Franjo Dugan (1874.-1948.)

11. rujna ove godine minulo je stotrideset godina, otkako je preminuo nakon duge i teške bolesti u bolnici Sv. Duha u Zagrebu, prof. Franjo Dugan, jedna od najistaknutijih ličnosti u povijesti hrvatske glazbe. Prilikom desete godišnjice smrti (1958.) nije se dakako moglo čitati u domovini, ali što je mnogo žalosnije, niti u izbjeglištvu niti jedan jedini redak, posvećen toj toliko zaslužnoj ličnosti za hrvatski glazbeni i prosvjetni život.

Rođen 11. rujna 1874. u Krapinčici u Zagorju, Franjo Dugan svršava 1893. klasičnu gimnaziju u Zagrebu, te se upisuje na Filozofski fakultet Zagrebačkoga sveučilišta uzevši kao predmete fiziku i matematiku.

No već za ranih godina privukla je Dugana jedna druga grana ljudske djelatnosti - glazba, koja postade doskora Duganov životni cilj. Orgulje, instrument, koji je Dugan upoznao još u Zajezdi, postaje mu najmiliji način glazbenoga djelovanja. Dugan je glazbenik-samouk. U šestom razredu gimnazije dolazi u dodir s tadašnjim organistom zagrebačke prvostolnice Vatroslavom Kolanderom, kojega i nasljeđuje na tomu mjestu. Godine 1900., Dugan se ženi s Anom Jagić, nećakinjom hrvatskoga slavista Vatroslava Jagića. Od njegovo šestero djece naročito se istaknuše stariji sin Franjo, kao cijenjeni skladatelj i mladi Čedomil, kao pianist i virtuoz-orguljaš. Već 1907., polazi u Berlin na usavršavanje svojih glazbenih nauka, te polaže u srpnju 1908. ispit iz kompozicije. Često se sjeća svojih nastavnika, Maxa Brucha i Roberta Kahna, poznatih njemačkih skladatelja.

11th September of this year marks one hundred and thirty years since the birth of Franjo Dugan, one of the most prominent figures in the history of Croatian music. He died at the age of 74, after a long and difficult illness in Holy-Spirit hospital in Zagreb. On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of his death (1958) one could read neither in his homeland nor, even more tragically, in exile a single line dedicated to this outstanding figure in Croatian musical and educational life.

Born in Krapincica in Zagorje, on 11th September 1874, Franjo Dugan graduated at the Grammar School (gymnasium) in Zagreb, and then commenced his studies of mathematics and physics at the University of Zagreb.

In his early years Dugan was drawn by another branch of human activity, music, which soon became his life's goal. And his favourite means of musical expression was the organ, with which he became familiar in Zajezda. Dugan was a self-taught musician. In Grammar School he became acquainted with Vatroslav Kolander, the organ player of the Zagreb metropolitan cathedral, and later became his successor. In 1900 Dugan married Ana Jagic, the niece of the Croatian expert on Slavic languages, Vatroslav Jagic. Out of his six children the most prominent were his eldest son Franjo, a distinguished composer, and the younger Cedomil, who was a piano player and organ-virtuoso. In 1907 Dugan left for Berlin to master his Science of Music, where he passed the composition exam in July, 1908. He often spoke fondly of his teachers, Max Bruch and Robert Kahn, two famous German composers.

Po svom povratku u Zagreb, Dugan vodi oštru borbu s malograđanskim gledištem zagrebačkih glazbenih krugova, dok konačno, kao ravnatelj Zagrebačkog konzervatorija pobjeđuje 1930. svojom obnovom naučne osnove, koja dignu najvišu hrvatsku glazbenu ustanovu od zaslužnih, ali diletantskih pokušaja u početku XIX. stoljeća na razinu sveučilišnoga fakulteta. Na prijedlog hrvatskoga pjesnika Dragutina Domjanića postaje Dugan redovitim članom novo-osnovanoga glazbenoga razreda Jugoslavenske Akademije. Kroz sve to vrijeme ostaje Dugan u dodiru s Vijencem, vodi "Oratorijski zbor Sv. Marka" (1923-1926) te prireduje brojne koncerte na orguljama u Hrvatskoj i izvan nje.

