Page 208 - 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. 208
nova glasba v »novi« evropi med obema svetovnima vojnama
performed Osterc’s Preludij za četrttonski klavir (Prelude for quarter-tone
piano), among other works.15 An indication that quarter-tone composition
was never at the forefront of Osterc’s compositional endeavours but was in-
stead a more or less academic or occasional pursuit, much as it was with
other composers of quarter-tone music, comes from the fact that Osterc
only composed two other works using this system: Štiri Heinejeve pesmi za
glas in godalni kvartet (Four Poems by Heine for voice and string quartet,
1931) and the cantata Cvetoči bezeg za alt, zbor in devet instrumentov (The
Blossoming Elder for alto, choir and nine instruments, 1936).
Despite the increasingly evident honing of his compositional style
following his return from Prague, where it was “Hába who played a deci-
sive role in the final stylistic transformation of Osterc the modernist,”16 we
could analyse in detail practically any of Osterc’s constructs from his Lju-
bljana period, including the most radical, namely the central movement of
his Koncert za klavir in pihala (Concerto for piano and wind instruments),
written in 1933 and dedicated to Hába, and discover in every case that in
compositional terms he was building from what we might call consistent
inconsistency. Although Hába praises Osterc for the “fine concerto”, which
he listened to and which was even analysed at school, he simultaneously ex-
horts him to write sequences in an athematic style and advises him to com-
pose a uniformly atonal and athematic piece of a kind he has not yet writ-
ten, but which he is capable of writing.17 Yet even Osterc’s works continued
to show, rather than a consistent athematic and atonal style, a tension be-
tween neoclassicist technique and expressionist language that became quite
typical of his work in the 1930s. For this reason, many researchers draw at-
tention to the composer’s inability to “elaborate a solid compositional sys-
tem”.18 From this point of view, it would therefore be difficult to credit him
with having attended the “Hába School”. Even as a teacher or music theo-
rist, he limited himself to merely indicating certain new developments, for
example in his correspondence school with Pahor or in his unpublished
Kromatika in modulacija (Chromatics and Modulation), despite the fact
15 The original title of the work was Tri skladbe za četrttonski klavir (Three pieces for
quarter-tone piano). Osterc then renamed it Preludij in fuga (Prelude and Fugue) but
never completed it, with the exception of the prelude. NUK, Glasbena zbirka [Natio-
nal and University Library, Music Collection].
16 Gregor Pompe, “Glasba slovenske povojne moderne (1918–1927),” De musica disse-
renda 12, no. 2 (2016): 42.
17 Dragotin Cvetko, Fragment glasbene moderne: iz pisem Slavku Ostercu (Ljubljana:
Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti, 1988), 189.
18 Leon Stefanija, “Osterc in Hába,” Muzikološki zbornik 31 (1995): 33.
206
performed Osterc’s Preludij za četrttonski klavir (Prelude for quarter-tone
piano), among other works.15 An indication that quarter-tone composition
was never at the forefront of Osterc’s compositional endeavours but was in-
stead a more or less academic or occasional pursuit, much as it was with
other composers of quarter-tone music, comes from the fact that Osterc
only composed two other works using this system: Štiri Heinejeve pesmi za
glas in godalni kvartet (Four Poems by Heine for voice and string quartet,
1931) and the cantata Cvetoči bezeg za alt, zbor in devet instrumentov (The
Blossoming Elder for alto, choir and nine instruments, 1936).
Despite the increasingly evident honing of his compositional style
following his return from Prague, where it was “Hába who played a deci-
sive role in the final stylistic transformation of Osterc the modernist,”16 we
could analyse in detail practically any of Osterc’s constructs from his Lju-
bljana period, including the most radical, namely the central movement of
his Koncert za klavir in pihala (Concerto for piano and wind instruments),
written in 1933 and dedicated to Hába, and discover in every case that in
compositional terms he was building from what we might call consistent
inconsistency. Although Hába praises Osterc for the “fine concerto”, which
he listened to and which was even analysed at school, he simultaneously ex-
horts him to write sequences in an athematic style and advises him to com-
pose a uniformly atonal and athematic piece of a kind he has not yet writ-
ten, but which he is capable of writing.17 Yet even Osterc’s works continued
to show, rather than a consistent athematic and atonal style, a tension be-
tween neoclassicist technique and expressionist language that became quite
typical of his work in the 1930s. For this reason, many researchers draw at-
tention to the composer’s inability to “elaborate a solid compositional sys-
tem”.18 From this point of view, it would therefore be difficult to credit him
with having attended the “Hába School”. Even as a teacher or music theo-
rist, he limited himself to merely indicating certain new developments, for
example in his correspondence school with Pahor or in his unpublished
Kromatika in modulacija (Chromatics and Modulation), despite the fact
15 The original title of the work was Tri skladbe za četrttonski klavir (Three pieces for
quarter-tone piano). Osterc then renamed it Preludij in fuga (Prelude and Fugue) but
never completed it, with the exception of the prelude. NUK, Glasbena zbirka [Natio-
nal and University Library, Music Collection].
16 Gregor Pompe, “Glasba slovenske povojne moderne (1918–1927),” De musica disse-
renda 12, no. 2 (2016): 42.
17 Dragotin Cvetko, Fragment glasbene moderne: iz pisem Slavku Ostercu (Ljubljana:
Slovenska akademija znanosti in umetnosti, 1988), 189.
18 Leon Stefanija, “Osterc in Hába,” Muzikološki zbornik 31 (1995): 33.
206
