Page 176 - 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. 176
konservator iji: profesionalizacija in specializacija glasbenega dela
of c ultural institutions should be a cultural rather than political issue for all
Slovenes, the Provincial Council maintained its views.2
The result was devastating: the Slovenian Philharmonic (which un-
der the leadership of Václav Talich had notched up several enviable artistic
achievements from 1908 to 1912) was no more, the Slovene theatre and op-
era companies based at the Provincial Theatre ceased their activities, and
the most important music periodical Novi akordi (“New Chords”), the final
issues of which had begun dealing with certain critical concerns regarding
Slovene music, ceased publication. Its Vienna editor Gojmir Krek stood out
against the “rotten circumstances”3 in Slovene cultural policy.
The Glasbena Matica music society in Ljubljana managed to survive
and strove to follow a non-party policy, but neither side was happy with
this.4 Negative views regarding the Glasbena Matica are also evident from
numerous newspaper reports of the time. Ivan Štefe, a journalist at Slovenec
(“The Slovene”), then the leading newspaper of political Catholicism in Slo-
venia, wrote these harsh words: “Although we will not attack the Glasbena
Matica outright, our ultimate aim is to destroy it.”5
Such a position against the main sponsor of the majority of Slovene
music societies naturally could not have had a favourable impact on the
growth and development of Slovene musical culture. It may therefore be
said that the Slovenes were their own worst enemy as far as pre-war musical
culture was concerned, since discord, factionalism and mutual opposition
were what caused the most damage to musical development and the pro-
gress of Slovenia’s burgeoning music culture.
The venerable Philharmonic Society in Ljubljana faced no such prob-
lems, at least not to an extent that would seriously jeopardise its nor-
mal functioning. Despite the impending war, its membership continued
to grow,6 and Philharmonic concerts were conducted more or less undis-
turbed. In this regard, the testimony of a German living in Celje, Fritz
2 Primož Kuret, Ljubljanska filharmonična družba 1794–1919: kronika ljubljanskega
glasbenega življenja v stoletju meščanov in revolucij (Ljubljana: Nova revija, 2005),
406.
3 Gojmir Krek, “Dostavek uredništva,” Novi akordi: glasbeno-književna priloga 13, no.
1 (1914): 23.
4 Nataša Cigoj Krstulović, Zgodovina, spomin, dediščina: ljubljanska Glasbena matica
do konca druge svetovne vojne (Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2015), 85–92.
5 Kuret, Ljubljanska filharmonična družba, 406.
6 As an example, nearly the entire officers’ choir of the 27th Infantry Regiment in
Ljubljana joined the Ljubljana Philharmonic Society. Kuret, Ljubljanska filharmo-
nična družba, 408.
174
of c ultural institutions should be a cultural rather than political issue for all
Slovenes, the Provincial Council maintained its views.2
The result was devastating: the Slovenian Philharmonic (which un-
der the leadership of Václav Talich had notched up several enviable artistic
achievements from 1908 to 1912) was no more, the Slovene theatre and op-
era companies based at the Provincial Theatre ceased their activities, and
the most important music periodical Novi akordi (“New Chords”), the final
issues of which had begun dealing with certain critical concerns regarding
Slovene music, ceased publication. Its Vienna editor Gojmir Krek stood out
against the “rotten circumstances”3 in Slovene cultural policy.
The Glasbena Matica music society in Ljubljana managed to survive
and strove to follow a non-party policy, but neither side was happy with
this.4 Negative views regarding the Glasbena Matica are also evident from
numerous newspaper reports of the time. Ivan Štefe, a journalist at Slovenec
(“The Slovene”), then the leading newspaper of political Catholicism in Slo-
venia, wrote these harsh words: “Although we will not attack the Glasbena
Matica outright, our ultimate aim is to destroy it.”5
Such a position against the main sponsor of the majority of Slovene
music societies naturally could not have had a favourable impact on the
growth and development of Slovene musical culture. It may therefore be
said that the Slovenes were their own worst enemy as far as pre-war musical
culture was concerned, since discord, factionalism and mutual opposition
were what caused the most damage to musical development and the pro-
gress of Slovenia’s burgeoning music culture.
The venerable Philharmonic Society in Ljubljana faced no such prob-
lems, at least not to an extent that would seriously jeopardise its nor-
mal functioning. Despite the impending war, its membership continued
to grow,6 and Philharmonic concerts were conducted more or less undis-
turbed. In this regard, the testimony of a German living in Celje, Fritz
2 Primož Kuret, Ljubljanska filharmonična družba 1794–1919: kronika ljubljanskega
glasbenega življenja v stoletju meščanov in revolucij (Ljubljana: Nova revija, 2005),
406.
3 Gojmir Krek, “Dostavek uredništva,” Novi akordi: glasbeno-književna priloga 13, no.
1 (1914): 23.
4 Nataša Cigoj Krstulović, Zgodovina, spomin, dediščina: ljubljanska Glasbena matica
do konca druge svetovne vojne (Ljubljana: Založba ZRC, 2015), 85–92.
5 Kuret, Ljubljanska filharmonična družba, 406.
6 As an example, nearly the entire officers’ choir of the 27th Infantry Regiment in
Ljubljana joined the Ljubljana Philharmonic Society. Kuret, Ljubljanska filharmo-
nična družba, 408.
174
