Marko Tajcevic
Encyclopedia
Marko Tajčević (1900–1984) was a Croatia
n and Serbia
n composer
and musician
.
, Croatia
(then Austro-Hungarian Empire) on January 29, 1900, his music education
began with violin
studies at the Croatian Music Institution (Hrvatski glazbeni zavod) at the time the First World War broke out in Europe
with Blagoje Bersa
, Franjo Dugan and Fran Lhotka
in Zagreb. In 1920 he went to Prague
for further music studies where studied composition
with Vaclav Stepan. Prague, an important cultural center, made a big impact on young Tajcevic. Unfortunately, because of his poor financial situation, he was forced to leave Prague after a year. For a short period of time, Vienna
seemed like a good place where Tajcevic could continue his music studies. After spending some time in Vienna, where he took lessons with Joseph Marx
and Max Springer, he returned to his country to complete his studies.
In Zagreb
together with three other composers (Z. Grgoševic, J. Gotovac, and A. Novak) Tajcevic prepared a concert in the series “Naša pucka lirika” (Our Folklore), which started in 1923. For this concert each of the composers wrote new songs for voice and piano based on folk music. Tajcevic composed six songs for this occasion and the performance of one of them was so successful that the audience asked for encores four times during that same evening. This was a great accomplishment for young Tajcevic.
During the period 1924-40, Tajcevic worked in Zagreb as a teacher
. Teaching was Tajcevic’s life career
, intermingled with composing, conducting, and writing articles and music critiques. With other colleagues from Zagreb, he helped form the Lisinski
Music School. Apart from teaching in school and composing, Tajcevic was very active as a choral conductor, leading numerous choirs including “Balkan”, “Srpsko pevacko društvo”, and “Sloga” before moving to Belgrade
in 1940, where he continued his conducting activity. His last concert as a choir conductor was in 1945 with the Central Choir of Belgrade, which had just been freed from the Germans. Moving to Belgrade did not stop Tajcevic in his teaching career, for in 1945 he became a professor of theory and composition at the Belgrade Academy of Music, later renamed Faculty of Music Arts (Fakultet muzicke umetnosti). Tajcevic wrote music critiques from 1922 (while he was still in Zagreb), until 1955. They were published in magazines and newspapers such as Obzor, Rijec, Pokret, Vijenac, Jutarnji list, Zvuk, and Politika. After a considerably long and productive life Marko Tajcevic died and was buried in Belgrade in 1984.
Tajcevic’s complete output totals fifty-four compositions, comprising works for solo voice, choir, chamber orchestra, strings, woodwinds, and piano. He also published books on theory and harmony. His book Osnovna teorija muzike (The Elements of Music Theory) has been extensively used in music schools in the former Yugoslavia. Tajcevic’s output is not large, but it is well crafted. He liked to work slowly and was aware of the responsibilities of signing the completed work. The authentic style of Tajcevic is expressed through small forms—mostly miniatures, solo songs, and similar short pieces. For many critics, he was a “superb master of the miniature”. Once he mentioned that he was amazed by the power and depth of some miniatures such as Chopin’s Prelude in C minor, Op. 28 No. 20, or Bach
’s minuets. This type of piece was probably an important inspiration for his own compositions.
Piano works were the main compositional focus of Tajcevic before the Second World War. After the war he began composing more often for strings, recalling his first musical steps with violin as his instrument. He wrote six works for strings, four of them titled divertimentos for three violins or string orchestra. Chaconne is his only piece for violin solo, and his only work for a wind instrument is Prelidijum i igra (Prelude and Dance) for flute solo. Vocal pieces (solo and choir) occupied his creativity throughout his life. He wrote songs for solo voice with piano and for female, male, children’s, and mixed choruses. His last piece is Zagorska rapsodija from 1979 for mixed choir.
Tajcevic's works are not only recognized in Yugoslavia, but also internationally. Articles about him have appeared in dictionaries and encyclopedias such as the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Enciclopedia Salvat de la Musica, and Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Some of his piano pieces—Sedam balkanskih igara (Seven Balkan Dances), Medjimurske (Songs from Mur Island), Srpske igre (Serbian Dances), and Prva svita (The First Suite)—were published in Yugoslavia (Prosveta, Frajt, Hrvatski glazbeni zavod) as well as in Germany (Henle Musikverlag, Schott, Hans Gerig Musikverlag), the former Soviet Union (Musgiz), and the United States (Rongwen Music, Inc., Warner Brothers, Broude Brothers, Ltd.). Some famous pianists—such as Rubinstein, Friedmann, Borovski, and Orlov—have included Seven Balkan Dances in their repertoire.
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n and Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
n composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and musician
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....
.
Biography
Born in OsijekOsijek
Osijek is the fourth largest city in Croatia with a population of 83,496 in 2011. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja county...
, Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
(then Austro-Hungarian Empire) on January 29, 1900, his music education
Music education
Music education is a field of study associated with the teaching and learning of music. It touches on all domains of learning, including the psychomotor domain , the cognitive domain , and, in particular and significant ways,the affective domain, including music appreciation and sensitivity...
began with violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
studies at the Croatian Music Institution (Hrvatski glazbeni zavod) at the time the First World War broke out in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
with Blagoje Bersa
Blagoje Bersa
Blagoje Bersa was a Croatian musical composer of substantial influence....
