Croatian Classical Music, 11th-19th centuries
Darko Zubrinic, Zagreb (1995) An age
is known by its music
Croatian proverb (see [Kuhac])
The first Croatian neum manuscripts
for church music date from the 11th century. The Osor Evangelistary
(1080-1082) from the convent of st. Nikola in Osor (island of Cres) is
written in beneventana, ornamented by Monte Cassino initials, and accompanied
with old neums. This evangelistary contains among others a prayer for
the Pope, for Byzantine tsar, and for the King which at that time was
factual ruler of Osor (regis nostri) - Croatian King Zvonimir. The evangelistry
is held in the Vatican Archives. Some of the Christmas folk songs from
the 12th century are still very popular. It is interesting that the Croats
have more than 500 (five hundred) Christmas carols. There are Christmas
verses that can have a dozen of different melodies, varying considerably
from region to region. The number of Croatian Christmas
carols is surprisingly
large even in world's proportions.
According to Dr. Miho Demovic, a well known and very popular Croatian Christmas carol Narodi nam se kralj nebeski is from 13th century, and U se vrime godisca might be from 12th century, see Glas koncila, 25. 12. 2007, p 15.
Miho Demovic, a Croatian musicologist, discovered some old partitures in the Vatican archives originatin from the territory of Croatia. Together with Hortus Musicus (Tallin Estonia), two concerts were organized within The Osor Musical Evenings, entitled Music in Croatia from 8th to 10th centuries, and Music in Croatia from 10th to 12th centuries. See here, and also Miho Demović: Liturgijski recitativi iz starih hrvatskih kodeksa od X. do XII. stoljeća, Zagreb, Kor Prvostolne Crkve Zagrebačke, 2000, ISBN 9005208-5-2, 400526039
The Cika Breviary from 11th century is important monument of Croatian culture written in the Benedictine Monastery of St. Krsevan in Zadar. It also contains musical notation, and is kept in Budapest in the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences.
Vekenega Evangelistary, a top monument of Croatian culture, is a richly illuminated Latin text from the 11th century. It has been written in the famous Benedictine monastery of St Krsevan, and is kept today in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Below you can see the neums accompaning the text.
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Very old and valuable is the Dubrovnik Missal from 12th century, now kept in the Bodleian Library in Oxford. Written in Latin, in Beneventan script, it contains prayers and some chants unique in Europe. See [Menalo, pp. 34-35], and also Dubrovnik.
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We can see musical notation also in the famous Trogir Evangelistary (Evangeliarium Traguriense), written in 1230-40, kept in the treasury of the cathedral in Trogir:
A special place in the history of Croatian music has the Glagolitic church singing. The earliest mention of glagolitic singing in Croatia is already from the year 1177, when Pope Alexandre III visited the town of Zadar, known for its very old and fruitful glagolitic tradition in Croatia . In the 1368 Missal of Duke Novak (held in the National Library in Vienna) there are symbols above the Glagolitic text which seem to denote the way of singing. The same holds for the Hrvoje Missal, written in ~1404 by scribe Butko probably in Zadar, kept in the Library of Turkish sultans in Constantinople in Turkey.
- Stanislav Tuksar, Kratka povijest hrvatske glazbe, Matica hrvatska, Zagreb, 2000, p. 12,
- [Croatia - Europe, Volume I, Glagolitic singing by Jerko Bezic, pp 729-737],
- Katarina Livljanic, Music, in [The Croats - Christianity, Culture, Art], pp 183-192; the above Croatian glagolitic fragment with musical notation, found in Strahov in the Prague, is held at the University Library of Ljubljana, Slovenia, obviously a part of larger unknown Croatian manuscript from 15th century. According to Josef Vajs the fragment is the proof that also in church singing the Croatian glagolites were not behind the Latin clergy, see his book, p. VIII
- A small Croatian glagolitic fragment from 15th century with musical notation (neums) is held also in the library of Franciscan convent of Sv. Franjo Ksaverski in Zagreb (information by dr. fra Izak Spralja).
