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Skladateljska društva nekoč in danes | Composers’ Societies Past and Present
of, and for encouraging the creation of new works simply by the existence
of this ensemble.
5
As a composer, Petrić’s music has always been melodically oriented.
At the same time, he has always shown an interest in instrumental tech-
niques and colours, as well as convincing form. His music of the 1950s, no-
tably the three symphonies and sonatas for wind instruments, reflects a tra-
ditional approach to melodic writing, especially in the Sonatas for clarinet
and horn where the influence of Hindemith is evident. The Clarinet Con-
certo shows considerable melodic flexibility, while with the Concert Music
(1961–62) Petrić’s style reaches a transitional phase in which there are many
melodic metamorphoses. In works such as the Élégie sur le nom de Car-
los Salzedo for harp and Croquis sonores (1963) for chamber ensemble, we
are dealing with modernist approaches. In the latter composition, the me-
lodic notation is fragmentary, rhythmically irregular, and uses all twelve
semitones. The spatial notation that appears in Seven pieces for seven in-
struments reflects a simple serialism, a characteristic that the composer did
not develop further. Symphonic mutations (1964) represent the beginning
of the consolidation and refinement of Petrić’s compositional procedures.
This work seems particularly notable due to the thematic transformations
and free association of similar types of themes as a connecting factor be-
tween individual parts of the composition.
After a series of chamber works, Petrić created three important more
extensive compositions in 1968–69: Integrale v barvah (‘Integrals in Col-
our’) for orchestra, Intarzije (‘Inlaid Work’ or ‘Marquetry’) for ensemble
and Quatuor 1969 for string quartet. In these works, melodic cells and mo-
tifs are used to form both melodic lines and melodic textures. In all these
works small melodic cells are subjected to a series of inventive yet audi-
ble transformations, with a noticeable synchronization of melodic voic-
es. Petrić’s works of the 1970s include sonata-like pieces for piano, cham-
ber compositions and orchestral works, sometimes with solo instruments
treated in concertante style. Here too, the composer manipulates and trans-
forms short melodic cells into both melodic lines and accompanying tex-
tures, interspersed with unsynchronized ostinatos. The use of long notes
and their elaboration is characteristic of Lirizmi for horn and piano, Medi-
tations for piano trio, the Violin Sonata and especially the Quatuor 1979. In
orchestral works with solo instruments, the orchestral parts are much more

5 Niall O’Loughlin, “Melodic Workings in the Music of Ivo Petrić,” Musicological An-
nual, 29 (1993): 107–19, http://www.dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:DOC-YI8GZRD1.

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