Godine 1944., povodom sedamdesetogodišnjice života, prima Dugan priznanje hrvatskoga naroda u obliku odlikovanja za svoj prosvjetni rad sa strane tadašnjega ministra bogoštovlja i nastave, dra Makanca. Radi toga bude Dugan osuđen 1945. na devet mjeseci zabrane javnoga rada i isključenje iz Jugoslavenske Akademije, po svojim vlastitim đacima. Taj čin komunističke partije išao je očito za tim da prof. Franju Dugana moralno potpuno uništi potkraj njegova života, koji je sav bio posvećen dizanju glazbenoga i uopće prosvjetnoga života u Hrvatskoj. Nakon teškoga živčanoga potresa, koji je proživio, razbolio se Dugan malo zatim od teške i neizlječive bolesti raka te je doskora, u noći 13. prosinca 1948. preminuo u bolnici Sv. Duha u Zagrebu, u prisutnosti svoje kćeri Micike (Marije), moje majke. Kako su se komunisti bojali velebnoga sprovoda, nije smrt prof. Franje Dugana niti spomenuta u svakidašnjoj nekrologiji Narodnoga lista. Unatoč tomu, sprovod se velebno odvio uz tužne zvonjave većine zagrebačkih crkava.

Što se tiče Duganova javnoga rada, htio bih se naročito osvrnuti na tri područja njegove djelatnosti: na obnovu u hrvatskoj crkvenoj glazbi - Duganov doprinos cecilijanskom pokretu u Hrvatskoj, na obnovu glazbene nastave u Zagrebu, i na skladateljski rad.

After his return to Zagreb, Dugan led a fierce fight against Zagreb's petty bourgeois musical coterie and their views until 1930 when, after becoming a director of Academy of Music, he began to elevate the study of the principles of music to new heights. It lifted Croatian musical institutions to a position of high esteem in the overall dilettante endeavour of the 19th century, and raised musical study to a University-level discipline. On the recommendation of Croatian poet Dragutin Domjanic, Dugan became a regular member of the newly-founded musical class of the Yugoslav Academy. During all that time, Dugan kept in touch with the journal Vijenac, led "St. Marcus Oratorian Choir" (1923-1926) and gave numerous organ concerts in Croatia and abroad.

In 1944, on the occasion of his seventieth birthday, Dugan's educational work was recognised by the Croatian people, i.e. by the minister of religion and education, Dr. Makanec. And this was how he came, in 1945, to be sentenced to nine months "prohibition of public work”, and then expelled from the Yugoslav Academy - by his own students. Obviously, this act of the Communist party was intended to destroy Professor Dugan morally, professionally, and to do so for the rest of his life; and this, a man who had devoted himself entirely to the elevation of Croatian musical and educational life in general. After a severe nervous breakdown, which he survived, Dugan fell ill with cancer and on the night of 13th December, 1948, in Holy-Spirit hospital in Zagreb, he passed away in the presence of his daughter (my mother) Micika (Marija). As the Communists were afraid of a grandiose funeral, the death of Franjo Dugan was not even announced in the daily obituary of the journal Narodni List. Yet the funeral procession did take place in a grandiose fashion, accompanied by the tolling of a large number of church bells in Zagreb.

As far as Dugan's public work is concerned, I would like to mention three fields of his work: the revival of Croatian church music; his contribution to the Caecilian movement in Croatia; and the revival of music teaching in Zagreb. There is also his composing work.

Tijekom XIX. stoljeća, ušle su u Hrvatsku tuđe crkvene popijevke, "kojima su" - piše sam Dugan u hrvatskoj Enciklopediji - "strani orguljaši u hrvatskim crkvama kvarili ukus našega naroda, jer one sadržavaju trivijalne plesne ritme, neukusne tekstove i melodije, koje se protive hrvatskoj glazbenoj tradiciji". Da bi popravio takovo stanje stvari, otkriva Dugan stare hrvatske pjesmarice, Citharu octochordu ( 1701., 1733., 1757.), Pavlinsku pjesmaricu (1641.) te kasnije zbirke Gjure Veljkovića iz 1808. i 1816. U tim zbirkama odabire Dugan pjesme, koje su po svojem sustavu ili hrvatskoga ili koralnoga značaja te ih kao urednik glazbenoga priloga u smotri za crkvenu glazbu Sveta Cecilija priopćuje vješto i skladno harmonizirane. Čitav se taj rad najbolje odrazio u izdavanju sinteze naše narodne i umjetnicke crkvene popijevke, Hrvatskoga crkvenog kantuala, koji je najznačajniji pothvat cecilijanskog pokreta za sređivanje crkvene glazbe u Hrvatskoj.

Uz hrvatsku crkvenu popijevku, bavio se Dugan naročito gregorijanskim koralom. Osim što je bio, kao orguljaš u neprestanoj svezi s tom vrstom glazbe, proučavao je temeljito i kritički rad stranih, a napose talijanskih stručnjaka na tom polju. Stajao je na stanovištu, da koral ne smije biti mrtva arheološka vrjednota, vec oživljen svim modernim harmonijskim sredstvima, koja mu se u duhu ne protive, živi organizam u životu crkve. Polazeći s toga stanovišta, harmonizrao je skoro sav uobičajeni koral, gdje se naročito ističu majstorske obradbe crkvenih himana. Time je Dugan podigao pratnju rimskoga korala u zagrebačkoj stolnoj crkvi na jedno od najzamjetnijih mjesta u Europi.

