Josip Štolcer-Slavenski

Josip Štolcer-Slavenski (Serbian Cyrillic: Јосип Штолцер-Славенски; Čakovec, Croatia, 11 May 1896 – Belgrade, Serbia, 30 November 1955) was a Yugoslav, Serbian and Croatian composer and professor at the Music Academy in Belgrade.

Josip Štolcer-Slavenski was born in Čakovec in 1896. His father gave him his first instruction in music, then in 1913 he entered the Budapest Conservatory where his teachers included Zoltán Kodály and Albert Siklós. His studies were interrupted in 1916 by army service and at the end of the war he was forced to return to his father’s business in Čakovec. In 1921 he went to study in Novák’s masterclasses at the Prague Conservatory. Having completed his studies in 1923 he returned to Croatia and taught for a year at the music school of the Zagreb Music Academy. In 1924 he moved to Belgrade, where he stayed for the rest of his life (except for a period in 1925–6 spent in Paris); he taught first at the Stanković School of Music, then at the music school of the Belgrade Academy (1937–45), becoming in 1945 professor of composition at the latter. Slavenski first attracted attention when in 1920 his orchestral Notturno op.1 was performed in Zagreb; in 1924 his First String Quartet was performed with success at the Donaueschingen Festival. Kleiber conducted his symphony Balkanophonia, first in Berlin in 1927 and then in various musical centres in Europe and the USA. Slavenski thus became the first Yugoslav composer of the 20th century to make an international reputation. At home, however, after the first success in 1920, he had to face the hostility of the then conservative Belgrade public and critics. After 1938 he composed very little; his works were seldom performed between 1940 and 1956 and he was almost forgotten. He died in Belgrade in 1955. It was only after his death that his stature was recognized.

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