Kosta Manojlović

Kosta Manojlović
Kosta Manojlović in 1932
Born	Konstantin Manojlović (1890-12-04)December 4, 1890 Krnjevo, Velika Plana, Kingdom of Serbia
Died	November 2, 1949(1949-11-02) (aged 58) Belgrade, Yugoslavia
Other names	Kosta

Konstantin "Kosta" P. Manojlović (Serbian: Коста Манојловић; December 4, 1890 – November 2, 1949) was a Serbian composer, ethnomusicologist, educator and choral conductor.

Konstantin Manojlović was born in Krnjevo near the town of Velika Plana on December 4, 1890. After completing elementary school, he continued his education at "Saint Sava" seminary where he graduated in 1910. He then attended the Serbian Music School (now known as the Mokranjac Music School) where he was a student of Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac. From 1910 to 1912 he worked as a teacher, first in Ćuprija then in Belgrade. In 1912, he received a scholarship for his further education in Moscow and Munich. His studies were interrupted twice because of the Balkan Wars. During the First World War, he participated in the Serbian army's retreat through Albania and belonged to the group of Serbian soldiers stationed at Corfu. There, he established a military choir in 1916. In 1917 Manojlović studied at Oxford University, where he gained an appreciation for old vocal polyphony, graduating in 1919 with his work On the Rivers of Babylon.

Manojlović started composing his Liturgija za muški hor ("Liturgy for Male Choir") in Kragujevac after the start of the First World War, completing it in 1916 during his convalescence at a military hospital in the Albanian town of Fier. During the period 1919–31, he was choir-master of the Belgrade Choral Society and in the period 1931–39, at the Mokranjac Society.