During the 19th century, foreign church music became common in Croatia, "to which", writes Dugan in the Croatian encyclopaedia, "foreign organists in the Croatian churches spoiled the taste of our people because they contained trivial dancing rhythm, distasteful texts, and melodies that did not accord with Croatian musical tradition." To improve this state of affairs Dugan brought to light the old Croatian song-book, Cithara Octochorda ( 1701., 1733., 1757.), the Paulinian song-book (1641.), and later the collection of songs by Gjuro Veljkovic from 1808 and 1816. From these collections he selected works on the basis of their Croatian or choral meaning. In his capacity as musical editor of church music presentation for St. Caecilia, he championed them for their skilful harmonization. This entire endeavour led to the creation of a new synthesis of our national and artistic church music in the Croatian Church Chant, which is the most important strand in the caecilian re-arrangement of Croatian church music.

Along with Croatian church music, Dugan also worked with Gregorian Chant. Being an organist he was in constant touch with this music, but he also studied in great depth the critical work of foreign and, particularly, Italian experts in the field. He held that the choral shouldn’t be of only dead archaeological value but imbued with all modern and harmonious meanings, which do not clash with the original spirit but are living organisms in the life of Church. Having this in mind he harmonized the standard choral canon, in which setting his masterly elaborated Croatian hymns became particularly distinguished. In this way Dugan elevated the accompaniment of the Roman choral in Zagreb cathedral to one of the most prominent in Europe.

Kraj Duganova rada u obnovi crkvene glazbe, osobito se ističe njegov naučno-pedagoški rad. Pored organizatorskoga rada preuzima Dugan sam nastavu teoretskih disciplina, kao akustiku i nauku o glazbalima, analizu glazbenih oblika, gregorijanski koral, te glavne teoretske predmete, harmoniju, kontrapunkt, fugu s imitacijom i kanonom, i kompoziciju. Ne smije se smetnuti s uma, da je kroz dugo vrijeme predavao također i orgulje. Kroz svoj dugogodišnji rad na tom polju, stvorio je Dugan potpuno samostalno mnoge udžbenike, kao Nauku o elementarnoj teoriji muzike (1922), Vježbe za zborno pjevanje (solffeggio) (1923), Nauku o muzičkim formama (1932), Nauku o instrumentima (1936), Nauk o glasbalima (1944: uništeno po komunističkim vlastima), te mnoga skripta, koja su Duganu poslužila kao temelj za stvaranje kasnijih naučnih djela, nažalost još u rukopisu: Nauka o formama i Akustika (1943), proizašla iz pera istovremeno stručnjaka fizičara i stručnjaka muzičara, što je dosta rijetko. Važnost i prednost tih djela leži osobito u tome, što su nikla iz rada zagrebačke Muzičke Akademije.

No osim naučnih djela, Dugan je odgojio i čitavo pokoljenje glazbenika, što orguljaša (sina Čedomila Dugana, zeta Mladena Stahuljaka, Franju pl. Lucića), što skladatelja (Franju pl. Lucića, Borisa Papandopula, Josipa Štolcera-Slavenskoga, dra Božidara Širolu, Stjepana Šuleka, Branimira Sakača, Ivana Matetića-Ronjgova, Slavka Zlatića, te poznatoga srpskoga skladatelja Marka Tajčevića).

Unatoč golemosti Duganova pedagoškoga rada, koji mu nije dopuštao da se bavi skladbom koliko bi on to bio želio, ipak se ne može previdjeti važnost njegova skladateljskoga rada. Među njegovim relativno brojnim zborskim skladbama, ističu se svjetovni zborovi Čuj der dušo (1896.), Na Vodi (1897.), Troje proljeće (1903.) na riječi Stanka Vraza, Carmen saeculare (1913.), Morska vrba (1923.), te duhovne skladbe Molitva (1901), Tebe mi hvalimo Bože (1901) na rijeci Marka Marulića, Hrvatska misa (1901), te ofertorij Ad Te Domine (1939), posvećen nadbiskupu dru Anutnu Baueru. K ovome se mogu prikljuciti duhovne pjesme uz pratnju orgulja Regina coeli (1895), Salve Regina (1902), Za vjenčanje (1928) na riječi Petra Preradovića, te Ave Maria (1932).

