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Article: It Takes Three Slovenians to Make a Choir A Grave in the Mongolian Steppe Savin’s Opera The Last Watch: in between Zagreb and Ljubljana (1904-1907) |
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City-Hall is a Donkey
To the history of quarrels between the Ljubljana City Hall and its superior authorities
Hacquet’s conflict with the Ljubljana City Hall about its competences is described. Hacquet did not show due respect and he ignored City Hall, speaking instead to its superiors. Such disrespect for roles and hierarchies is common in individualists of Hacquet’s kind. The dispute escalated, to the great amusement of Ljubljana public, and it seems that City Hall suffered a defeat. Any resemblance between those events and modern ones is out of the question and a mere coincidence.
Novačan’s Battle of Celje
A 1939 brawl in the Celje coffee house Evropa in and its judicial outcome
Anton Novačan went down in history not only as a writer, politician and diplomat but also as a person of mighty stature and restless character. He was considered a man of pleasure and a great bohemian, but his contemporaries also liked to emphasize his inclination to fights. In his youth, he used the strength of his body, to protect Slovenian national interests and to exercise his political ideas, maintaining his hot-tempered reputation to a ripe old age. In 1939 he was the main protagonist of an incident in the Celje coffee house, the Europa. Owing to the social importance of those involved and other considerations, including national-political ones, the incident ultimately received a judicial epilogue. At the same time it was a source of considerable amusement in the social circles of Celje, because some witty chroniclers even mockingly referred to it as the “Battle of Celje”.
It Takes Three Slovenians to Make a Choir
The role of singing and amateur choirs in the processes of national awakening among Slovenians in the 19th century
Singing and institutionalized vocal practices played a vital role in the processes of Slovenian national awakening during the 19th century. Singing, which was perceived as an elevated form of music, emerging from the primordial, »folk« and transcendental – following the ideas of European Romanticism – inherently holds two of the most important elements of the national imaginary: language and (national) emotions. Reading societies (čitalnice) and other forms of cultural and political life in the second half of the 19th century initiated processes of institutionalization of singing and mass participation in vocal groups, primarily choirs. Vocal performances were held at various manifestations of national awakening (for instance bésede) and the repertoire was dominated by what were called evocative songs (budnice), written to perpetuate the conceptual nation and nationality of Slovenians. As with singing itself, the collective nature of mass amateur singing activity and various forms of cooperation between separate vocal groups helped with the definition and bonding of the imagined Slovenian community that was being newly formed. The paper is based on various Slovenian newspaper articles of the 19th century.
“Poisoning by sausage”
A few bites of a hunk of Krainer sausage and national pride, rolled up in Slovenian newspapers between the spring of the nations and World War I
The article is based on the thesis that the Krainer sausage (kranjska klobasa) had an important role in the formation and development of Slovenian national awareness in the period between the spring of nations and the end of World War I (and later). It primarily focuses on the role of the Krainer sausage in strengthening national pride, more specifically, on the ways in which Slovenian newspapers – undoubtedly an important factor in the reproduction of Slovenian national identity – substantiated national pride by writing about the Krainer sausage. The article presents the following three sets of newspaper articles that in different ways touch upon the relationship between national pride and the Krainer sausage: texts that praise the glory, fame and distinction of Krainer sausages; newspaper articles about various boycotts of Krainer sausages; and a few sporadic texts that present the position of the Krainer sausage in various international disputes.
A Grave in the Mongolian Steppe
What do we know about the fate of first lieutenant Zagoričnik?
The article describes the hitherto unknown destiny of a Slovenian officer called Zagoričnik in China at the outbreak of World War I and the circumstances in which he died in Inner Mongolia. The article is based on a critical analysis of sources and literature and on the connections with contexts related to the country in the east, where the lieutenant met his mysterious destiny.
Savin’s Opera The Last Watch: in between Zagreb and Ljubljana (1904-1907)
The author describes the time and place in which Savin’s first one-act opera The Last Watch (1904) was created. Its first public showing was in Zagreb (1906), followed by another performance in Ljubljana (1907). It is interesting to observe how at that time the composer was “learning” composition virtually everywhere he worked (Vienna, Prague etc.). In addition, the article depicts the contemporary music situation in Zagreb and Ljubljana and places Risto Savin in the time and place of his opera The Last Watch. The article relies on familiar relevant data but complements these with new discoveries from archives in Zagreb and Ljubljana.