Vasilije Mokranjac facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Vasilije Mokranjac
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Vasilije Mokranjac on a 1998 Yugoslavian stamp
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| Born | 11 September 1923 |
| Died | 27 May 1984 (aged 60) |
| Occupation | Composer |
Vasilije Mokranjac (born in Belgrade on September 11, 1923 – died in Belgrade on May 27, 1984) was an important Serbian composer. He was also a professor who taught how to compose music at the Faculty of Music in Belgrade. He was a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, which is a very respected group of smart people.
Mokranjac was one of the most famous Serbian composers in the second half of the 20th century. He was well-known for his big orchestral pieces called symphonies. He also wrote music for the piano, radio shows, movies, and plays. He won many top awards in the country that used to be called Yugoslavia. These awards included the October Prize and the Lifetime Achievement Award.
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About Vasilije Mokranjac
Vasilije Mokranjac came from a family of famous musicians in Serbia. His father, Jovan Mokranjac, played the cello. Jovan was also the nephew of another famous composer, Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac. Vasilije's mother, Jelena, was from the Czech Republic and also played the cello.
Even though his parents played the cello, Vasilije chose to study the piano. He took private lessons from 1932 to 1942. After that, he went to the Belgrade Music Academy (now called the Faculty of Music). He studied piano with Emil Hajek and finished in 1948.
While studying piano, he became very interested in writing his own music. So, he decided to study composition with Stanojlo Rajičić. He graduated in composition in 1951. After finishing his studies, he spent his time composing and teaching music. He never performed as a pianist again.
From 1948 to 1956, he taught at music schools in Belgrade. In 1956, he started teaching at the Music Academy. He became a full professor there in 1972. From 1962 to 1965, he was the President of the Association of Serbian Composers. He became a member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in 1967. In 1976, he became a full member and also received an award for his lifetime of achievements.
In 1984, Mokranjac passed away at an early age. Because of this, he left many unfinished works. He had a wife named Olga and a daughter named Alexandra.
His Music Style
Vasilije Mokranjac wrote only instrumental music. This means he wrote music for instruments, not for singing. His music style is often described as neoclassicism and moderated modernism. These styles mix older music ideas with newer ones.
When he first started composing, his music was mostly neo-romantic. This means it had a strong emotional feel, like music from the Romantic period. But he also added parts that sounded like traditional Serbian folk music. This was partly because, after World War Two, young composers were encouraged to write in a certain way.
His teacher, Stanojlo Rajičić, was quite traditional. He wanted his students to write music in classic forms, like the sonata-form. Later in his career, Mokranjac's music combined ideas from neo-expressionism and neo-impressionism. These styles focus on expressing strong feelings or creating a certain mood.
Mokranjac's work can be divided into three main periods. Each period shows changes in his style and what kind of music he was most interested in writing.
First Period (until 1958)
Most of Mokranjac's early pieces were written for the piano. Some of his student works were successful neo-romantic pieces. These include Theme with Variations for piano (1947) and his Dramatic Ouverture (1950).
His piano music is very challenging to play, showing he was a skilled pianist himself. Many people say his piano works are some of the best in Serbian music. Most of his piano pieces have been published. They are often played in concerts by famous pianists. They are also used in music schools across Serbia to teach students.
Many of his piano works are written as a suite or a cycle of short pieces. Each piece in these collections has its own character. Two exceptions are his Two Sonatinas (1953–54) and Sonata Romantica (1947).
Works like Etudes (1951–52) and Six Dances (1950–57) show Mokranjac moving away from neo-romanticism. He started adding elements of jazz and blues. He also used ideas from composers like Béla Bartók and Paul Hindemith. In terms of harmony, he used more complex sounds. He would mix two different keys at once (bitonal) or two different modes (bimodal).
The individual pieces in these works usually have traditional, balanced forms. They can often be played on their own. However, Mokranjac wanted the whole collection to feel connected. Each piece played a specific role in the overall story of the work.
Mokranjac's piano music often has many layers. You might find hidden melodies in the middle parts of the music. He used thick, complex harmonies and broken chords. He also used long-held notes (pedals) that made the music feel still or unclear. His Concertino for piano, two harps, and strings (1958) finishes this first period. In this piece, he combined older baroque forms with folk music elements.
Second Period (1961–1972)
During this middle period, Mokranjac mainly focused on music for orchestras. He wrote three symphonies in 1961, 1965, and 1967. In his First Symphony, he introduced a special musical idea. This idea, a "chord" with a perfect fourth and major seventh, would appear often in his later works.
All three symphonies have a neo-expressionistic style, showing strong emotions. The Third Symphony even uses a twelve-note row. However, Mokranjac didn't strictly follow the rules of this technique. He used it more for a specific sound effect. Even though his symphonies followed the traditional four-movement structure, he started to blend the movements together. This led to his later works, which were often single-movement symphonies.
