Page 184 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2018. Nova glasba v “novi” Evropi med obema svetovnima vojnama ?? New Music in the “New” Europe Between the Two World Wars. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 2
P. 184
nova glasba v »novi« evropi med obema svetovnima vojnama
niques19 nor do we find that his melodic, harmonic or contrapuntal tech-
niques were as advanced as those of Schönberg, Berg or Webern. What
we do discover that is new is a far-reaching development of formal con-
struction, which can be seen in many of his works of the period. Even the
light-hearted chamber works for wind instruments, the Kvintet za p ihala
(‘Wind Quintet’) and the Trio for flute, clarinet and bassoon, which are di-
vided into a number of separate movements, show a fascinating involve-
ment in methods of manipulating form by combining or juxtaposing tem-
pos. The String Quartet No.2 20 and the Nonet, both cast in two movements,
display to a remarkable extent a brilliant juggling of different tempos as a
means of creating dramatic contrasts and tensions. Two of the major So-
natas for solo instrument and piano from this period, those for saxophone
and for cello, are good examples of how Osterc created transitions between
the sections in a seamless way. The former does this over two multi-tem-
po movements, while the latter, nominally in five separate movements, is
played attacca, without a break and with expertly composed transitions
and links between the movements. In orchestral works such as the Passa-
caglia in koral of 1934, the Mouvement symphonique of 1936 and the sym-
phonic poem Mati of 1940 brief neoclassical miniatures are gone and in
their place are developmental, monolithic structures that have their roots
in the Koncert za violino in 7 instrumentov and the opera Krog s kredo.
This breaking down of the traditional structures is an important aspect of
Osterc’s legacy to Slovene music.
SIMC/ISCM
Osterc’s involvement with the ISCM (SIMC) was in the first place concerned
with getting his music performed abroad among sympathetic audiences.
This worked well for him with the performances of Štiri G radnikove pesmi
in Florence in 1932, the Concerto for piano and wind in 1935 in Prague, the
Mouvement symphonique in London in 1938 and the Passacaglia in koral in
Warsaw in 1939. Inevitably he was additionally drawn into correspondence,
almost exclusively from 1930, with numerous musicians many of whose let-
19 Andrej Rijavec, “K vprašanju tonalnosti in verticale v skladbah Slavka Osterca,”
Muzikološki zbornik 6 (1970): 53
20 A full discussion of the extent of Osterc’s ‘avant-gardism’ in this work is discussed
by Marija Bergamo in “Osterčeva ‘avantgardnost’ v luči Drugega godalnega kvarteta
(1934),” Muzikološki zbornik 31 (1995): 63–69.
182
niques19 nor do we find that his melodic, harmonic or contrapuntal tech-
niques were as advanced as those of Schönberg, Berg or Webern. What
we do discover that is new is a far-reaching development of formal con-
struction, which can be seen in many of his works of the period. Even the
light-hearted chamber works for wind instruments, the Kvintet za p ihala
(‘Wind Quintet’) and the Trio for flute, clarinet and bassoon, which are di-
vided into a number of separate movements, show a fascinating involve-
ment in methods of manipulating form by combining or juxtaposing tem-
pos. The String Quartet No.2 20 and the Nonet, both cast in two movements,
display to a remarkable extent a brilliant juggling of different tempos as a
means of creating dramatic contrasts and tensions. Two of the major So-
natas for solo instrument and piano from this period, those for saxophone
and for cello, are good examples of how Osterc created transitions between
the sections in a seamless way. The former does this over two multi-tem-
po movements, while the latter, nominally in five separate movements, is
played attacca, without a break and with expertly composed transitions
and links between the movements. In orchestral works such as the Passa-
caglia in koral of 1934, the Mouvement symphonique of 1936 and the sym-
phonic poem Mati of 1940 brief neoclassical miniatures are gone and in
their place are developmental, monolithic structures that have their roots
in the Koncert za violino in 7 instrumentov and the opera Krog s kredo.
This breaking down of the traditional structures is an important aspect of
Osterc’s legacy to Slovene music.
SIMC/ISCM
Osterc’s involvement with the ISCM (SIMC) was in the first place concerned
with getting his music performed abroad among sympathetic audiences.
This worked well for him with the performances of Štiri G radnikove pesmi
in Florence in 1932, the Concerto for piano and wind in 1935 in Prague, the
Mouvement symphonique in London in 1938 and the Passacaglia in koral in
Warsaw in 1939. Inevitably he was additionally drawn into correspondence,
almost exclusively from 1930, with numerous musicians many of whose let-
19 Andrej Rijavec, “K vprašanju tonalnosti in verticale v skladbah Slavka Osterca,”
Muzikološki zbornik 6 (1970): 53
20 A full discussion of the extent of Osterc’s ‘avant-gardism’ in this work is discussed
by Marija Bergamo in “Osterčeva ‘avantgardnost’ v luči Drugega godalnega kvarteta
(1934),” Muzikološki zbornik 31 (1995): 63–69.
182