- [Vinko Zganec]
Ocara-Radio France and Harmonia Mundi, two renowned French publishers, issued a CD entitled Croatie. Musique d'autrefois, Croatia. Music of Long Ago (C 600006/HM79). It represents an anthology of Croatian traditional music. See also Katarina Livljanic.
The Passion procession on Croatian islands (like on Hvar for instance) has centuries old tradition with its roots in the Middle Ages. Passion processions are not organized by the Church or priests, but by laity, i.e. by confraternities of villagers. Musicologists consider passion songs in Croatia among the oldest in Europe. Each spring a festival of Croatian passion heritage (Pasionska bastina) is held in Zagreb. Its symbol is glagolitic letter A. In 1985 Maestro Ljubo Stipisic issued 8 cassettes representing Old Church (Glagolitic) folk songs from 15 places on the island of Hvar. These are records of very old tradition.
Les chantres de Pharos: Chants glagolitiques pour la
Semaine Sainte
Ile de Hvar, Croatie
ZA KRIZEM:
Glagolitic chant for Holy Week from Hvar, Croatia
The Pharos Cantors, recorded in June 1999 in Stari Grad,
Hvar, Croatia
produced by Nenad Bach
These Croatian glagolitic Lenten chants retrace a venerable and direct link to our ancestors, our roots, and our religious belief. Born out of Middle Ages, they continue to extend an unbroken tradition of Croatian history. They still resonate as part of our being, so let them be our pride, our support, and our hope.Dr. Vedran Deletis, New York
The Pharos Cantors (Hvarski kantaduri) sang their very old Lenten chants in Czechia, Great Britain, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary, Germany, Spain, the USA, the Netherlands, Austria, etc. Example:
Examples:
See Pasionska bastina page (in Croatian), and listen to Madonna's weeping (Stabat mater dolorosa), a glagolitic chant from the island of Hvar (village of Vrbanja). Truly amazing way of singing (be patient while listening).
Mel Gibson's web page The Passion of the Christ also in Croatian.
Leos Janacek, Czechia, composed his famous Glagolitic Mass. According to The Penguin Guide to Bargain Records, 1966, GB, the text is taken from native Croatian variations of the Latin text (see p. 191).
The earliest known Croatian composers are Andrija Motovunjanin (born in the Istrian town of Motovun around 1470) and Franjo Bosanac (a Croat born in Bosnia around 1490).
- Croatian Middle Age Music, by Hana Breko (in Croatian)
- Glagolitic singing, by Gorana Doliner (in Croatian)
Petar Hektorovic, a well known Croatian poet, nobleman, connoisseur of Latin language and classical literature, wrote his Ribanje i ribarsko prigovaranje in 1568, which is the first realistic epic poem of Croatian Renaissance literature. It provides four folk tunes accompanied with musical notation. The book has been translated from Croatian into English in 1979 by Edward Dennis Goy under the title Fishing and fisherman's' conversation.
Bartol Gyurgieuvits (1506-1566), born in Turopolje near Zagreb, had spent 14 years enslaved in Turkish Empire. After his escape to Europe he published numerous works about the Turks. Among them is De Turcarum ritu et caeremoniis (where he is called Bartholomeus Georgievits), published in Amsterdam in 1544, in which he described among others the characteristics of music in Islamic society. It was among the first in Europe treating Islamic music, and was translated into seven languages. It was indeed very popular throughout Europe: the work had as many as 77 editions.
Juraj Hus, a Croatian captive in Turkey, became a military trumpeter for the Turkish army. Once he played his trumpet on the top of a pyramid near Cairo, 16th century!
The Croats can boast of having two excellent Renaissance composers. The first one is Julije Skjavetic (Schiavetti) from the 16th century. Between 1557 and 1573 he lived in Sibenik, and was conducting a choir in the famous Sibenik Cathedral. He wrote a collection of madrigals for 4-5 voices and a collection of motets for 5-6 voices (both published in Venice in 1563 and 1564 respectively). An important collection of his motets that was held in Dresden, disappeared after the destruction of the city in 1945. Luckily, it was discovered in Krakow in 1993.