Besides Dugan’s work in restoring church music, he distinguished himself in his studies of science and education. Side by side with his organisational work, Dugan took over the teaching of theoretical disciplines such as acoustics and studies in instruments, as well as the analysis of musical forms, the Gregorian Choral and the main subjects in theory like harmony, fugue with imitation and canon, and composition. One should not forget, also, that he was teaching organ through a long period of his life. In his dedication to this broad field, Dugan produced many textbooks like Studies in Elementary Theory of Music (1922), Practice for Choir Singing (solfeggio) (1923), Studies in Musical Forms (1932), Studies in Instruments (1936), Studies in Instruments (1944, destroyed under the communist government), and many other scripts which he used as groundwork for later works (which, unfortunately, remained just scripts). Studies in Forms and Acoustics (1943), however, was written at the time other recognised experts in physics and music were only just addressing the phenomenon – which is indeed a rare event. All this achievement is underscored by the fact that everything originated from Dugan's work in the Academy of Music.

In addition to all this, Dugan educated an entire generation of organ musicians, including his son Cedomil Dugan and son–in-law Mladen Stahuljak, and Franjo Lucic; composers Franjo Lucic, Boris Papandopulo, Josip Stolcer-Slavenski, dr. Bozidar Sirola, Stjepan Sulek, Branimir Sakac, Ivan Matetic-Ronjgov, Slavko Zlatic, and the well known Serbian composer Marko Tajcevic.

The immensity of Dugan’s educational contribution did not allow him to write as much music as he would have wanted. Even so, one cannot overlook his compositional work. Among numerous choir compositions there are prominent secular pieces such as Listen you my Sweetie (1896), On the Water (1897), Three Springs (1903) set to the words of Stanko Vraz, Carmen saeculare (1913), and The Sea Willow (1923). Dugan's sacred compositions Prayer (1901), We Praise you Lord (1901) to the words of Marko Marulic, Croatian Mass (1901), and the offertory Ad Te Domine ( 1939), dedicated to the Archbishop Dr. Antun Bauer. For the beauty of the organ accompaniment to these sacred works one could add Regina coeli (1895), Salve Regina (1902), For Wedding (1928) to the words of Petar Preradovic, and Ave Maria (1932).

Iako se Dugan dosta bavio vokalnom i vokalno-instrumentalnom glazbom, nije stvorio niti jednu operu. No to se ima uglavnom pripisati njegovom glazbenom usmjerenju, koje ga je udaljilo od te vrste skladbe, kao što je udaljilo u svoje vrijeme Bacha, Brahmsa, Brucknera, Regera i druge. Neprekidni organistički rad potakao je Dugana na skladanje djela za orgulje, među kojima se ističu nekoliko prvorazrednih skladbi: Toccata u g-molu (1894.), prerađena za glasovir po prof. Svetislavu Stančiću, Fantazija u dorskom načinu na pučku pjesmu "Pozdravleno budi telo Jezuša" (1895.), Kromatska fuga u c-molu (1905.), Preludij i fuga u H-duru (1906.). Osim djela za orgulje napisao je Dugan i ove instrumentalne skladbe: sonatu za violinu i klavir u g-molu (1908.), tri gudačka kvarteta (es-dur, f-dur i h-mol), te Andante za simfonijski orkestar.

Nažalost, Dugan nije doživio pravo priznanje za taj svoj zaslužan rad ni s koje strane, ni nakon svoje smrti, jer iako je već prošlo skoro šezdeset godina od te smrti, ostao je zaboravljen čovjek, koji je uspio ondje, gdje je Lisinski "susto", kako kaže Matoš, ili kako napisa Petar Preradović:

"O moj rode, na tom vrijednom sinu

ti sagriješi s navadna nemara..."

Although Dugan concerned himself with vocal and vocal-instrumental music, he did not write a single opera. This could be ascribed to a musical vocation which took him further away from this genre, as it did Bach, Brahms, Bruckner, Reger and others. It's no surprise, though, that he composed works for the organ, among which a few must be singled-out: Toccata in G minor (1894), modified for the piano by prof. Svetislav Stancic, Fantasy in Dorian Mode according to a national popular song "Greeted is the body of Christ" (1895), Chromatic Fugue in C minor (1905), Prelude and Fugue in H major (1906). Besides these works for the organ Dugan also wrote instrumental compositions: A sonata for violin and piano in G major (1908); the three string quartets (E minor, F minor and H major), and Andante for full orchestra.

Dugan was denied his due recognition for such a meritorious life's work - even after his death. Although sixty years have elapsed since, he remains a forgotten man who continued there where Lisinski had "slowed down," as Matos says, and as Petar Preradovic writes:

"Oh my people, you have sinned with indifference
against this praiseworthy son…"