Page 223 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2019. Vloga nacionalnih opernih gledališč v 20. in 21. stoletju - The Role of National Opera Houses in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 3
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the italian “national oper a” imagined from a souther n slavic viewpoint
in the Verismo, but unlike Kuhač he refused any comparison between Ital-
ian and Slavic opera, this last one considered as a national product that
should have never been affected by Italian or German patterns.
Given that Kuhač’s biography, né Franz Xaver Koch of a German fami-
ly, is well known, I would like to outline some crucial aspects of his thought
on folk songs as a source for opera.6
During the 1850s and 1860s, the musicologist could undertake some
journeys throughout the South Eastern part of Europe, with the task of
gathering folk music. The final result of this incredible effort was the publi-
cation, from 1878 to 1881, of his collection in four volumes of 1,600 tunes un-
der the title Južno-Slovjenske narodne popievke (Southern Slav Folksongs).
His first approach to ethnicity in music produced an ambiguous mean-
ing of the term “narodna glazba”, referring to both the traditional and art
music based on folk. In his writings the floating meaning of ethnic mu-
sic seems to be the outcome of a series of political changes that occurred in
Croatia and among the Southern Slavs.7 This may explain why at the begin-
ning of his career he was inclined to Pan-Slavism, while later he was near
to the South-Slavic or Yugoslav ethnicity, and finally, at the end of his life,
to Croatian nationalism. As a young musicologist, he converted himself
from German to Croatian nationality, and embraced the radical Pan-Slavic
idea against the pro-German policy. From the 1860s to the 1870s, he turned
his attention to the South-Slavic brotherhood. In that period, he was close
to Nicolò de Strmić from Zadar, an Italian-oriented nobleman who com-
posed La madre slava (The Slav Mother, 1865).8 This opera was staged in Tri-
este and Zagreb, and it includes two famous Illyrian anthems Još Hrvats-
ka ni propala, Croatia Has Not Yet Fallen, text by Ljudevit Gaj set to music
by Ferdo Livadić in 1833, and Mi smo braćo ilirskog, We are Brothers of Illy-
ria, by the priest Mijo Hajko. After the Italian opera La madre slava, Ku-
hač hoped in vain that Strmić had written a Yugoslav national opera, based
on the authentic Southern Slavic folklore, as he wrote in a letter addressed
6 See the proceedings Franjo Ksaver Kuhač (1834-1911). Glazbena historiografija i iden-
titet/Franjo Ksaver Kuhač (1834-1911). Musical Historiography and Identity, ed. Vjera
Katalinić and Stanislav Tuksar (Zagreb: Croatian Musicological Society, 2013).
7 Stanislav Tuksar, “‘Die Geburt der Musik aus dem Geiste des Volkes’: The Construc-
tion of the Idea of National Music in Franjo Ksaver Kuhač’s (1834–1911) Historiogra-
phy - Slavic vs. German vs. Italian,” Musica e Storia 12, no. 3 (2004): 563–90.
8 Caterina Brugnera, “La madre slava di Nikola Strmić: un tentativo di incontro tra il-
lirismo e opera italiana,” Musica e Storia 12, no. 3 (2004): 591–610.
221
in the Verismo, but unlike Kuhač he refused any comparison between Ital-
ian and Slavic opera, this last one considered as a national product that
should have never been affected by Italian or German patterns.
Given that Kuhač’s biography, né Franz Xaver Koch of a German fami-
ly, is well known, I would like to outline some crucial aspects of his thought
on folk songs as a source for opera.6
During the 1850s and 1860s, the musicologist could undertake some
journeys throughout the South Eastern part of Europe, with the task of
gathering folk music. The final result of this incredible effort was the publi-
cation, from 1878 to 1881, of his collection in four volumes of 1,600 tunes un-
der the title Južno-Slovjenske narodne popievke (Southern Slav Folksongs).
His first approach to ethnicity in music produced an ambiguous mean-
ing of the term “narodna glazba”, referring to both the traditional and art
music based on folk. In his writings the floating meaning of ethnic mu-
sic seems to be the outcome of a series of political changes that occurred in
Croatia and among the Southern Slavs.7 This may explain why at the begin-
ning of his career he was inclined to Pan-Slavism, while later he was near
to the South-Slavic or Yugoslav ethnicity, and finally, at the end of his life,
to Croatian nationalism. As a young musicologist, he converted himself
from German to Croatian nationality, and embraced the radical Pan-Slavic
idea against the pro-German policy. From the 1860s to the 1870s, he turned
his attention to the South-Slavic brotherhood. In that period, he was close
to Nicolò de Strmić from Zadar, an Italian-oriented nobleman who com-
posed La madre slava (The Slav Mother, 1865).8 This opera was staged in Tri-
este and Zagreb, and it includes two famous Illyrian anthems Još Hrvats-
ka ni propala, Croatia Has Not Yet Fallen, text by Ljudevit Gaj set to music
by Ferdo Livadić in 1833, and Mi smo braćo ilirskog, We are Brothers of Illy-
ria, by the priest Mijo Hajko. After the Italian opera La madre slava, Ku-
hač hoped in vain that Strmić had written a Yugoslav national opera, based
on the authentic Southern Slavic folklore, as he wrote in a letter addressed
6 See the proceedings Franjo Ksaver Kuhač (1834-1911). Glazbena historiografija i iden-
titet/Franjo Ksaver Kuhač (1834-1911). Musical Historiography and Identity, ed. Vjera
Katalinić and Stanislav Tuksar (Zagreb: Croatian Musicological Society, 2013).
7 Stanislav Tuksar, “‘Die Geburt der Musik aus dem Geiste des Volkes’: The Construc-
tion of the Idea of National Music in Franjo Ksaver Kuhač’s (1834–1911) Historiogra-
phy - Slavic vs. German vs. Italian,” Musica e Storia 12, no. 3 (2004): 563–90.
8 Caterina Brugnera, “La madre slava di Nikola Strmić: un tentativo di incontro tra il-
lirismo e opera italiana,” Musica e Storia 12, no. 3 (2004): 591–610.
221
