Art Song in the South Slav Territories (1900-1930S): Femininity, Nation and Performance
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Creating Art Song in the South Slav Territories (1900-1930s): Femininity, Nation and Performance Verica Grmuša Department of Music Goldsmiths, University of London PhD Thesis The thesis includes a video recording of a full evening lecture-recital entitled ‘Performing the “National” Art Song Today – Songs by Miloje Milojević and Petar Konjović’ (November 22nd, 2017, Deptford Town Hall, Verica Grmuša, soprano, Mina Miletić, piano) 1 Declaration This unpublished thesis is copyright of the author. The thesis is written as a result of my own research work and includes nothing that is written in collaboration with other third party. Where contributions of others are involved, every effort is made to indicate this clearly with reference to the literature, interviews or other sources. The thesis is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and I further state that no substantial part of my dissertation has been already submitted to another qualification or previously published. Signed: ____________________________ Date: __________________ Verica Grmuša 2 Acknowledgments I express my gratitude to Goldsmiths’ Music Department, the Postgraduate Research Committee and the Graduate School for their awards and support for my research. I express my gratitude to my supervisors, Dr Berta Joncus and Dr Dejan Djokić, for their specialist help which greatly shaped this thesis. I am indebted to Nan Christie for her indispensable vocal tuition and support during my studies. I am indebted to the late Professor Vlastimir Trajković for access to the Miloje Milojević Family Collection, and for his support and guidance. I would also like to thank a number of friends and colleagues for their support and advice at different stages during my studies: Richard Shaw, Aleksandar Vasić, Tijana Miletić, Melita Milin, Anthony Pryer, Stephen Smart, Nada Bezić, Davor Merkaš, Slobodan Varsaković, Sarah Collins. I am particularly grateful to the late Ibrahim Shuhaiber for his invaluable support, both for my performing and academic career. Special thanks goes to my friend and accompanist Mina Miletić, with whom I rehearsed and performed this repertory many times. This thesis is dedicated to my family - my husband, my children and my parents. Thank you! 3 Abstract In this thesis I explore a double life of art song as a work of art and a symbol of newly emerging Yugoslav identity in the South Slav territories during the first three decades of the twentieth century. I examine this repertory as performance, through activities of two leading sopranos, Maja Strozzi-Pečić (1882-1962) and Ivanka Milojević (1881-1975). They collaborated with composers Petar Konjović (1883-1970) and Miloje Milojević (1884-1946), respectively, to create the repertory and establish its concert tradition. Aiding this was Bela Pečić (1873-1938), Strozzi-Pečić’s husband-accompanist. By analysing the repertory’s creation in the context of nation-building in Yugoslavia I identify the two sopranos as ‘patriots’ - bearers of national identity. I argue they legitimized this body of work as ‘national’ high art in performance. Key performative factors in this process were gender, high vocal technique and language, and in the case of Strozzi-Pečić the star factor. As ideal female types, they harmonized and synthesized different traditions, ethnicities, religions and languages through the power of their voices. The two sopranos’ contrasting vocal practices: that of an opera star and an exclusively chamber singer, engendered two distinctive bodies of repertories. They shaped the composers’ vocal lines and influenced their choice of topics and traditional musical elements, resulting in Konjović’s penchant for sevdalinka tradition and Milojević’s focus on mother-figure characters. I adopt the form of lecture recital as part of original practice tradition to retell the story of the repertory’s creation as a story of two women as authors. Rather than recreating their vocal practices, I draw on the power they had as creators to give a new reading of this repertory. I restore the unifying vision that infused this music and highlight its message for today’s audiences: the empowerment of a performer through national song for post-national aspirations. 4 Table of Contents Declaration .................................................................................................................................. 2 Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................... 3 Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... 4 Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................... 5 Table of Figures ......................................................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER 1 ...............................................................................................................................10 The Art Song as ‘National Repertory’ ................................................................................10 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................10 Study Focus..........................................................................................................................18 The Historical Background: The Yugoslav Idea .....................................................20 The Art Song Project: “The Envoicing of Women” ....................................................25 Art Song: The New Art Form ........................................................................................25 Sopranos Versus Composers ......................................................................................28 Sopranos as ‘Patriots’ ...................................................................................................31 Sopranos and the ‘National’ Repertory – ‘The Voice’ ...........................................33 Yugoslav Identity on Concert Stage: Two Sopranos as Metaphors of Yugoslavism .....................................................................................................................35 The Performer’s View .........................................................................................................38 The Thesis Structure ..........................................................................................................39 CHAPTER 2 ...............................................................................................................................42 ‘National’ Song and Yugoslavism .......................................................................................42 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................42 The New Generation ...........................................................................................................45 Why Art Song? .................................................................................................................45 The Two Sopranos: Establishing the Concert Tradition ......................................47 Yugoslav Idea and Art Song Project ..............................................................................54 Sopranos, Folk Tradition and Art Song: Creating The ‘National’ Elite Project .............................................................................................................................................54 Selecting the Folk: Filling Ethno-Space with Sound .............................................59 5 The Composers ...............................................................................................................59 The Sopranos ...................................................................................................................62 Ivanka Milojević and the Chamber Concert .............................................................66 Strozzi-Pečić and the Recital .......................................................................................68 Sopranos as ‘Patriots’ .......................................................................................................70 Conclusion ............................................................................................................................76 CHAPTER 3 ...............................................................................................................................81 The Mother Figure and the ‘National’ Art Song: The Role of Ivanka Milojević in Miloje Milojević’s Song Opus...............................................................................................81 Introduction ..........................................................................................................................81 Ivanka Milojević - Instrument and ‘Style’ ......................................................................84 The Milojevićs’ Artistic Partnership ...............................................................................92 Student days ....................................................................................................................94 Concert life ........................................................................................................................97 The Stage Dynamics ....................................................................................................108