Ludmila Frajt facts for kids
Ludmila Frajt (born December 31, 1919 – died March 14, 1999) was a talented composer from Serbia. She wrote many different kinds of music. This included pieces for choirs, orchestras, and smaller groups of instruments. She also created music for films and radio shows. Ludmila Frajt even made special electronic music and wrote lots of music for children. She won many awards for her children's music.
About Ludmila Frajt
Ludmila Frajt, also known as Lida, was born in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. Her family was full of musicians. Her father, Jovan Frajt, came from Plzen in the Czech Republic. He moved to Serbia in 1903. He was a violinist, played the organ, conducted music, and wrote his own songs. He even started a music publishing company called Edition Frajt. After he passed away, his son Stevan, who was also a musician, took over the family business.
Ludmila learned music at home first. Then, she went to the Belgrade Music School. One of her teachers there was a famous composer named Josip Slavenski. In 1938, she started studying how to compose music at the new Belgrade Music Academy. Her teacher was Miloje Milojević.
Her studies stopped because of World War II. After the war ended, she went back to school. Sadly, her professor Milojević died in 1946. So, she finished her studies with Josip Slavenski. Ludmila Frajt became the first woman to graduate in composition from that academy.
Ludmila Frajt and Josip Slavenski were not just teacher and student. They became close friends. Slavenski and his wife were even witnesses at Ludmila Frajt's wedding to Mile Franović. Sadly, Mile was killed in the Syrmian Front war. This happened only three years after they got married. After this sad event, Ludmila never married again.
From 1946 to 1952, Ludmila Frajt led the music department at Avala Film. This company made movies. Then, from 1952 to 1958, she was a deputy music editor at Radio Belgrade. After that, from 1958 until she retired, she worked for Yugoslav Radio-Television (ЈРТ). She was the secretary of their music committee in Belgrade. Besides composing, she also studied old traditions and collected ancient folk instruments.
She passed away in Belgrade when she was 80 years old.
Her Unique Music Style
At first, Ludmila Frajt's music sounded a bit like impressionistic music. This style was popular with French composers. She also loved to study and use old folk music traditions. She learned a lot about this from her teachers Milojević and Slavenski. After World War II, many composers were told to write music in a certain way. But Frajt chose to study Serbian folklore instead. However, her music from this time did not just copy folk songs.
In the 1960s and 1970s, Frajt learned new ways of composing music. These were called avant-garde techniques. She explored ideas like aleatorics, which means using chance in music. She also experimented with "open-work" pieces and mixing different art forms. She combined these new ideas with her love for folklore, rituals, and ancient sounds.
Ludmila Frajt often used unusual or old-fashioned instruments. She also added natural sounds to her music. For example, some of her pieces use folk pipes, silver spoons, and even children's toys!
Ludmila Frajt was a pioneer for women composers in Serbian music. Her music often felt very personal and gentle. It was known for being lyrical and subtle. You could see this in the types of music she wrote and the instruments she chose. She was also very interested in the female voice. She often wrote pieces for solo singers or women's choirs. She created "female" vocal songs like lullabies and threnodies (songs of mourning).
She died peacefully in Belgrade.
Important Musical Works
Here are some of Ludmila Frajt's important musical pieces:
- 1953-65 Five Preludes for harp
- 1965 A Strange Musician, a symphonic story for children (with words by Desanka Maksimović)
- 1966 A Musician and Birds, a rhapsody for clarinet and orchestra
- 1967 Asteroids, electronic music
- 1969 Farewell Songs for mixed chorus (using words from folk poetry)
- 1970 Songs of the Night, a cantata for female chorus and chamber orchestra (she wrote the words herself)
- 1971 Lullaby for soprano and children's toys
- 1972 Silver Sounds for string quartet and silver spoons
- 1973 Threnody for female chorus
- 1975 Еclogue for wind quintet, strings, and percussion
- 1975 Nocturne, electronic music
- 1979 Figures in Motion, electronic music
- 1981 Bells for mixed chorus and tape (with words by Zvonimir Brkić)
- 1982 Music for 13 String Instruments
