Page 224 - 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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vloga nacionalnih opernih gledališč v 20. in 21. stoletju
to the composer of Zadar.9 This unrealised goal convinced him that “the
moral forces of each of the tribes are too small to make us believe in the
possibility of a singular Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian or Bulgarian nation-
al music”.10 This wide viewpoint is also retraceable in his monograph on the
musicians at the time of Illyrism in Croatia, from 1835 to 1850 (Ilirski glaz-
benici. Prilozi za poviest Hrvatskoga preporoda/Illyrian Musicians. A Con-
tribution to the History of the Croatian Revival, 1893).11 The personalities
Kuhač listed among Illyrians are selected by ideological and not nation-
al criteria. Among the eighteen musicians quoted, there are two Austrians,
two Hungarians, two Czechs, one Slovene, one Serb, and ten Croats.
Apart from the operatic trilogy of Ivan Zajc (1870–1876), a useful ex-
ample to understand the national idea in Croatia after the end of Alexander
Bach’s absolutism is the article “Nova glazbena struja njemačka i sadašnji
talijanski kompozitori” (New Musical Trends in Germany and Contempo-
rary Italian Composers).12 The short essay, printed in 1892, helps us to rec-
ognise not only Kuhač’s personal taste, but also his love for art music in-
spired by folk songs, whatever the nation! He analyses in detail the reasons
why German culture was not able to recover its own folk music, and the
slow process of Slavic nations’ freedom in Central Europe. Dominated by
the German music school, Bohemia, Slovenia and Croatia reacted to this
influence tracing the paths of their own folk music and national/regional
poems. The case of Italy represents for Kuhač an extraordinary experience
of cultural unity of the nation. He believes that art and folk music coex-
ist in Italian opera. In this respect, he writes in praise of Mascagni’s real-
ism refusing Verdi’s conversion to Wagnerism in his last operas. Although
these remarks confirm that he was a clever scholar, in his analysis there is a
strange interpretation, concerning the relationship between Verdi and the
Italian folk legacy, which will last for a very long time. According to Kuhač,
9 “Ja sam uvjeren da će te Vi koli na našu slavjansku glazbu, toli na hrvatski jezik i u
buduće svu pozornost obratiti, je bi želiti bilo da genialni skladatelj La madre slava
i u ove prodre, da se za Jugoslavenstvo viečne zasluge stekne”. This sentence is read-
able in a letter signed by Kuhač on 25 February 1870, now readable in Zdravko Blaže-
ković, “Prilog biografiji Nikole Strmića,” (A Contribution to the Biography of Niko-
la Strmić), Rad JAZU 409 (1988): 299–300.
10 Franjo Ksaver Kuhač, “Sachliche Einleitung zur der Sammlung südslavischer Volks-
lieder,” Agramer Zeitung 48 (1873): 194–202.
11 Idem, Ilirski glazbenici. Prilozi za povijest hrvatskoga preporoda (Illyrian Musicians.
Contributions to the History of Croatian Awakening) (Zagreb: Matica Hrvatska,
1893).
12 Possibly printed in Zagreb, unfortunately without a publishing house.
222
to the composer of Zadar.9 This unrealised goal convinced him that “the
moral forces of each of the tribes are too small to make us believe in the
possibility of a singular Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian or Bulgarian nation-
al music”.10 This wide viewpoint is also retraceable in his monograph on the
musicians at the time of Illyrism in Croatia, from 1835 to 1850 (Ilirski glaz-
benici. Prilozi za poviest Hrvatskoga preporoda/Illyrian Musicians. A Con-
tribution to the History of the Croatian Revival, 1893).11 The personalities
Kuhač listed among Illyrians are selected by ideological and not nation-
al criteria. Among the eighteen musicians quoted, there are two Austrians,
two Hungarians, two Czechs, one Slovene, one Serb, and ten Croats.
Apart from the operatic trilogy of Ivan Zajc (1870–1876), a useful ex-
ample to understand the national idea in Croatia after the end of Alexander
Bach’s absolutism is the article “Nova glazbena struja njemačka i sadašnji
talijanski kompozitori” (New Musical Trends in Germany and Contempo-
rary Italian Composers).12 The short essay, printed in 1892, helps us to rec-
ognise not only Kuhač’s personal taste, but also his love for art music in-
spired by folk songs, whatever the nation! He analyses in detail the reasons
why German culture was not able to recover its own folk music, and the
slow process of Slavic nations’ freedom in Central Europe. Dominated by
the German music school, Bohemia, Slovenia and Croatia reacted to this
influence tracing the paths of their own folk music and national/regional
poems. The case of Italy represents for Kuhač an extraordinary experience
of cultural unity of the nation. He believes that art and folk music coex-
ist in Italian opera. In this respect, he writes in praise of Mascagni’s real-
ism refusing Verdi’s conversion to Wagnerism in his last operas. Although
these remarks confirm that he was a clever scholar, in his analysis there is a
strange interpretation, concerning the relationship between Verdi and the
Italian folk legacy, which will last for a very long time. According to Kuhač,
9 “Ja sam uvjeren da će te Vi koli na našu slavjansku glazbu, toli na hrvatski jezik i u
buduće svu pozornost obratiti, je bi želiti bilo da genialni skladatelj La madre slava
i u ove prodre, da se za Jugoslavenstvo viečne zasluge stekne”. This sentence is read-
able in a letter signed by Kuhač on 25 February 1870, now readable in Zdravko Blaže-
ković, “Prilog biografiji Nikole Strmića,” (A Contribution to the Biography of Niko-
la Strmić), Rad JAZU 409 (1988): 299–300.
10 Franjo Ksaver Kuhač, “Sachliche Einleitung zur der Sammlung südslavischer Volks-
lieder,” Agramer Zeitung 48 (1873): 194–202.
11 Idem, Ilirski glazbenici. Prilozi za povijest hrvatskoga preporoda (Illyrian Musicians.
Contributions to the History of Croatian Awakening) (Zagreb: Matica Hrvatska,
1893).
12 Possibly printed in Zagreb, unfortunately without a publishing house.
222
