History of Music in Croatia

Music of the Croatia is like the divisions of the country itself, it has two major influences; a Central European one, present in the central and northern parts of the country and in  Slavonia, and the Mediterranean one, present in coastal regions of the Dalmatia and Istria.

source of picture: en.wikipedia.org

Croatia has both the pop and rock which are popular, as well as pop music that is influenced by the Dalmatia or Slavonia folk element, in the mid-20^th century onwards, which is so-called schlager music and chanson-inspired music that make the backbone of the Croatian well-known music.

The oldest preserved relics of the musical culture in the Croatia are sacral in nature and represented by the Latin Medieval liturgical chant manuscripts (which is approximately one hundred musical codices and fragments that dated from the 11^th to the 15^th centuries and have been preserved to date). They show a wealth of different influences and liturgical traditions that converged in this region (Dalmatian liturgy in Benevento script, Northern Gregorian chant, and the root of the Glagolihic chant).

During the early 15^th century the ideas of the humanism in Croatia brought about the changes to the world of music, the interest in music started to take place outside of the monastic and church walls with the growing influence of the new spiritual tendencies from the Central European and particularly in the Italian cities.

The humanists and the philosophers initiate the new musical theories and aesthetic ideas, Frederik Grisogono, Pavao Skalic, Frane Petric. The history came down from the folk and popular music that started in mid-16^th century; in the poem Fishing and Fishermen’s talks from 1558, Petar Hektorovic gained the neoplatonic  ideals of the popular music and the transcripts of the Croatian musical folklore that were printed in Venetian anthologies.

The new leaning of the early Baroque monody soon found their way into the local musical tradition of both the sacral and secular. Tomaso Cecchini from Verona who spent his whole work life from 1603 to 44 as a choirmaster, organist and composer in the Split and Hvar, that published his madrigals Armonici concetti, libro primo from 1612 as the oldest Baroque collection that is written in Croatian milieu. The collection of Sacrae cantiones by Ivan Lukacici from Sibenik is valuable evidence of the sacral music that was performed in Split, and it is generally speaking by one of the most important monuments of the old Croatian music together. The Franciscans and Paulists brought the sacral chants, which is mostly monophonic and without the organ accompaniment (the manuscript cantoes of Frane Divinic, Bone Razmilovic, Filip Vlahovic Kapusvarac, Franjo Vulovarac and Petar Knezevic), which also worth mentioning the Ragusino Vincenzo Comnen, the only representative of the music of the Dubrovnik dignity.

The tradition of the Baroque was more lasting in the church/sacral of music and was the musical way that was systematically cultivated in many monasteries especially Franciscan ones as well as in the parish and cathedral churches. The protection of the music manuscripts and the prints became wide over practice in the mid-18^th century. A simple vocal instrumental music for two voices with organ cintinuo that was formed and most regular performed in churches; many prominent individuals active on the sphere of the music could be made only in a bigger urban centre. They were mostly organists and maestri di cappella, skilful singers who had little vocal and instrumental groups and who regularly acted as a music teachers (private or in the church schools). The gradual movement of the middle class has as one of its penalties of the corresponding secular organization of the musical life, particularly in the first era of the 19^th century, which is a period that saw to the creation of the music bands, music societies 1827 in Zagreb, then in Varazdin, Rijeka, Osijek etc and the music schools.

Also, the public balls and other events that were organized (music academies, theatre performances) with the participation of the local and the foreign musician (from Italy, Austria, Bohemia) including the private collection of the music materials for playing music in the home.

Music became a section part of different festivities, like the arrival of important political personalities like the new governor or the Habsburg king Frances 1 etc, the feast of the patron saint (st. Blaise in Dubrovnik, St. Domnius in Split, St. Stephen in Hvar and Zagreb etc), which is also called the art music that was specially composed with their addition of the well-known elements (bourgeois dances, folk music of the peasantry).

Several Italian and local musicians worked in Dubrovnik in the cathedral choir and the group in which the dukes’s group at private and public festivities. A good example of the pre-classical symphony and chamber music was given by Luka Sorkocevic, a strongman educated in Rome, as well as his son Antun, a historian and diplomat.

Ferdo Livadic from 1799 to 1879 wrote the Notturno in F-sharp minor for piano as early as the years 1822, and goes with John Field’s composition under the same name, one of the earliest example of the kind of piano miniatures in general.