INTRODUCTION Serbian Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century Musical Avant-Gardes: An Introduction

Abstract

During the course of the twentiethand twenty-first centuries, Serbia underwent several major political and socio-economic reorderings, which had a tremendous impact on its cultural and musical life. The beginning of the twentieth century marks a significant development in all spheres of Serbian cultural life: the founding of cultural institutions (theatres, concert halls, and opera houses), the formation of professional orchestras and ensembles, and the establishment of music schools. Serbian composers during this period continued the romantic tradition. As Sonja Marinković observes, the development of Serbian music can be examined through three stages of romanticism: preromantic (1830s– 1880s), romantic (1880s–1914), and late-romantic, paving the road for modernism (until the 1950s) (Marinković 2008, 71). The most notable first-generation (romantic) composers were Josif Marinković (1851–1931) and Stevan Mokranjac (1856–1914), who among his other achievements recorded Serbian Orthodox church chants,Octoechos (or eight tones) in staff notation in 1908. The second generation of Serbian composers, who continued writing in the romantic tradition, included the ‘Belgrade School’ composers––Stanislav Binički (1872–1942), Petar Krstić (1877–1957), Milenko Paunović (1889–1924), and Vladimir D̵orde̵vić (1869–1938)––who honed their compositional skills at the leading music centres in Europe at the time, such as Munich, Prague, and Vienna. Right before the First World War, the works of three ‘giants’ of Serbian music––Petar Konjović (1883–1970), Stevan Hristić (1885–1958), and Miloje Milojević (1884– 1946)––started to appear. However, the impeding wars between 1912 and 1918 in which Serbia engaged, disrupted and abolished musical life in the country. Serbian cultural life flourished during the interwar period––Belgrade, the Yugoslav capital, became the cultural centre of the country, with the formation of a Contemporary Music Review, 2021 Vol. 40, Nos. 5–6, 471–481, https://doi.org/10.1080/07494467.2021.2022884