Ivan Lukacic (1584-1648), a Renaissance composer born in Sibenik, was conductor and organist in the Split Cathedral. In 1620 he published a collection Sacrae cantiones, containing 27 motets for 1-5 voices accompanied by organs. Lukacic's collection was lost in the course of WW2, and rediscovered in the 1980's at the Jagiellon Library in Krakow, Poland. This is the only known copy.
Gabriello Puliti (1580-1643), an Italian priest, was an important composer for lute and organ in various Croatian towns of Istria. Another interesting Italian composer was Tomaso Cechini (1580-1644), an organist in the cathedral in Split and Hvar (on the island of Hvar). Both of them influenced the Croatian cultural circle in this region.
Besides Lukacic, Vinko Jelic (1596-1636) was the most important representative of Croatian church music of the time. He was born in Rijeka, and died in Alsace in France (Zabern). This Early Baroque composer is noted for introducing new techniques like chromatics and sequences into his music, which have just begun to appear in Europe. In 1622 he published a collection consisting of 24 motets (plus 4 other pieces) Parnassia militia in Strassbourg.
Otce nas (Our Father) in the Glagolitic,
Levakovic's
Glagolitic Missal, Rome 1631
Misa u Harvatski Jezik (=
Mass in Croatian Language) ,
kept in the Franciscan convent in Sinj, 1644
A true jewel of Croatian culture is Pavlinski zbornik (Paulist collection) from 1644, a collection of church chants. It is important in its language, text and sheet music. Paulists left important traces in Croatian culture during five centuries of their presence in Croatian lands from 13th to 18th centuries, see [Sekulic].
According to outstanding Croatian ecumenist, theologist and musicologist Juraj Krizanic (1618-1683), music should be regarded as a part of mathematics. In Rome he supervised a publication of musical works of the Portuguese king D. João IV.
Kristofor Ivanovic, a Canon of the town of Budva in Boka kotorska, published his Memorie teatrali in Venice in 1681. It was the first history of Venetian opera, covering the period of 1637 - 1681. Its 2nd edition appeared in 1687.
Passionale Croaticum Almae Ecclesiae
Zagrabiensis, 1683
(kept
in the National and University Library, Zagreb)
For more information see Vjera Katalinic: Glazbena kultura u hrvatskim zemljama (Music Culture in Croatian Lands), [Baroque and Enlightenment, 17th-18th centuries, III, pp. 705-716]
Petar Nakic (1694-~1769), born near the town of Sibenik, and better known under his italianized name Pietro Nacchini, is one of the most important representatives of Croatian late Baroque and early Classicism. In various cities in northern Italy and in smaller number in Dalmatian part of Croatia (Nerezisce and Supetar on the island of Brac, the Cathedral of Rab on the island of Rab, church of St. Frane in Sibenik, Visovac covent on the Krka river) his workshop built more than 300 top quality organs (according to some data - more than 500!). He built sophisticated organs for the grand basilica in Padova (with 30 registers and 2 manuals), but it disappeared in the fire in 1926. In Croatia his organs are for example in Visovac, Sibenik, Makarska and Zaostrog. He also introduced some innovations in the construction of organs (tiratutti) that are in use even today, found new tonal ratios (mensura's), and founded a unique school for organ building in Venice.
Cithara Octochorda is the most significant old collection of Latin - Croatian Church songs, published in 1701 in Vienna, reprinted in 1723 again in Vienna, and in 1757 in Zagreb. This impressive, monumental book contains 235 Croatian songs in the Kajkavian dialect. The songs were a part of the so called Zagreb church service, that was cancelled in 1878. A very nice web-page devoted to this jewel of Croatian culture is provided by the British Library, London.
Luka Sorkocevic (1734-1789), whose beautiful symphonies are performed throughout the world, lived in Dubrovnik. The opening melody to this web page is his Allegro.
