Page 283 - 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
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jan šlais’s contr ibution to ljubljana’s violin school
ily moved to Ljubljana in 1919, she briefly continued with her violin stud-
ies in Richard Zika’s class, then with the “excellent pedagogue” Jan Šlais,
who offered her “real violin study”50 and who was a witness at her wed-
ding ten years later.51 She completed her studies at the Ljubljana Conserva-
tory in 1925, performing Tor Aulin’s Violin Concerto, which had also been
Jan Šlais’s final performance concerto at the Prague Conservatory. Unlike
most of Šlais’s pupils, Vida Jeraj decided to continue her violin studies in
Paris, where she caught the attention of the famous violinist and friend
of her father, George Enescu (1881–1955), to whom she played the Aulin
V iolin Concerto that she had studied with Šlais. Enescu wrote her a rec-
ommendation letter for two of the greatest violinists of the twentieth cen-
tury: Eugène Ysaÿe (1858–1931), and Lucien Capet (1873–1928). Because she
received a French scholarship, she chose the latter, with whom she stud-
ied until 1927.
We now turn to Zagreb, where several of Šlais’s pupils continued their
violin studies with Václav Huml (1880–1953). He was another of Ševčík’s
pupils and is today considered the founder of the Zagreb violin school. He
would become the most influential Prague violin pedagogue in Yugoslavia
at the beginning of the twentieth century. Among Šlais’s Slovenian violin
students that continued privately with Huml in Zagreb were: Karlo Rupel,
Jelka Stanič, Ali Dermelj, and Francka Ornik. Many of Huml’s pupils made
successful international careers in the United States, London, Prague, Par-
is, Buenos Aires, Budapest, Johannesburg, Vienna, Geneva, Montevideo,
Sidney, Munich, Hamburg, and Saarbrucken. These included, for example,
three concertmasters in Vienna and teachers at eminent music institutions
such as the Guildhall School of Music in London, the College of Music in
Southampton, and the École Normale de Musique in Paris. Huml’s pupils
taught at the music academies in Zagreb, Belgrade, Ljubljana, and Saraje-
vo. Also, most of the concertmasters of the orchestras in the region were
Huml’s pupils. His success as a violin teacher is testified to by the words of
the famous violin pedagogue Carl Flesch, who said to Huml’s pupil Ljerko
Spiller (1908–2008)52 after his concert in Berlin:
50 Vida Jeraj Hribar, Večerna sonata (Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 1992), 59.
51 Anon., “Dnevne vesti,” Slovenski narod, January 4th, 1930, 4.
52 Ljerko Spiller was born on July 22nd, 1908 in Crikvenica to a Croatian Jewish fami-
ly. After the First World War, Spiller moved to Zagreb and became a pupil of Václav
Huml. With the outbreak of the Second World War, he left Europe and escaped to
Buenos Aires, where he made a successful career in music.
281
ily moved to Ljubljana in 1919, she briefly continued with her violin stud-
ies in Richard Zika’s class, then with the “excellent pedagogue” Jan Šlais,
who offered her “real violin study”50 and who was a witness at her wed-
ding ten years later.51 She completed her studies at the Ljubljana Conserva-
tory in 1925, performing Tor Aulin’s Violin Concerto, which had also been
Jan Šlais’s final performance concerto at the Prague Conservatory. Unlike
most of Šlais’s pupils, Vida Jeraj decided to continue her violin studies in
Paris, where she caught the attention of the famous violinist and friend
of her father, George Enescu (1881–1955), to whom she played the Aulin
V iolin Concerto that she had studied with Šlais. Enescu wrote her a rec-
ommendation letter for two of the greatest violinists of the twentieth cen-
tury: Eugène Ysaÿe (1858–1931), and Lucien Capet (1873–1928). Because she
received a French scholarship, she chose the latter, with whom she stud-
ied until 1927.
We now turn to Zagreb, where several of Šlais’s pupils continued their
violin studies with Václav Huml (1880–1953). He was another of Ševčík’s
pupils and is today considered the founder of the Zagreb violin school. He
would become the most influential Prague violin pedagogue in Yugoslavia
at the beginning of the twentieth century. Among Šlais’s Slovenian violin
students that continued privately with Huml in Zagreb were: Karlo Rupel,
Jelka Stanič, Ali Dermelj, and Francka Ornik. Many of Huml’s pupils made
successful international careers in the United States, London, Prague, Par-
is, Buenos Aires, Budapest, Johannesburg, Vienna, Geneva, Montevideo,
Sidney, Munich, Hamburg, and Saarbrucken. These included, for example,
three concertmasters in Vienna and teachers at eminent music institutions
such as the Guildhall School of Music in London, the College of Music in
Southampton, and the École Normale de Musique in Paris. Huml’s pupils
taught at the music academies in Zagreb, Belgrade, Ljubljana, and Saraje-
vo. Also, most of the concertmasters of the orchestras in the region were
Huml’s pupils. His success as a violin teacher is testified to by the words of
the famous violin pedagogue Carl Flesch, who said to Huml’s pupil Ljerko
Spiller (1908–2008)52 after his concert in Berlin:
50 Vida Jeraj Hribar, Večerna sonata (Ljubljana: Mladinska knjiga, 1992), 59.
51 Anon., “Dnevne vesti,” Slovenski narod, January 4th, 1930, 4.
52 Ljerko Spiller was born on July 22nd, 1908 in Crikvenica to a Croatian Jewish fami-
ly. After the First World War, Spiller moved to Zagreb and became a pupil of Václav
Huml. With the outbreak of the Second World War, he left Europe and escaped to
Buenos Aires, where he made a successful career in music.
281
