Projects / Programmes
Researches in the History of Music in Slovenia
January 1, 2015
- December 31, 2021
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.08.00 |
Humanities |
Musicology |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| H320 |
Humanities |
Musicology |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 6.04 |
Humanities |
Arts (arts, history of arts, performing arts, music) |
history of music, history of music in Slovenia, Slovenian cultural history, Slovenian composers, music institutions, music genres, composition, music performance, reception of music, reflection on music
Researchers (19)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
The research programme, conceived for 2 FTE and a period of six years, consists of three segments:
A: History of music in Slovenia. In the previous six-year period a new History of music in Slovenia came into being; comprising to this date three volumes it covers the periods up to the end of the World War I. In the next period the fourth volume presenting music in Slovenia in the 20th century will be produced.
On the basis of all the four volumes of the new History of music in Slovenia, a one-volume version will be compiled. It will be limited to the presentation of main evolutional traits and facts, and will be written in such a way that it will be accessible also to intellectuals non-musicologists.
B: Articles and monographs. While compiling the new History of music in Slovenia, many specific aspects demanding a closer examination in the form of special research (whose results should be published later in the form of scholarly texts) came to the fore. Among the more important studies planned for the following period are:
A monograph on the so called Hren’s codices. It will examine the pre-history of a group of manuscripts from the beginning of the 17th century containing sacred polyphony that were in possession of the Ljubljana Prince Bishop Tomaž Hren/Thomas Chrönn.
A collection of studies on specific aspects of medieval plainchant manuscripts from Slovenian institutions. In the form of independent yet related studies the monograph will present the main characteristics of the plainchant manuscripts used in Slovenian churches in the Middle Ages.
In preparing the new History of music in Slovenia, a lack of modern monographs on important composers came into view. The first composers to be dealt with in the form of a monograph will be Jakob Frančišek Zupan/Jakob Suppan (1734–1810) and Hugolin Sattner (1851–1934).
C: Scholarly editions of the primary sources for the history of music in Slovenia. Within the series Monumenta artis musicae Sloveniae (http://mi-s.zrc-sazu.si/index.php?q=en/node/34) housing scholarly editions of music by composers related to the Slovenian territory up to the second half of the 19th century, one new volume is planned for each of the six years.
A new series entitled Complete works of Slovenian composers will be initiated. Planned are the critical editions of complete opuses of more important Slovenian composers of the 19th and 20th centuries.
In the frame of the already existing series of e-editions The Slovenian musical heritage (http://ezb.ijs.si/fedora/get/ezmono:sgd/VIEW/) edited by the Institute of Musicology, two new subseries will be initiated: Fragments of medieval plainchant manuscripts in Slovenia will be a database, offering facsimiles and main data of the mentioned sources. In another subseries, The history of Slovenian reflection on music, the scholarly editions of works of older Slovenian music historians and essayists will be published.
Significance for science
The extent of researches into history of music is on the increase. New findings and interpretations, presented at various conferences, complete and gradually change the existing knowledge. The proposed research activities represent a portion of this international scholarly undertaking; their objective is to upgrade the knowledge and to sharpen the understanding of history of music in (central) European regions.
A: History of music in Slovenia. The fourth volume of the new History of music in Slovenia (20th c.) represents a big challenge as in dealing with so many different genres it will have to find a new methodology. As for the one-volume version of the new History of music in Slovenia (aimed at non-musicologist intellectuals) its scholarly import lies in the fact that it will enable interdisciplinary culturological approaches. This volume will serve also as the starting point for a one-volume History of music in Slovenia in English (see D).
B: Articles and monographs. Slovenia lies between European East and West, North and South. It was a country of transfer and subject to various influences. The Slovenian musical past cannot be explored without keeping in view what was going on in the neighbouring regions. This also implies that the study of central European musical past cannot be complete without the Slovenian portion (e.g., knowledge of Carthusian musical practices cannot ignore the collection of plainchant manuscripts from the Charterhouse Žiče/Seitz; functioning of 18th-century opera companies cannot be understood without taking into account their visits to Ljubljana, lying between Gorizia/Gorica and Graz, etc. etc.). The researches proposed will deepen the knowledge of central European musical and cultural history.
It must be stressed that many articles to be written in the next research period will be published in English, German or Italian, and that those in Slovenian will be equipped with larger English summaries, enabling thus a wide accessibility.
C: Scholarly editions of sources for the history of music in Slovenia. The above observations fully apply also to scholarly editions of music (in the series Monumenta artis musicae Sloveniae and Complete works of Slovenian composers). Many composers whose complete works have been, and will be published in the Monumenta, were active in other European regions as well, and music to be published in the series Complete works of Slovenian composers bears witness to the fact that their authors studied in various European musical centres. It must be stressed that the series Monumenta is strictly bilingual (Slovenian and English), and that the editing of complete works of Gorzani and Puliti is overseen by an international scholarly board.
Many a fragment of destroyed plainchant manuscripts preserved in Slovenia belonged to a manuscript whose remnants are kept in libraries of other countries as well. The database Fragments of plainchant manuscripts in Slovenia will help restore the destroyed treasures of medieval book production.
Significance for the country
As a scholarly undertaking the researches proposed make part of the scholarly exploration of (central) European music history. Yet at the same time they possess a cultural dimension as they deal with music as an essential part of Slovenian cultural history.
A: History of music in Slovenia. The Slovenian cultural history cannot be complete without music, cultivated consciously in Slovenian lands from the Middle Ages onwards. Many cultural phenomena were and still are inextricably bound up with music and cannot be explained properly without consideration of their musical aspects. The proposed historical syntheses (the one-volume History of music in Slovenia, and the history of the 20th-century Slovenian music) will provide a reliable basis for any interdisciplinary approach to specific periods and phenomena of Slovenian cultural history. This holds true especially for the one-volume version of the new History of music in Slovenia as it will aim at intellectuals non-musicologists.
B: Articles and monographs. All the researches proposed relate somehow to Slovenian territory and its cultural history. Yet among the monographs proposed especially important seem to be scholarly biographies of Slovenian composers (this genre of scholarly monographs in Slovenia all but died out). Many Slovenian composers and musicians were active in other cultural domains as well (religion, education, theatre, literature, film); an appropriate presentation of circumstances in which they lived and worked will not only account for their music but also illuminate the cultural environments of their time.
C: Scholarly editions of sources for the history of music in Slovenia. It must be stressed that the series Monumenta artis musicae Sloveniae, published since 1983, makes an integral part of modern Slovenian culture: many musicians (choirs, ensembles) perform music edited in the series, which fact must be credited to its existence. Since there is still a lot of unknown music in Slovenian libraries that deserves to be published in the Monumenta, the series must continue.
The new series Complete works of Slovenian composers will have a seminal cultural import. The big majority of works of Slovenian composers are presently accessible only through a limited number of copies in various libraries, or exist still just as hand-written duplicates. The new series will not only improve chances of their performance; it will also enhance the awareness of an important and worthy segment of Slovenian cultural heritage. A similar cultural significance must be attributed also to the publication of early Slovenian essays on music to be edited in the series The history of Slovenian reflection on music.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2015,
interim report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2015,
interim report