You can see a detail from the Dubrovnik polyptich by Lovro Dobricevic from 1466, representing an angel playing portative, a small portable organ:
Ivan Mane Jarnovic (Italianized name Giornovichi, 1740-1804) was an outstanding Croatian violinist and composer of the 18th century, probably from Dubrovnik. He had a true European career - playing, composing and conducting in France (Paris), Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Poland, Scandinavian countries, England. Also played the first violin in the orchestra of the Russian empress Katarina II. Jarnovic composed about 50 chamber instrumental pieces, 22 violin concerts (17 preserved), and is known for having introduced the romanza as a slow movement into the structure of the violin concert. His life is described in a novel Jarnowick by G. Desnoisterres - Le Brisoys, Paris 1844, and in a collection Scènes de la vie d'artiste by P. Smith (Une leçon de Jarnovic, Paris, 1844).
Our folk music is of great beauty
and variety. Some of its themes were used by famous European composers,
like Bedrich Smetana and Joseph Haydn, who spoke Croatian. Joseph Haydn (1738-1803) was born in a Croatian ethnic
enclave in Burgenland (Gradisce) in
Austria. For example the main theme of his London symphony no 104 in
D major (movement
IV) is based on the well known Croatian traditional song "Oj, Jelena,
Jelena, jabuka zelena" (Oj, Jelena, Jelena, my green apple). Also the
final of his Es major symphony is based on the Croatian folk song "Divojcica
potok gazi" (A little girl treads on a brook). And even the following
song that is widely known in Croatia - "Nikaj na svetu lepsega ni,
nego gorica kad nam rodi..." (There is nothing more beautiful in
the world than a fruitful hill) was exploited by Haydn (I
learned this on a wonderful 11th birthday party of my dear friend
Ema Tolic).
A famous compser Ludwig van Beethowen used a theme from Croatian folk song "Kisa pada, trava raste, bor se zeleni" for his Pastoral Symphony. A well known Czech composer Berdrich Smetana in his symphonic melody Vltava has the main theme (in minor) which is almost indentical with Croatian folk song (in major) "Mis mi je polje popasel". Information provided by Josip Zavrski, Skolske novine, 16. travnja 1991., p. 5.
Sir William Henry Hadow, renowned English scholar and musicologist (1859-1937), lecturer in Oxford, editor in chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia of Music (1901-1905), and a leading influence in English education at all levels in the 1920s and 1930s, wrote a booklet entitled
in 1897 in London (published by Seely and co. limited; reprinted in
1972 by Freeport, New York). This and other references related to Joseph
Haydn can be found at The
Library of Congress Citations:
Author: Hadow, William Henry, Sir, 1859-1937.
Title: A Croatian composer; notes toward the study of Joseph Haydn.
Published: Freeport, N.Y., Books for Libraries Press [1972]
Description: 98 p. illus. 22 cm.
LC Call No.: ML410.H4 H3 1972
Dewey No.: 780/.92/4 B
ISBN: 0836968816
Notes: Reprint of the 1897 ed.
Subjects: Haydn, Joseph, 1732-1809.
Names, Personal -- Croatia.
Control No.: 72004147 /MN/r972
Here we reproduce the concluding paragraph of Haydn's short biography presented by MusicaClassica:
A distinguishing trait of Haydn's works was his frequent use of Croatian folk music for his melodic material. Wrote W. H. Hadow: "The Croatian melodies are bright, sensitive, piquant, but they seldom rise to any high level of dignity or earnestness. They belong to a temper which is marked rather by feeling and imagination than by any sustained breadth of thought, and hence, while they enrich their own field of art with great beauty, there are certain frontiers which they rarely cross, and from which, if crossed, they soon return." Even many of Haydn's original melodies are characterized by typical rhythmic and melodic qualities to be found in the Croatian folk songs. However, as Franze Bellinger has added, "Haydn's speech, like that of every genius, was not only that of his race, but of the world." To these Croatian characteristics, Haydn added his high inspiration and sensitivity, and produced a type of melody which, for the most part, is unmistakably his.
