Page 231 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2026 Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes.../Composers’ Societies Past and Present...

Yugoslav-Soviet Union relations from the 1950s to 1970s …
As such, this organization was of great significance in coordinating
the renewal of Yugoslav-Soviet relations with several composers inter-
ested in tendencies of music in the USSR, from classical to popular and
film music. Such cultural exchanges were only by exception conducted
through direct contact of SAKOJ members to certain USSR musicians
and cultural workers. In practice, cultural exchanges were initially based
on inter-institutional cooperation between various associations and so-
cieties, through various state protocols and agreements. This was espe-
cially significant in the context of restoring relations with the Soviet Un-
ion, in a ‘soft’ way. In this respect, Slovenian composer Matija Bravničar,
explained:
After the Cominform affair, when the ice of mistrust and hostility be-
tween the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia dissolved, the Union of Yugoslav
Composers took steps to establish contacts with the Composers’ Union
of the USSR and to strengthen its relations with Soviet colleagues, just
as it had with others, especially Polish and Czech composers. 26
In his later memories, Bravničar emphasizes that this was a gesture of
connection, but also of mutual discovery: “We had lived for a long time be-
hind the curtain, and we had no true picture of their musical life, and even
27
less did they have of ours.” Such a statement may have stemmed from the
intention to establish a balanced and controlled relationship with the Sovi-
et Union, in light of the justification for the non-aligned position.
In this context, he noticed that the Soviets themselves made devia-
tions from strict realism, and that they “went beyond the framework of real-
istic methods and that they too followed the modern, contemporary, expres-
sive innovations.” This is precisely the measure that domestic artists, under
the banner of the idea of joining modern trends, or what art historian Ješa
Denegri called “socialist modernism”, and art theorist Miško Šuvaković de-
28
fined as “moderate modernism”, were striving to follow. Šuvaković, who
understood this phenomenon in respect to different artistic practices, ex-
plains that:

26 Matija Bravničar, “Savez kompozitora između II i III kongresa,” in SAKOJ: 1950–
1970, ed. Predrag Milošević (Beograd: Savez kompozitora Jugoslavije, 1970).
27 Ibid. List of most important works by Bravničar, see: Sojar Voglar, ed., Skladateljske
sledi, 38–9.
28 Ješa Denegri, Teme srpske umetnosti 1950–2000. Pedesete (Beograd: Orion Art, 2012);
Miško Šuvaković, Pojmovnik teorije umetnosti (Zagreb, Ghent: Horetzky, Vlees &
Beton, 2005).

231