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Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2026. Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes: preplet stanovskega in nacionalnega | Composers’ Societies Past and Present: Combining the Professional and the National
Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. https://doi.org/10.26493/978-961-293-555-9.19-37
© 2026 Sonja Kralj

The Coexistence of the Social, the Professional
and the Artistic in the History of the Society
of Slovene Composers

Sonja Kralj
Stalno predstavništvo Republike Slovenije pri Evropski uniji, Bruselj, Belgija
Permanent Representation of the Republic of Slovenia to the European Union, Brussels, Belgium

On 22 December 1945, in the uncertain conditions of a barely established
state that was still grappling with the aftermath of the Second World War, a
general assembly took place in Ljubljana that resulted in the founding of the
Society of Composers of Slovenia, with Danilo Švara as its first president.
Slovenia’s very own society of musical artists thus took its place alongside
its Serbian and Croatian counterparts, founded on 18 February 1945 and 9
June 1945 respectively.
In post-war Yugoslavia, “new strivings leading to broad and healthy de-
velopment” were emerging, which would “elevate and enrich the popular
1
masses through music.” This latter optimistic opinion was voiced in ear-
ly 1946 by Marjan Kozina, an important figure in the history of the Society
and of Slovene music in general, after whom the highest award given today
by Slovene composers to their fellow composers in recognition of lifetime
achievement is named. A certain amount of time would nevertheless have
to pass from the formal establishment of the Society, which by 1947 num-
bered 48 members, the majority of them members of the pre-war Ljublja-
na section of the Yugoslav composers’ association Udruženje jugoslavenskih
muzičkih autora (UJMA), to the actual commencement of activities.
Although most of the Society’s documents covering the period from
its founding to 1951 have been lost, references in the daily press give at
least a limited insight into the Society’s internal dynamics. A report on the
1 Marjan Kozina, “Iz beograjskega življenja,” Slovenski poročevalec VII, no. 5 (1946): 6.

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