Haydn is a common Croatian family name. In the Croatian telephone book you can see the names of Hajdin, Hajdina, Hajdinjak, Hajdinac, Hajdinovic: 63 families in the Zagreb county, 91 families in Medimurje and Varazdin counties, 65 families in Primorsko-Goranska county; and altogether 320 families in the whole Croatia (1999). There is a village of Hajdine near Vrbovsko in Croatia, on the main road to Rijeka, and the village of Hajdin near Vojnic. The name Hajdin (= hajda's) is derived from hajda = buckwheat.
Parents of Franz Joseph Haydn are Mathias Haiden and Anna Maria Haidin, as can be seen on their grave in the Rohrau cemetery even today. This is stated by outstanding Croatian musicologist academician Lovro Zupanovic in his afterword to the book of [Kuhac, pp 305-306]. Academician Zupanovic stated also the following:
"It is a pity that in his time Kuhac did not know for team work, or could not (was not allowed to?) accomplish. Otherwise - the redactor [ie. Zupanovic] is firmly convinced on the basis of own experience - ... that for half of names listed [by Kuhac] in his Hystorical introduction he would have no problems in proving their Croatian descent. This especially holds for Franz Joseph Haydn..." (see [Kuhac, p. 305]).
For those who can read Croatian, here is what academician Zupanovic wrote (see [Kuhac, pp 305-306]):
"Šteta je što Kuhač u svoje vrijeme nije znao za timski (grupni) rad, ili ga - ako mu je i bila poznata tehnika - nije umio/moga (smio?) ostvariti. Da mu je to uspjelo, on bi - priređivač je na osnovi vlastitog iskustva u to čvrsto uvjeren - zajedno s po jednim lingvistom, povjesničarom, arheologom, teologom i još pokojim (strukovno srodnim) znanstvenikom za polovicu imena što ih je naveo u Historijskom uvodu argumentirano dokazao njihovo hrvatsko podrijetlo. To osobito vrijedi za Franza Josepha Haydna, sina Mathiasa Haden-a i Ane Marije Haidin kako piše na nadgrobnom spomeniku koji danas stoji na groblju u Rohrauu. U svoje vrijeme - uz iznimku engleskoga muzikologa W. H. Hadowa (1859.-1937.) - posebice u njemačkim zemljama dočekana "na nož" a danas posvema odbačena, Kuhačeva pretpostavka ostaje ako ništa drugo a ono curiosum sui generis.
Let us add that the melody for the Austrian national anthem (and later the German anthem), composed by Joseph Haydn, is based on a very old Croatian folk song ("V jutro rano se ja stanem, rano pred zorom...", see the Oxford Music Dictionary). It is also significant that Haydn himself named the song Volkslied, before it became the anthem ("Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" - God Save the Emperor Franz). Compare the Croatian folk song
with the German national anthem:
See also sheet music taken from Austrian - American Magazine, March 2002. For more details see Hadow's analysis from his monograph A Croatian Composer; notes towards biography of Joseph Haydn (London 1897).
The poet J. W. Goethe translated some of our most beautiful folk ballades into German (from their Italian translation, done by Alberto Fortis; see his Viaggio in Dalmazia, Venice 1774). In this way Asanaginica obtained a European fame (translated also by P. Méerimée, W. Scott, A. Puskin, A. Mickiewicz and others). Only in Scotland it had three translations in the 18th and 19th century (including that of Walter Scott). This poem appeared most probably in Dalmatia in the 16th or 17th century and represents a jewel of Muslim-Slav oral tradition. After its Italian translation many other translations ensued: about ten translations into German, about the same number into French as well as English, and also translations into Swedish, Russian, Spanish, Romanian, Hungarian, Czech, Polish, Latin, Esperanto, Hebrew, Dutch, Albanian, Macedonian, Turkish, Persian, Danish, Ukrainian.
The Musikverein (Glazbeni zavod) in Zagreb was established in 1827. Related to this are the beginnings of the Music Academy in Zagreb from 1829.
