Page 192 - 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
Brigade, conducted the Workers’ and Craftsmen’s Society “Sloboda”, the
Singing Society “Merkur”, the University Singing Society “Hrvatska lira”,
and from 1873 to 1891 the Croatian Singing Society “Kolo”. He was also a
founding member of the Church Music Society in Zagreb (1872), where
he worked on enhancing the sacred repertoire and performance practic-
es, particularly as organist of St Mary’s Church. Eisenhuth’s compositional
output reflects his deep involvement in practical music-making and the
ensembles he directed. He composed around 220 works, including cho-
ral pieces, songs, duets, sacred music, orchestral and chamber works, two
operas, an operetta, and dance music, among others. Highlighting his pro-
lific activity and commitment, Goglia noted: “There was hardly a concert in
Zagreb in which he did not participate... Everywhere, he was the soul of the
event and gave himself entirely.” 94
The central musical figure of the latter half of the 19th century, howev-
95
er, is Ivan Zajc (1832–1914). After a successful period in Vienna (1862–1869)
where he built his reputation as a composer of operettas and comic operas,
Zajc came to Zagreb in 1870 with a clear mission:

To establish the first permanent national opera house, form a profes-
sional ensemble, create a standard repertoire, including national works,
and simultaneously organise professional music education.
96

tets, frequently with D. Prettner (second violin), I. Schneider (viola), and his brother
Josip Eisenhuth (cello). He also played in various quintets, a sextet, an octet, as well
as in Eisenhuth’s piano trio, which was formed in 1890 and included his brother Jo-
sip and his daughter Luisa (piano).
94 Goglia, “Gjuro Eisenhuth,” 38.
95 From 1855 on, Ivan Zajc was the leading musician in his native city of Rijeka, where
he served as concertmaster and conductor of the theatre orchestra, organist and
choirmaster, as well as an organiser of concerts and civic festivities. The composi-
tions he wrote during this period were intended specifically for performance by the
ensembles he directed, or for teaching purposes and student performances at Rijeka’s
Philharmonic Institute. See more on Zajc in Vjera Katalinić and Rozina Palić Jelavić,
“Zajc, Ivan,” in Hrvatski biografski leksikon, online edition, 2016, https://hbl.lzmk
.hr/clanak/zajc-ivan; Hubert Pettan, Ivan Zajc (Zagreb: Prosvjetni sabor Hrvatske,
1971); Stanislav Tuksar, ed., Ivan Zajc (1832–1914): Musical Migrations and Cultural
Transfers in the “Long” 19th Century in Central Europe and Beyond (Zagreb: Croatian
Musicological Society, 2016); Rozina Palić Jelavić, Ivan pl. Zajc: Hrvatska nacionalna
povijesna operna trilogija: Mislav, Ban Leget, Nikola Šubić Zrinjski [Ivan von Zajc:
Croatian National Historical Opera Trilogy: Mislav – Ban Leget – Nikola Šubić Zrin-
jski] (Zagreb: Croatian Musicological Society, 2023); Antun Goglia, Ivan pl. Zajc: o
stotoj godišnjici njegova narodjenja (Zagreb: Tisak nadbiskupijeske tiskare, 1932).
96 Katalinić and Palić Jelavić, “Zajc, Ivan.”

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