Page 233 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2026 Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes.../Composers’ Societies Past and Present...

Yugoslav-Soviet Union relations from the 1950s to 1970s …
32
with a “group of Yugoslav popular performers comprising 20 members.” For
the same year, a reciprocal collaboration was also planned, involving the
visit of Soviet soloists and ensembles, among them pianists Sviatoslav Rich-
ter and Dmitry Bashkirov, as well as the Grand Ballet of the Leningrad
State Theatre of Opera and Ballet – Kirov. It was also planned to reciprocate
through collaboration with Soviet popular performers. Based on these ex-
amples, it is clear that the strategy for selecting representatives was guided
by the criterion of diversity, following the principle of ‘something for every-
one’, evidently in line with the idea that cultural policy does not only entail
communication between elite groups, but is also directed toward the gen-
eral population.
33
However, based on the Declaration of Cooperation between SFRY and
USSR, the first official visit of our composers to the USSR took place in
1960, at the invitation of their Soviet colleagues. The delegates from Yugo-
slavia were Natko Devčić (1914–1997) and Matija Bravničar. According to
the 1962 cooperation plan, composers Dušan Radić (1929–2010) and Pri-
mož Ramovš (1921–1999) were invited as guests for two weeks, with a recip-
rocal visit planned for two young Soviet composers to spend the same pe-
riod in Yugoslavia. That same year, the performance of symphonic works
by domestic composers in Moscow was also planned, which also involved
a two-week stay for a selected Yugoslav composer. The visit was to be re-
turned in the same way: by performing Soviet symphonic music in Bel-
34
grade. The mediator in the realization of these concert events was (usual-
ly) “Jugokoncert”, which received certain funds from the Commission for
this engagement.
For example, in 1964, Slovenian composer and pianist Pavel Šivic
(1908–1995) was sent on a two-week guest tour in the USSR, and he visited
Moscow, Sankt Petersburg, and Yerevan, in today’s Armenia. In addition
to the opportunity to learn about pedagogical methods and fellow pianists
with a reputation from the Moscow Conservatory, Šivic performed piano
works or arranged music by contemporary Yugoslav composers during his
guest appearances. In this sense, he was surprised by the positive reception
of compositions that had been harshly criticized for their radical language
at the Tribune of the Opatija Music Festival a few years earlier: Inventiones

32 Anon., “Krajem februara dolazi na gostovanje Lenjingradski balet,” Borba, 10 Febru-
ary, 1958, 3.
33 “Introduction,” in Cultural Diplomacy, 16.
34 AJ, fond 559 Federal Commission for International Cultural Links (further FCICL),
b. 111, f. 244.

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