The verses for the Austrian national anthem "Land der Berge, Land am Storme", were written by Paula von Preradovic (1887-1951), Austrian writer and poetess, grand-daughter of the Croatian poet Petar Preradovic (1818-1872), with the music of W.A. Mozart.
| Land der Berge, Land der
Ströme, Land der Äcker, Land der Döme, Land der Hämmer, zukunftsreich. Heimat bist du grosser Söhne, Volk begnadet für das Schöne, Vielgerühmtes Österreich, Vielgerühmtes Österreich! Heiss umfehdet, wild umstritten, Mutig in die neuen Zeiten, |
Land of mountains, land
on the river, Land of fields, land of cathedrals, Land of hammers, rich in outlook. You are the native home of great sons, A people uniquely gifted for the beautiful, Much applauded Austria. Fiercely embattled, ferociously contested, Courageously we stride |
Paula von Preradovic on Austrian postage stamp, issued in 1996
She wrote a lot about Croatia, its people, history and nature, for example "Königslegende" in 1950, "Pave und Pero" in 1940, and "Dalmatinische Sonette" in 1933.
According to Franjo Kuhac (19th century), both Austrian and German anthem have been composed by Joseph Haydn in the 18th century, based on a slightly abridged Croatian folk melody "V jutro rano ja se stanem."
A lovely parade march called the Jelacic March (Op. 244), composed by Johann Strauss the Elder, was played by the composer and his orchestra in Vienna in 1849, one day after Josip Jelacic was proclaimed an honorary citizen of the city. A total of eight marches and one waltz were dedicated to J. Jelacic by various Austrian composers.
Very beautiful traditional song of Bosnian Croats is S onu stranu Plive (On the other side of the Pliva river). Since the creation of Bosnia and Herzegovina as an independent state in 1992, the song has been chosen as the national anthem of this state.
The first national operas among the Slavs were composed by Russians (M. I. Glinka, 1836, 1842), then the Croats follow immediately. Vatroslav Lisinski composed the first Croatian national opera "Ljubav i zloba" ("Love and malice") in 1846. Then follow the Czechs (B. Smetana in 1862), and these three nations are the only ones among the Slavs who have national operas.
Let us mention that Franz Liszt gave piano concerts in Zagreb (see here, in Croatian) and in Samobor, a lovely nearby town, in 1846. Operas composed by Ivan Zajc (1832-1914) and Jakov Gotovac (1895-1982) are performed in concert halls throughout the world. The most famous opera of Jakov Gotovac is Ero s onoga svijeta, which has been translated into 9 languages and performed in about 80 countries.
It seems that a well known tune "U boj, u boj!" from the opera Nikola Subic Zrinski by Ivan Zajc is taught in Japanese schools. Information by Mr. Nenad Bach, New York. Professor Vladimir Devidé, outstanding japanologist from Zagreb, considers this very probable: he remembered a very young boy walking on a Tokyo street Komaba, wearing a huge rucksack filled with books, and whistling the familiar melody - "U boj, u boj"! (this occurred in 1961, during his first visit to Japan; personal information, 2004).
"U boj, u boj!" for Japanese readers, with historical account, where you can listen to the tune performed by Japanese choir singing in Croatian! (Provided by Kwansei Gakuin Glee Club).
U boj, u boj! is a web web page where You can find additional information, including libretto in Croatian. Listen to Japanese student choirs singing in Croatian:
We cannot avoid the fact that some outstanding historians of Croatian music (like Lovro Zupanovic, Ennio Stipcevic) prove that the first Croatian opera was composed almost 80 years earlier than "Ljubav i zloba" by Lisinski. The name of the composer is Julije Bajamonti (1744-1800). In 1796 he wrote an article "Il medico e la musica" ("The physician and music"), an essay on musical therapy, one of the first in history, in which he showed that music has therapeutic strength. He was the most versatile and fertile Croatian composer of the time (230 compositions, some of them fragmentary). Bajamonti composed sacred music for verses in Latin, Italian, and Croatian: for example La passione de Gesu Cristo (cantata to words of Pietro Metastasio), Requiem (composed on the occasion of death of Rugjer Boskovic, commissioned by the Dubrovnik Senat in 1787), Spiritual songs to Croatian verses. In 1767 he composed an oratorio which represents the first Croatian opera, and according to Lovro Zupanovic, the most beautiful work of its time in this country. He also wrote the first Croatian oratory (La translation di San Diomo), one of the highest achievements of Croatian 18th century music.
