(Do) We Keep Forgetting Miroslav Špiler - Our Contribution to the 110th Anniversary of Composer's Birth

Abstract

Within the cultural context of Sarajevo and Bosnia and Herzegovina, composer and music pedagogue Miroslav Špiler (1906–1982) is remembered primarily as professor at the Academy of Music in Sarajevo, an important social figure at the time, as well as composer of small but significant number of works. However, unlike the works of some other Bosnian and Herzegovinian composers, we (almost) never have a chance to hear Špiler’s works being performed by the esteemed artists and ensembles in our country. The aim of the following text is to locate and discover the reasons of negligence of Špiler’s oeuvre while considering the legacy of Miroslav Špiler, characteristics of composer’s works as well as examining the past and present state of the performing institutions in Sarajevo and the events that would create an opportunity for presentation of his works.