Ways of Serbian music 1919-1944

Abstract

After the First World War Serbian music was undertaking a new start Everything was new, nothing was as before, but... in the music some old paths were preserved, although new generation, not very young in the post-war period, like Petar Konjović, Miloje Milojević and Stevan Hristić (born between 1883 and 1885) inclined toward modernism already before the Great War, leaving a bit aside the elder musicians, traditionalists, among them Božidar Joksimović, Stanislav Binički, Petar Krstić or Petar Stojanović. All of them were studying abroad, all of them were obsessed with the so called national style, but the latter, cherished by the19th century composers in Serbia, was not satisfying enough for the new modernists. The changed face of the world and of Europe after the Great War and Russian revolution brought new views and new needs concerning arts, literature and music. The musical Serbs were trying to be the part of Europe (meaning by it Western Europe where they accomplished their studies), as though they were not a part of it already. Russia was always in this sense far from South Slavs, and after the revolution quite inaccessible. What have the small musical nations expected from the accelerated development, which made them jump over the centuries of musical experience? Maybe to keep at any price the pace with others, not sacrificing the rich yet unexplored and not enough used musical folklore, in the time when the others, that means the central musical nations were post Wagnerites, postverists and postimpressionists with radical changes of the New Viennese school. In general the South Slavs, especially Serbians (after the Great War in Yugoslavia) of the first mentioned group succeeded in modernising the national style in the frames of Post romanticism and to reach some cosmopolitan trends in their musical language thanks to newly discovered Russian music, especially that of Modest Moussorgsky. Thus the opera Boris Godunov (performed in Zagreb 1918 and Belgrade 1926) became a model and image shaping in some way the new music of South Slavs. It must be underlined that Boris had also an almost avantgardistic effect when shown in Paris opera in 1908 by the Russians. The goal in Serbia was achieved in 1920s with operas of Petar Konjović and Stevan Hristić and with instrumental music of Miloje Milojević. The instrumental music was also preferred by the radical Serbian Group of Prague (born between 1907 and 1910, finishing their studies in Czech capital), confronting the elders in early 1930s, denying completely tradition, Romanticism or the national style old and new. The young people named Dragutin Čolić, Milan Ristić, Ljubica Marić, Vojislav Vučković and Stanojlo Rajičić were also pupils of Alois Haba, concerned with experiments in very small intervals (Vierteltonmusik) which did not find any response by the Yugoslav or Serbian audience. This rejection compelled the Serbian avantgardists to mitigate their very bold musical idiom at the end of the 1930s. During the Second World War and German occupation composers in Serbia were not working for the publicity but awaited better times when surviving modernists and some traditionalists, and of course the Group of Prague brought to the light their compositions written in internal emigration.

U radu su prikazani osnovni tokovi razvoja srpske muzike u naznačenom periodu, sagledani i u kontekstu evropskih tendencija. Ukazuje se na različite estetske poglede po pitanju kosmopolitizma i nacionalizma tradicionalnog i avangardnog u srpskoj muzici. Naglašen je značaj premijernog izvođenja u Beogradu velikih dela svetskog repertoara, kao što je opera Boris Godunov Modesta Musorgskog.