Page 177 - 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. 177
the establishment of the conservatory of the glasbena matica in ljubljana ...
Zangger, is worthy of note; Zangger wrote that “the social and cultural life
of Ljubljana before the First World War was at an enviable level.”7 He even
believed that no other similar-sized city in the Monarchy could compare
with Ljubljana in this regard, which appears somewhat exaggerated given
the vibrant cultural life of some of the other cities in the Austro-Hungari-
an Monarchy.
The work of the Philharmonic Society, which alongside the German
theatre company at the Provincial Theatre was still the principal mu-
sic institution in Slovenia, was influenced more heavily by certain man-
agement-related changes, as the conclusion of the 1911/12 season saw the
long-serving music director of the Philharmonic Society, Josef Zöhrer, an-
nounce his retirement. The leadership was now assumed by the elderly con-
certmaster Hans Gerstner,8 who from the autumn of 1914 to late June 1919
was responsible for virtually everything connected with the work of the
Philharmonic Society in Ljubljana.9
All the more evident and, for the many musicians from the German
cultural milieu then working in Slovenia, all the more painful, was the rup-
ture in the music scene that followed the First World War, when the Phil-
harmonische Gesellschaft saw its status utterly reduced, paving the way for
its eventual incorporation into the Glasbena Matica as the Filharmonično
društvo on 19 July 1921 (although it was not formally abolished until 1945).10
The main Philharmonic Hall, the Tonhalle, shared the ignominious fate of
its erstwhile administrator. In the immediate post-war years it was used as
storage premises, while in 1923 it was taken over by the Kino Matica cine-
ma company. The magnificent past of the Philharmonic Society was thus
cast onto the scrapheap of history practically overnight. An attempt to take
over the supremely important role it had hitherto played in musical culture
in Slovenia was made by the Glasbena Matica, which henceforth had an al-
most complete monopoly.
7 Fritz Zangger, Das ewige feuer im fernen Land: Ein deutsches Heimatbuch aus dem
Südosten (Celje: Druckerei u. Verlags AG, 1937), 98.
8 In a typescript dated as early as 20 October 1910, the management asked Gerstner to
take over responsibility for the philharmonic orchestras, a task that was said to be of
great artistic and national importance. Die Philharmonische Gesellschaft in Laibach,
20 October 1910, Ljubljana, Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien, Archiv.
9 Jernej Weiss, “Even Amidst the Clash of Conflict, the Sweet Sounds of the Muses did
not Fade Away Completely: The Concert Life of the Philharmonic Society in Ljublja-
na in the Period of its Last Music Director Hans Gerstner,” Muzikološki zbornik 53,
no. 2 (2017): 149–171.
10 Kuret, Ljubljanska filharmonična družba, 443.
175
Zangger, is worthy of note; Zangger wrote that “the social and cultural life
of Ljubljana before the First World War was at an enviable level.”7 He even
believed that no other similar-sized city in the Monarchy could compare
with Ljubljana in this regard, which appears somewhat exaggerated given
the vibrant cultural life of some of the other cities in the Austro-Hungari-
an Monarchy.
The work of the Philharmonic Society, which alongside the German
theatre company at the Provincial Theatre was still the principal mu-
sic institution in Slovenia, was influenced more heavily by certain man-
agement-related changes, as the conclusion of the 1911/12 season saw the
long-serving music director of the Philharmonic Society, Josef Zöhrer, an-
nounce his retirement. The leadership was now assumed by the elderly con-
certmaster Hans Gerstner,8 who from the autumn of 1914 to late June 1919
was responsible for virtually everything connected with the work of the
Philharmonic Society in Ljubljana.9
All the more evident and, for the many musicians from the German
cultural milieu then working in Slovenia, all the more painful, was the rup-
ture in the music scene that followed the First World War, when the Phil-
harmonische Gesellschaft saw its status utterly reduced, paving the way for
its eventual incorporation into the Glasbena Matica as the Filharmonično
društvo on 19 July 1921 (although it was not formally abolished until 1945).10
The main Philharmonic Hall, the Tonhalle, shared the ignominious fate of
its erstwhile administrator. In the immediate post-war years it was used as
storage premises, while in 1923 it was taken over by the Kino Matica cine-
ma company. The magnificent past of the Philharmonic Society was thus
cast onto the scrapheap of history practically overnight. An attempt to take
over the supremely important role it had hitherto played in musical culture
in Slovenia was made by the Glasbena Matica, which henceforth had an al-
most complete monopoly.
7 Fritz Zangger, Das ewige feuer im fernen Land: Ein deutsches Heimatbuch aus dem
Südosten (Celje: Druckerei u. Verlags AG, 1937), 98.
8 In a typescript dated as early as 20 October 1910, the management asked Gerstner to
take over responsibility for the philharmonic orchestras, a task that was said to be of
great artistic and national importance. Die Philharmonische Gesellschaft in Laibach,
20 October 1910, Ljubljana, Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien, Archiv.
9 Jernej Weiss, “Even Amidst the Clash of Conflict, the Sweet Sounds of the Muses did
not Fade Away Completely: The Concert Life of the Philharmonic Society in Ljublja-
na in the Period of its Last Music Director Hans Gerstner,” Muzikološki zbornik 53,
no. 2 (2017): 149–171.
10 Kuret, Ljubljanska filharmonična družba, 443.
175