The verses for the Croatian national anthem Our Beautiful Homeland (Lijepa nasa domovino) were written by a Croatian poet and diplomat Antun Mihanovic (1796-1861).
|
Lijepa
naša domovino
|
Our
Beautiful Homeland
|
| Lijepa
naša domovino, Oj junačka zemljo mila, Stare slave djedovino, Da bi vazda česna bila! |
Beautiful is
our homeland,
|
| Mila,
kano si nam slavna, Mila si nam ti jedina, Mila, kuda si nam ravna, Mila, kuda si planina! |
You are our only
glory,
|
| Teci,
Sava hitra, teci Nit ti Dunaj silu gubi, Kud li šumiš, svijetu reci: Da svog doma Hrvat ljubi. |
Sava, Drava,
keep on flowing,
|
| Dok
mu njive sunce grije, Dok mu hrastje bura vije, Dok mu mrtve grob sakrije, Dok mu živo srce bije! |
When his fields
are kissed by sunshine,
|
A famous Ukrainian linguist Agatangel Efimovic Krimski, or Agatangel Kryms'kij (1871-1942), founder of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, and its lifelong president, suggested during the 1934 Congress of Soviet writers that the USSR national anthem should be composed according to Croatian anthem. Maksim Gorki, his close friend, claimed that the Croatian anthem is the most beautiful among anthems of all peoples of the world, since he had opportunity to listen to it from some Croats during a fair held in Nizhnij Novgorod. See Dragutin Em. Safar: Krimski - veliki prijatelj Hrvata, Marulic 5/2001, Zagreb, pp 943 -946. Maksim Gorki translated Lijepa Nasa from Croatian into Russian, see [Sekulic, p. 374].
It is sometimes claimed that the music for "Lijepa nasa" (Our Beautiful) was written according to Donizetti's "O sole piu ratto" from the opera "Lucia di Lammermoor". However, as I was informed by Emil Cic (musicologist and musical critic, Zagreb), this is not true. Indeed, see the partiture. Josip Runjanin, who composed the melody for Lijepa Nasa, is sometimes claimed to be a Serb born in Croatia, which also is not true. See a monograph written by Andrija Tomasek, "Lijepa nasa - povijest jedne zablude", Muzicki informativni centar Koncertne direkcije Zagreb, 1990. Hearing a remark about alleged Serbian origin of her father, Runjanin's daughter exclaimed: "But, my father was a Croat!" Runjan was born in Vinkovci, of pravoslav (Orthodox Christian) parents, and a great Croatian patriot (see [Kuhac, pp 231-244]). It is little known that Lijepa Nasa was proclaimed Croatian national anthem in 1891 after suggestion of Dalmatian Croats (ibid., p. 237). Many people have already remarked exceptional poetic value Our Beautiful (Lijepa Nasa). For instance, compare its content with the bloody message of the French national anthem.
Ivan Padovec (1800-1873), born in the beautiful baroque town of Varazdin (known for its festivals of baroque music) was a guitar virtuoso, who gave concerts in Zagreb, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Hamburg, London, in Poland, Russia etc. He constructed a ten string guitar. Also, he published his Teoretish - praktische Guitar - Schule in Vienna in 1842.
