Page 14 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2020. Konservatoriji: profesionalizacija in specializacija glasbenega dela ▪︎ The conservatories: professionalisation and specialisation of musical activity. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 4
P. 14
konservator iji: profesionalizacija in specializacija glasbenega dela
graduates of the State Conservatory in Prague) and, a little later, Julij Be-
tetto, Dana Kobler, Karel Jeraj and Lucijan Marija Škerjanc, among others.
Despite the initial difficulties, they succeeded – with great enthusiasm – in
training the first generation of Slovene musicians to be educated in their
home country, who went on to occupy some of the most responsible po-
sitions in the musical life of the nation. Among the first to complete their
studies at the Conservatory in Ljubljana were the violinist Karlo Rupel, the
voice teacher Angela Trost and the composers Pavel Šivic, Marijan Lipov-
šek and Franc Šturm, along with numerous other superlative artists such
as Anton Dermota, who was for many years the primo uomo at the Vien-
na State Opera.
Thanks to their efforts, in as early as the 1920s awareness began to
grow of the need to modernise the Conservatory, expand music education
to the postgraduate level and introduce various academic disciplines. Jo-
sip Mantuani, one of the first teachers at the Conservatory and the father of
Slovene musicology, was already making efforts to establish an independ-
ent Department of Musicology in 1922, but was unfortunately unable to re-
alise his plans. Following nationalisation, the Conservatory’s management
lobbied with increasing intensity to obtain the status of a higher education
institution. After lengthy negotiations with the highest authorities in Bel-
grade, this ambition was eventually realised in 1939 with the establishment
of the Music Academy in Ljubljana (today’s Ljubljana Academy of Music).
The establishment of the Conservatory in itself represented a first im-
portant contact with contemporary pedagogical achievements in other
countries at the higher levels of music education. Despite its modest finan-
cial and material conditions and lack of staff, the Conservatory achieved
significant and indeed enviable successes in some fields (such as Janko
Ravnik’s piano class, Jan Šlais’s violin class or Julij Betetto’s vocal class).
Right up until the Second World War, it was the only arts education insti-
tution in Slovenia to award state-approved diplomas, since plans to estab-
lish similar schools for the theatre and fine arts were not realised until after
the war. Its existence laid the foundations for professional musical activ-
ities in this country and gave Slovene musical culture new opportunities
and stimuli that revealed themselves both in musical production and per-
formance and in the development of teaching methods within individual
musical disciplines.
12
graduates of the State Conservatory in Prague) and, a little later, Julij Be-
tetto, Dana Kobler, Karel Jeraj and Lucijan Marija Škerjanc, among others.
Despite the initial difficulties, they succeeded – with great enthusiasm – in
training the first generation of Slovene musicians to be educated in their
home country, who went on to occupy some of the most responsible po-
sitions in the musical life of the nation. Among the first to complete their
studies at the Conservatory in Ljubljana were the violinist Karlo Rupel, the
voice teacher Angela Trost and the composers Pavel Šivic, Marijan Lipov-
šek and Franc Šturm, along with numerous other superlative artists such
as Anton Dermota, who was for many years the primo uomo at the Vien-
na State Opera.
Thanks to their efforts, in as early as the 1920s awareness began to
grow of the need to modernise the Conservatory, expand music education
to the postgraduate level and introduce various academic disciplines. Jo-
sip Mantuani, one of the first teachers at the Conservatory and the father of
Slovene musicology, was already making efforts to establish an independ-
ent Department of Musicology in 1922, but was unfortunately unable to re-
alise his plans. Following nationalisation, the Conservatory’s management
lobbied with increasing intensity to obtain the status of a higher education
institution. After lengthy negotiations with the highest authorities in Bel-
grade, this ambition was eventually realised in 1939 with the establishment
of the Music Academy in Ljubljana (today’s Ljubljana Academy of Music).
The establishment of the Conservatory in itself represented a first im-
portant contact with contemporary pedagogical achievements in other
countries at the higher levels of music education. Despite its modest finan-
cial and material conditions and lack of staff, the Conservatory achieved
significant and indeed enviable successes in some fields (such as Janko
Ravnik’s piano class, Jan Šlais’s violin class or Julij Betetto’s vocal class).
Right up until the Second World War, it was the only arts education insti-
tution in Slovenia to award state-approved diplomas, since plans to estab-
lish similar schools for the theatre and fine arts were not realised until after
the war. Its existence laid the foundations for professional musical activ-
ities in this country and gave Slovene musical culture new opportunities
and stimuli that revealed themselves both in musical production and per-
formance and in the development of teaching methods within individual
musical disciplines.
12
