Page 31 - 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
programmatic guidelines and by taking part in protests against the pro-
posed tax legislation, which they said would leave artists at the mercy of the
market and equate them with tradesmen.
But initiatives regarding programmes took a back seat when Slovenia’s
barely established statehood was threatened by brute military force. Fol-
lowing the attack on Slovenia, the Society released a public statement in
which it condemned the Yugoslav army for usurping “the decision on the
freedom of the Slovene nation, which had exercised its inalienable right to
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choose a free and independent state.“ It also informed related professional
associations and business partners in other countries.
The Society’s activities in newly independent Slovenia were character-
ised by important initiatives regarding concert activities. These included
the Night of Slovene Composers, an event modelled on Vienna’s Lange Nacht
der Musik, which was inaugurated by composer Marko Mihevc in 1992 and
has become a fixture of the Society’s programme. The defining characteris-
tic of this event is the presentation of works in a variety of styles and com-
positional approaches, linked by the common circumstance of having been
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composed within a short period before the event. Since 1996, the Night of
Slovene Composers has been an integral part of the programme of the Slo-
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venian Music Days. As is the case with the Concert Atelier series, a key ele-
ment of its programme consists of premiere performances of works through
which the Society encourages the musical creativity of its members. In 2003
the event included, for the first time, a concert specifically aimed at a young
audience, organised in conjunction with Jeunesses Musicales Slovenia. This
too has since become a fixture of the Society’s programme.
With independent Slovenia having become a full member of the Inter-
national Society for Contemporary Music in 1992, the Society organised the
first edition of the contemporary music festival Musica Danubiana in 1998.
This event, under the artistic direction of Pavel Mihelčič, connected the
new creative achievements of composers from ten central European coun-
tries. In 2004 the festival was transformed into a biennial international

27 Statement sent by the DSS to the media on 1 July 1991, DSS Archive.
28 Program application to the Ministry of Culture for 1992, dated September 30, 1991,
DSS Archive.
29 The Minutes of the 16 meeting of the DSS Executive Board, held on 20 December
th
th
1995, and the 19 meeting, held on 14 May 1996, DSS Archive.
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