engleski

The Split Cathedral Maestri di Cappella Case in the 1789-1918 Period: Change of Politics – Shift in Cultural and Stylistic Orientations. A Contribution to the Relationship of Music and Politics in the 19th Century

During the period between the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 20th century the situation with professional services of maestri di cappella at the Split Cathedral submitted radical changes. This fundamental (r)evolution happened owing to some parallel developments in general socio-political and church circumstances in Dalmatia of the period: the shift in power from Venetian (until 1797) via French (1805-1813) to Austrian (later Austro- Hungarian ; 1797-1805, 1813-1918) administration, and the degradation of the Split Archbishopric to the Bishopric status (in 1828). During Venetian rule the Split maestri di cappella were mostly recruited from the ranks of Italian musicians (B. Pellizzari, G. Bajamonti, etc.), during the transitional Austro-French administrations they were by exclusively local mixed ethnical origins (A. Alberti, I. Jeličić, A. Galasso), while during the long Austrian (Austro-Hungarian) rule, at the beginning, (mostly imported) Italian musicians were favoured (M. Lamperini, C. Pellegrini, T. Resti, D. Barocci, A. Visetti, G. A. Vicentini, E. Bonamici), and only gradually those of Slavic (Croatian, Slovenian, Czech) or acculturated Jewish origins were introduced during the second half of the 19th century (F. S. Vilhar, J. Hajek, N. Faller, V. Rosenberg-Ružić, I. Janak, V. Knott, A. Meneghello-Dinčić, Ć. M. Hrazdira, A. Tijanić, L. Th. Koffman, K. Adamič). It goes without saying that these changes in personal educational, ideological and generally musical background of the above-mentioned musicians brought along a shift in stylistic aspects of the music which they had been producing as composers or favoured as the officially performed repertory in the Split Cathedral. In addition, the destiny of music-making in the Split cathedral during the period under consideration can be regarded as an exemplary case in understanding how broader socio- political changes can substantially influence the artistic output and its qualities.

Split, maestro di cappella, long 19th century, music, politics

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