
From the late 1830s, the first generation of students from the Zagreb
Music Institute began contributing through their involvement in various
musical associations. Mijo Hajko (1820–1848), even as a theology student
and recent graduate of the music school, took part in founding the Narodno
ilirsko skladnoglasja društvo, serving as its president in 1841–42. His com-
86
positions were performed at the society’s concerts.
A turning point in the perception of composers, the role of society in
their development, and their broader social function came with the work

85 According to Nada Bezić, both Padovec and Ježek were detained for a day due to their ad-
vocacy for the Music Institute, after insisting on holding a concert that the city authorities
had prohibited. Nada Bezić, “Ježek, Valentin (Jeschek),” in Hrvatski biografski leksikon,
online edition, 2005, https://hbl.lzmk.hr/clanak/jezek-valentin. He composed around 20
works, including for solo flute or flute with other instruments, and pieces for orchestra. Cf.
also Antun Goglia, “Franjo Ksaver Čačković Vrhovinski,” Zagreb 9, no. 1–2 (1941): 17–23.
86 Alongside Hajko, the principal initiators of the Seminary Singing Society were Edu-
ard Fink, Franjo Gašparić, and Dragutin Koenig, all of whom were also students of
the Zagreb Music Institute.

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