, Franjo Dugan and Fran Lhotka
Fran Lhotka
Fran Lhotka was a Czech-born Croatian composer of classical music.He was a student of Antonín Dvořák...
in Zagreb. In 1920 he went to Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
for further music studies where studied composition
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
with Vaclav Stepan. Prague, an important cultural center, made a big impact on young Tajcevic. Unfortunately, because of his poor financial situation, he was forced to leave Prague after a year. For a short period of time, Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
seemed like a good place where Tajcevic could continue his music studies. After spending some time in Vienna, where he took lessons with Joseph Marx
Joseph Marx
Joseph Rupert Rudolf Marx was an Austrian composer, teacher and critic.-Life and career:Marx pursued studies in philosophy, art history, German studies, and music at Graz University, earning several degrees including a doctorate in 1909. He began composing seriously in 1908 and over the next four...
and Max Springer, he returned to his country to complete his studies.
In Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
together with three other composers (Z. Grgoševic, J. Gotovac, and A. Novak) Tajcevic prepared a concert in the series “Naša pucka lirika” (Our Folklore), which started in 1923. For this concert each of the composers wrote new songs for voice and piano based on folk music. Tajcevic composed six songs for this occasion and the performance of one of them was so successful that the audience asked for encores four times during that same evening. This was a great accomplishment for young Tajcevic.
During the period 1924-40, Tajcevic worked in Zagreb as a teacher
Teacher
A teacher or schoolteacher is a person who provides education for pupils and students . The role of teacher is often formal and ongoing, carried out at a school or other place of formal education. In many countries, a person who wishes to become a teacher must first obtain specified professional...
. Teaching was Tajcevic’s life career
Career
Career is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as a person's "course or progress through life ". It is usually considered to pertain to remunerative work ....
, intermingled with composing, conducting, and writing articles and music critiques. With other colleagues from Zagreb, he helped form the Lisinski
Vatroslav Lisinski
Vatroslav Lisinski was a Croatian composer.Lisinski was born Ignaz Fuchs to a German Jewish family...
Music School. Apart from teaching in school and composing, Tajcevic was very active as a choral conductor, leading numerous choirs including “Balkan”, “Srpsko pevacko društvo”, and “Sloga” before moving to Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
in 1940, where he continued his conducting activity. His last concert as a choir conductor was in 1945 with the Central Choir of Belgrade, which had just been freed from the Germans. Moving to Belgrade did not stop Tajcevic in his teaching career, for in 1945 he became a professor of theory and composition at the Belgrade Academy of Music, later renamed Faculty of Music Arts (Fakultet muzicke umetnosti). Tajcevic wrote music critiques from 1922 (while he was still in Zagreb), until 1955. They were published in magazines and newspapers such as Obzor, Rijec, Pokret, Vijenac, Jutarnji list, Zvuk, and Politika. After a considerably long and productive life Marko Tajcevic died and was buried in Belgrade in 1984.
Tajcevic’s complete output totals fifty-four compositions, comprising works for solo voice, choir, chamber orchestra, strings, woodwinds, and piano. He also published books on theory and harmony. His book Osnovna teorija muzike (The Elements of Music Theory) has been extensively used in music schools in the former Yugoslavia. Tajcevic’s output is not large, but it is well crafted. He liked to work slowly and was aware of the responsibilities of signing the completed work. The authentic style of Tajcevic is expressed through small forms—mostly miniatures, solo songs, and similar short pieces. For many critics, he was a “superb master of the miniature”. Once he mentioned that he was amazed by the power and depth of some miniatures such as Chopin’s Prelude in C minor, Op. 28 No. 20, or Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
’s minuets. This type of piece was probably an important inspiration for his own compositions.
Piano works were the main compositional focus of Tajcevic before the Second World War. After the war he began composing more often for strings, recalling his first musical steps with violin as his instrument. He wrote six works for strings, four of them titled divertimentos for three violins or string orchestra. Chaconne is his only piece for violin solo, and his only work for a wind instrument is Prelidijum i igra (Prelude and Dance) for flute solo. Vocal pieces (solo and choir) occupied his creativity throughout his life. He wrote songs for solo voice with piano and for female, male, children’s, and mixed choruses. His last piece is Zagorska rapsodija from 1979 for mixed choir.
Tajcevic's works are not only recognized in Yugoslavia, but also internationally. Articles about him have appeared in dictionaries and encyclopedias such as the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Enciclopedia Salvat de la Musica, and Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Some of his piano pieces—Sedam balkanskih igara (Seven Balkan Dances), Medjimurske (Songs from Mur Island), Srpske igre (Serbian Dances), and Prva svita (The First Suite)—were published in Yugoslavia (Prosveta, Frajt, Hrvatski glazbeni zavod) as well as in Germany (Henle Musikverlag, Schott, Hans Gerig Musikverlag), the former Soviet Union (Musgiz), and the United States (Rongwen Music, Inc., Warner Brothers, Broude Brothers, Ltd.). Some famous pianists—such as Rubinstein, Friedmann, Borovski, and Orlov—have included Seven Balkan Dances in their repertoire.