Josip Štolcer-Slavenski facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Josip Štolcer-Slavenski
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Josip Štolcer-Slavenski in 1935
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| Born | 11 May 1896 Čakovec, Croatia-Slavonia, Austria-Hungary (modern Croatia)
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| Died | 30 November 1955 (aged 59) |
| Era | 20th century |
Josip Štolcer-Slavenski (born May 11, 1896 – died November 30, 1955) was a famous Croatian composer. He also worked as a professor at the Music Academy in Belgrade.
A British music expert named Jim Samson said that Štolcer-Slavenski was "one of a very small handful of truly major composers" from Southeast Europe in the early 1900s. This means he was a very important musician.
Contents
Life and Music Journey
Josip Štolcer was born in a town called Čakovec in 1896. His father taught him music first. In 1913, he went to the Budapest Conservatory to study music. His teachers there included famous composers like Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók.
His studies were stopped in 1916 because he had to join the army. After the war, he went back to Čakovec to help with his father's bakery business.
Becoming Štolcer-Slavenski
In 1921, Josip went to study in Prague at the Prague Conservatory. While he was there, he joined a group called the International Society for Contemporary Music. This group was for musicians who wanted to explore new and modern music.
After finishing his studies in 1923, he returned to Croatia. He taught music for a year at the Zagreb Music Academy. Around this time, he started using the name Štolcer-Slavenski. He added "Slavenski" to his name to show his support for the idea of a united South Slav people, which was called the Yugoslav idea. He also wanted to move away from his German-sounding last name.
Moving to Belgrade and Gaining Fame
In 1924, he moved to Belgrade, where he lived for the rest of his life. He taught at different music schools there. In 1945, he became a professor of composition at the Belgrade Academy.
Slavenski first became known in 1920 when his orchestral piece, Notturno op.1, was played in Zagreb. In 1924, his First String Quartet was played successfully at a festival in Germany. A famous conductor named Kleiber led his symphony, Balkanophonia, in Berlin in 1927. This piece was then played in many cities across Europe and the USA.
This made Slavenski the first composer from Yugoslavia in the 20th century to become famous around the world. However, in his home country, some people in Belgrade didn't like his modern music at first. After 1938, he didn't compose much new music. His works were rarely performed between 1940 and 1956, and people almost forgot about him. He passed away in Belgrade in 1955. Only after his death did people truly realize how important his music was.
His Musical Style
Slavenski learned a lot about music on his own. The rich folk music from his home region, Medjimurje, had a big impact on him. He loved the sounds of church bells and how their different tones mixed together. This helped him create his unique way of using harmonies in music.
Early Experiments
His early compositions, from when he studied in Budapest, showed he was very creative and loved to try new things. He used polytonality (playing in more than one key at once) and strong, unusual sounds called dissonances in his piano pieces as early as 1913. This was at a time when many other composers were still writing music in a more traditional, romantic way.
His interest in these new sounds brought him closer to the music of Kodály and Bartók. His studies helped him become very good at counterpoint, which is the art of combining different melodies. This skill was a key part of his musical style.
Exploring New Ideas
Slavenski kept experimenting with new ideas throughout the 1920s. For example, his Sonata for violin and organ had sounds that seemed to predict electronic music. His Piano Sonata even used aleatory technique, which means some parts of the music were left up to chance or the performer's choice.
In the late 1920s, Slavenski became interested in the folk music of the entire Balkans region. His work Balkanophonia was the best example of this interest. He was also drawn to the mysterious and spiritual side of music. You can see this in pieces like Chaos and Religiophonia. Many people consider Religiophonia to be his greatest work.
Slavenski was one of the few composers from Yugoslavia who was aware of the new, experimental music happening in other countries during the 1920s and 1930s. He used percussion instruments in very imaginative ways, sometimes sounding like the composer Varèse, even though Slavenski didn't know Varèse's music. He was truly unique in Yugoslav music and didn't have direct followers during his lifetime. After his death, his music became more known. His creative use of folk music and his experiments from the 1920s inspired later composers.
Selected Works
Josip Štolcer-Slavenski wrote many different types of music. Here are some examples of his compositions:
- Orchestral Music: These are pieces for a full orchestra.
* Notturno, op.1 (1916) * Balkanophonia, op.10 (1927) * Religiophonia (also called Symphony of the Orient), for voices, chorus, and orchestra (1934) * 4 Balkan Dances (1938)
- Chamber Music: These are pieces for a small group of instruments.
* Sonata religiosa, for violin and organ (1919–1925) * String Quartet no.1, op.3 (1923) * Slavonic Sonata, for violin and piano (1924) * From the Country, for flute, clarinet, violin, viola, and double bass (1925) * String Quartet no.2 ‘Lyric’, op.11 (1928)
- Piano Music: Pieces for solo piano.
* From the Balkans (1910–1917) * Yugoslav Suite, op.2 (1921) * Sonata, op.4 (1924) * Dances and Songs from the Balkans (1927)
- Vocal Music: Pieces for voices, sometimes with instruments.
* Songs of my Mother, for alto voice and string quartet (1916–1944) * Prayer to the Good Eyes, for chorus (1924) * Little Bird Speaks, for chorus (1927) * 6 Folksongs, for chorus (1927)
He also wrote music for plays, hymns, and film scores.
Međimurje Songs
These are some folk songs from his home region that he used or arranged:
- Međimorje kak si lepo zeleno (Međimurje, how beautifully green you are)
- Raca plava po Dravi (Swimming duck on the Drava river)
- Tu za repu tu za len (Catch for turnip and catch for flax)
- Imala majka tri jedine kceri (A mother had three daughters)
Images for kids
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A page from one of Slavenski's compositions, showing his unique musical ideas.
