Josip Runjanin
| Josip Runjanin | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
8 December 1821 Vinkovci, Slavonian Military Frontier, Austrian Empire |
| Died | 2 February 1878 (aged 56) Novi Sad, Bacs-Bodrog county, Kingdom of Hungary, Austria-Hungary |
| Nationality | Austrian Empire |
| Occupation | soldier and composer |
Josip Runjanin or Josif Runjanin (Serbian Cyrillic: Јосиф Руњанин; 8 December 1821 – 2 February 1878) was a Croatian Serb composer and lieutenant-colonel of the Austro-Hungarian Army. He is best known for composing the melody of the Croatian national anthem.
The Runjanin family hailed from the village of Runjani in Jadar, in the Drina valley of western Serbia. The family moved to Bijeljina in Bosnia in 1718 when Austria occupied Serbia. Most of the family's members fled once again, during the Second Great Migration of Serbs in 1739 when the territories south of the Sava and Danube rivers were reoccupied by the Ottomans. The family found refuge in Osijek in the Habsburg-controlled Slavonia. One Đorđe Runjanin then settled in the village of Grk, in Syrmia with his family. Đorđe's son Stojak was an Orthodox priest in Kuzmin until his death in 1758. Stojak fathered Vasilije who was the father of Petar (another Orthodox minister), and whose son was Ignjat (1798 – 10 November 1876), who was an Austrian army captain in Vinkovci. Josip was the eldest of Ignjat's seven children.
Runjanin was born to a Serb family on December 1821 and baptized in the Serbian Orthodox Church of Pentecost in Vinkovci. He received his education in Vinkovci, and then Sremski Karlovci. He served in the Imperial Army as a cadet in the town of Glina along the Military Frontier. While serving in Glina, he attained the rank of captain, and became proficient in playing the piano, being taught by the military bandmaster of Glina. There, he was introduced to the Illyrist circles, where he met noted poet Antun Mihanović. It is generally agreed that Runjanin, an amateur musician, composed the music for Mihanović's patriotic Croatian song Lijepa naša domovina in 1846 using inspiration from Gaetano Donizetti's aria O sole piu ratto a sorger t’appresta from the 3rd act of his opera Lucia di Lammermoor, according to Croatian musicologist Josip Andreis.
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