Page 23 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2026 Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes.../Composers’ Societies Past and Present...

The Coexistence of the Social, the Professional and the Artistic
The most important initiative within the Society in this period was the
commencement of independent publishing activities, succeeding a contrac-
tual collaboration with the state publishing house Državna založba Sloveni-
je, which included a joint programme committee and publishing plan. It
also included the music journal Slovenska glasbena revija, which appeared
in five volumes of four issues each, including a number of double issues, be-
tween 1951 and 1960. The journal’s music articles and sheet music sections
were edited by composers Marijan Lipovšek and Matija Bravničar. Despite
its modest scope and limited duration, this journal offers a valuable insight
into musical life in the 1950s and, given the conditions in which it appeared,
can be seen as a relatively ambitious and successful project.
9
Independent publishing activities began under the name Edicije DSS
in September 1954 and were led by composer and pianist Marijan Lipovšek.
With a simple yet effective publishing programme, Edicije DSS has survived
to the present day and represents a pragmatic approach to the possibilities
that could be achieved in the given conditions, in other words the publica-
tion of solo and chamber works that were manageable in terms of scale and
costs and relevant in terms of content, in that they consist of works creat-
ed here and now and, at the same time, enjoy strong support from the So-
ciety’s membership, based on the direct interest of composers in the acces-
sibility of their works.
The first editions were created in an almost “cottage industry” style.
Between 1954 and 1970, the long-serving editor Marijan Lipovšek carried
out pioneering work on a Herculean scale, negotiating agreements with cal-
ligraphers and transcribers, correcting the proofs and transporting printed
materials by bicycle to printing houses and binderies himself.
Edicije DSS received a significant affirmation in the Yugoslav context
with an exhibition at the first Music Biennale Zagreb in 1961. 10
Although its priorities in the early years were the regulation of cop-
yright matters and the establishment of publishing activities, the Society
also promoted concerts of contemporary music in collaboration with other
organisers. After a first concert in 1947, at which it presented a programme
of Slovene music in collaboration with the Society of Performing Artists,
there came a decade of more or less randomly organised collaborations
during which the Society, owing to its lack of premises and limited financial

9 Editorial Board, “Editorial foreword,” Slovenska glasbena revija I, no. 1 (1951): 1.
10 Branimir Sakač, “Uoči Zagrebačkog bijenala. Muzički bijenale i njegova program ska
koncepcija,” Zvuk, no. 73–74 (1967): 15–7.

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