Mirko Orlic: Ivan Padovec, Croatian guitarist of europen renown, Gitara 2, 2000., in Croatian [PDF]
Illma de Murska (born as Ema Puksec in the town of Ogulin, 1834 - 1889) was an opera diva of international fame, nicknamed Croatian canary and Croatian nightingale. She sang in Italy, Spain, Hungary, and her most fruitful period was in Vienna, Austria. She also sang in Berlin, Hamburg, Paris and London, and had tours in Australia, Russia, USA and New Zealand. In St. Petersburg she was singing at the Court and the Russian Czarina crowned her with a brilliant diadem (see here for more details). In Melbourne, Australia, there is a street called De Murska Street in her honour.
The prima donna Ilma di Murska on the London stage
Joseph Angster (1834-1918) was born in Jagodnjak
(Kacsfalu) in eastern Croatia (near Danube river),
famous church organ constructor. His organs can be found in many
churches in Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Czech Republic, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Serbia & Montenegro, Poland, in Rome -Italy, Romania and
Ukraine. He participated in organ construction for Cologne-castle,
Notre-Dame church in Paris and for St. Trinity church
organ.
Many thanks to Mr. Darko Varga
(from Bilje, Baranja) for having contributed Angster's biography to
this web.
Franjo Krezma (born in Osijek in 1862)
had a reputation of an authentic violin virtuoso, and was a concert master
in the Royal orchestra in Berlin (today's Berliner Philharmonie) at the
age of 17. Already at the age of 16 he was admired in many European cities:
Rome, Prague, Genova, Paris, Vienna, Venice. Once he played also with
Franz Liszt. Having inscribed the Conservatory of Vienna at the age of
9 as the youngest student ever, he completed his studies at the age of
13, after which started his spectacular European career. Such musicians
like Giuseppe Verdi, Franz Liszt, Henry Vieuxtemps considered him a successor
of Paganini. Unfortunately, he died very young at the age of 19.
About 100 of his pieces have been discovered by Kresimir
Marmilic in Zagreb in 1996!
Jednoč, kada se je Krežma sa svojim sinčićem šetao prema
Savi, te došao k livadi na kraju savske ulice, kaže
Franjo: "Otče, deder da malo stanemo, ja bih slušao, kako
žabe krekeću." A tada će: "Slušaj samo, otče, ona žaba
tamo na desno pjeva tenor, ona tamo s lieva bas, a ovi tu
malo bliže srednje glasove, sbilja cieli kvartet; ali ove
tu kraj jarka kvare harmoniju, jer dočim sbor pjeva u
dur-priemetu, ove tamo krekeću u molu." Otac se nasmije,
te mu odvrati: "Nemoj ludovati", ali Franjo mu reče: "O,
mene moj sluh ne vara."
Croatian violinist and violist Louis Svecenski (1862-1926) was born in Osijek and studied at the Vienna Conservatory. He was a member of the Kreisler Quartet in the period of 1885-1917, and director of the New York Institute of Music. Also, he was one of the founders of Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.
Liturgical singing from the Parcic Glagolitic Missal printed in Rome in 1893. Note that the text is printed in Croatian Glagolitic characters.
References related to Croatian music:
- F. Kuhac: Ilirski glazbenici, HSN, 1994 (reprinted from 1893 edition), with afterword of academician Lovro Zupanovic; on p. 5 Kuhac cites the following Croatian proverb: Po zveku (glazbi) se vrieme pozna, that we took as the motto of this web page.
- Miho Demovic: Glazba u staroj hrvatskoj drzavi, pp 103-155, in [Prvi hrvatski kralj Tomislav]
- Stanislav Tuskar: Kratka povijest hrvatske glazbe, Matica hrvatska, Zagreb 2000.
- Lovro Zupanovic: Glazbena kultura, in [Croatia - Europe, volume II],
- Jerko Bezic: Glagoljasko pjevanje, in [Croatia - Europe, volumes I and II]
- Stefan Kocsis: Die
sakrale Musik der burgenländischen Kroaten
in Geschichte und Gegenwart - Maestro degl'Ivellio nam predstavlja, at www.croatia.ch
- Muzicka akademija, Zagreb
Croatian Classical Music, 20th-21st centuries
Croatian Folk and Pop Music
Croatia - overview of its History, Culture and Science