Memoirs Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

This book reveals a multifaceted intercourse between the Serbian cultural history and history of music, based on testimonies found in the Serbian documentary-artistic prose of the second half of the 19th century. The book analyzes largely unexplored records from diaries, memoirs, autobiographies and travelogues written by Serbian cultural workers during the 19th century, showing that music played an essential role in the life of Serbs across all social strata in those complicated geo-political and cultural-historical periods. The research material diachronically reflects the dynamics and evolution of forms and ways of presence of music where Serbs lived: in the Habsburg Monarchy, in the Principality and Kingdom of Serbia, or the Serbian enclaves in other national environments.
Presenting the status of music in the culture of everyday, both public and private, life of Serbs in the 19th century, the examined documentary records give evidence on the position of music in the sphere of personal interests, affinities and experiences of the selected writers and their contemporaries, including authors, artists, politicians, statesmen and other significant figures of the literary and cultural history, namely Jakov Ignjatović, Laza Kostić, Milan Savić, Branislav Nušić, Dragomir Brzak, Jovan Subotić, Vladan Đorđević, Todor Stefanović Vilovski, Mihailo Polit Desančić, Milan Đ. Milićević, Pera Todorović, Stevan Todorović, Savka Subotić, Milica Stojadinović Srpkinja, Natalija Obrenović, Nikola I Petrović, etc.
Through particular thematic scenes, the examined material reveals portrays of composers, performers and their audience, describes the work of important musical institutions together with various forms and motives for playing, comments different aspects of musical interpretation, and analyzes the characteristics of vocal and instrumental music practice belonging to various regional traditions. This book raises a multitude of complex questions on interpreting the status of music in social, cultural, political and artistic contexts of the epoch, for example on the function of music in a process of social status signifying and differentiating between the urban and rural, or on the role of music in the formation of new cultural layers and the evolution of urbanization and education. The study of musical creativity and performance as a significant segment of Serbian national and artistic heritage corresponds with cherishing the national style and expression stirred by the “awakening of national consciousness” in that period. The memoir records also witness a need to present the Serbian musical heritage in a broader socio-cultural and artistic framework, as well as to adapt certain elements of modern European culture.
The chapters on various aspects of musical genres were divided according to historical and anthropological perspectives on relations between the public and private life spheres, within the complex socio-cultural links and diverse factors of cultural and artistic life among Serbs in various regions in the examined period.
The introductory chapter presents resources and previous research on memoir works of the Serbian authors witnessing the development of Serbian music during the 19th century, and suggests some new perspectives and ideas for further research.
The second chapter, Portraits of musicians and cultural institutions, discusses the contribution of educated and amateur musicians in various fields of creation, such as creating and performing piano music, pedagogical work, establishing the field of music writing, or the processes of introducing and fostering multivoiced choral singing in the Orthodox Church liturgical music, and of developing secular choral singing. Special attention is paid to the cultural work of singing societies (in Vienna, Novi Sad, Zemun, Pančevo, and Belgrade), theaters and operas (in Vienna, Szeged, Pest, Venice, Novi Sad, Zagreb, and Belgrade). Amateur musicians are portrayed as forerunners of interest in and spread of musical topics or as active participants in performances, among which we find some prominent writers, poets, professors, lawyers, and doctors.
The third chapter, Playing practices as the civil society idea, shows that music stimulated cultural and artistic public gatherings, as well as the realization of civil society ideals in the sphere of private life. Apart from diversified genre scenes depicting public performances (music at concerts, balls, besedas as social-artistic gatherings of their kind), the studied documentary texts also give valuable testimonies on music practice and performances in urban families. There prevail the evidence on developed cultural and musical lives in towns inhabited by Serbs within the Habsburg territory (Vienna, Budapest, Szentendre, Arad, Szeged, Pecs, Sombor, Novi Sad, Sremski Karlovci, Zemun, Timisoara, Zagreb), and in the Principality and Kingdom of Serbia (in the towns of Belgrade, Niš, Pirot, Zaječar and Negotin).
The fourth chapter, Between the town and countryside: traditional (secular) folk music, reflects a complex picture of the dynamics of relations between the countryside and urban traditions through memoir testimonies on the types and functions of music and performing in the two distinct environments. The researched memoirs reveal a remarkable level of preservation of church-folk tradition in the countryside, as well as the characteristic amalgam of cultures and music traditions in the urban environment. The singing practices during village rituals and customs within life cycle are presented, as well as those at mass harvests or outdoor parties, both in the countryside and towns. A separate part of this section is dedicated to folk instruments and players. The testimonies correspond with the perceptions of losing national individualism in towns and the high level of conservation of national character and cultural heritage in the countryside in the observed period.
The fifth chapter, Church music in the spheres of public and private life, discusses the documentary testimonies on famous chanters and chant practices among Serbs in the 19th century, on the work of melographers, composers and conductors. This section contributes to the existing knowledge by finding testimonies on the presence of church songs not only in its basic, liturgical function but also in the sphere of private life. The issue of relation between church music aesthetics and authors’ personal spiritual experiences and inspiration for literary creation is particularly discussed.
The last chapter, The memoir records and musical historiography, exposes a survey on basic characteristic of documentary-artistic genres, while evaluating the contribution of chosen material for the current musicological research on the music of Serbs in the 19th century. Besides confirming or adding to the previous knowledge, certain fragments of examined documentary works cast a new light on an interesting field of no less relevance for musicology – the one exploring how music reveals the diversification of inner, spiritual experiences and stimulates the authors’ initial writing and creative impulses.
The concluding chapter aims at stirring a further debate on the level of documentary nature of memoir records as sources for exploring the Serbian music and cultural history. By interpreting testimonies on the existence of music in various social contexts, this book suggests some new possibilities for analyzing versatile roles music had in the public and private life of Serbs in the 19th century, as well as a specific question on a function of music in the literary creation of many Serbian writers. Finally, the book rethinks a general problem of the interconnectedness and interdisciplinary relation between the fields of literature and music, encouraging also a discussion on music as literary topic and on the problem of influences of literary history on musical historiography.