At the same time as his symphonies, Mokranjac wrote other orchestral pieces. These were often neoclassical, inspired by composers like Igor Stravinsky and Hindemith. Examples include Ouverture (1962) and Divertimento (1967) for string orchestra. During this time, he also wrote a lot of music for films and plays. Interestingly, he didn't write any piano music in this period. However, the piano was still important in his orchestral pieces. It often had important, almost solo, parts.
Third Period (1972–1984)
From the early 1970s, Mokranjac's style changed again. He combined all his past techniques with a new, gentle, and emotional sound. This new sound included elements of neo-impressionism and a style called the New Simplicity.
All of Mokranjac's works from his final period are written in a single movement. This is true whether they are called a "symphony" or a "poem." These pieces often build up to a big dramatic peak and then slowly calm down. In terms of harmony, he experimented with Olivier Messiaen's "modes with limited transposition." For example, in his Lyric Poem (1974) and Fifth Symphony (1979), he used Messiaen's Second Mode.
He also used the twelve-note row again. But this time, he treated it as a main theme. He developed it throughout the piece, unlike in his Third Symphony. You can hear this in his Fourth Symphony and Musica Concertante.
The piano made a full return in this period. Two very successful piano suites, Intimacies and Echoes, were written in 1973. The individual pieces in these suites are very connected. They cannot be played separately. This means the idea of a "suite" changed into a single, long "poem."
The suite-poem Intimacies is like a big musical journey. It starts with quiet, almost improvised sounds. It then moves through fast and slow sections. It reaches a very dramatic peak in the middle. After that, it slowly calms down. In this work, Mokranjac shares his inner feelings. He shows how his quiet, thoughtful inner world clashes with the noisy, threatening outside world.
The second suite-poem from 1973, Echoes, is similar in form and style to Intimacies. However, it shows a different side of the composer. It explores his search for spirituality and his family roots. He used these ideas to protect himself from outside pressures. The work was inspired by Byzantine chants and church bells. Mokranjac used different piano sounds to create the feeling of bells in each of the eleven movements. He didn't try to perfectly copy a religious service. Instead, he showed how parts of it "echoed" in his mind.
Lyric Poem (1974) is Mokranjac's most famous orchestral piece. It is similar to Intimacies and Echoes. It has different sections that are connected by the same main musical idea. This idea is based on a special musical scale. You can also hear elements of folk music in the gentle sound of the woodwind instruments. Mokranjac also quoted a part of his own earlier work, Ouverture (1962), in this piece.
His Fifth Symphony, called Quasi una poema (1979), shares many features with Lyric Poem. It also uses Messiaen's Second Mode. The symphony is mostly calm and thoughtful, not full of conflict. Mokranjac also used his special "pra-motif" from his First Symphony again. For the first performance of his Fifth Symphony, Mokranjac said: "The experience of darkness and light inside and around us... these are the ideas that form the basis of a dramatic plot of my Fifth Symphony." This quote could describe many of his later works.
Mokranjac as a Teacher
Vasilije Mokranjac was known as a kind and open-minded professor. He did not force his students to write music in a certain way. He supported them in finding their own unique artistic voices. His most famous students later became known as the first Serbian minimalists. They even formed a group called OPUS 4. These students included Vladimir Tošić, Miroslav Savić, Miodrag Lazarov, and Milimir Drašković.
Because he supported his students so much, Mokranjac sometimes disagreed with his former teacher Rajičić and other professors. These other professors preferred a more traditional way of teaching composition. Mokranjac was criticized for letting his students express their artistic goals freely. Besides the OPUS 4 group, Mokranjac taught other important composers. These include Rastislav Kambasković, Vlastimir Trajković, Aleksandar Vujić, and Svetlana Maksimović.
Important Works
Orchestral:
- 1950 Dramatic Ouverture
- 1958 Concertino for piano, two harps and chamber orchestra
- 1961 First Symphony (in A)
- 1962 Ouverture
- 1965 Second Symphony (in F)
- 1967 Third Symphony (in E)
- 1967 Divertimento for strings
- 1969 Symphonietta for strings
- 1969 Concert Ouverture
- 1972 Fourth Symphony (in C)
- 1974 Lyric Poem
- 1976 Musica Concertante for piano and orchestra
- 1979 Fifth Symphony – Quasi una poema
- 1983 Poem for piano and orchestra
Piano music:
- 1947 Theme with Variations
- 1951–52 Seven Etudes
- 1953–54 Two Sonatinas: A minor, C major
- 1956 Fragments
- 1950–57 Six Dances
- 1973 Intimacies
- 1973 Echoes
- 1975 Five Preludes (another Prelude added in 1984)
Chamber music:
- 1952 Old Song and Dance for violin (or cello) and piano
- 1965 Plane Trees, suite for 3 flutes, harp, vibraphone, piano and celesta
- 1984 Prelude for clarinet
