The Musical Essay and Musicology in Serbia

Abstract

The political and economic conditions, or rather the centuries-long occupation under which the Serbs lived until the first quarter of the 19tn century, did not allow musical culture to develop freely and independently. Hence the first appearances of musical activity among the bourgeois come towards the middle of the last century, and rudiments of musicological research only towards the end of the century. The attention of the writers, mostly priests, who were connoisseurs of music, was at that time almost exclusively concentrated on Serbian church music, in which field exist a considerable number of works. These are often accompanied by melo-graphic notations of contemporary church tunes, as was done also by composers Kornelije Stanković (1831–1865) and Stevan Mokranjac (1856–1914). At the beginning of the 20tn century we have the first studies of folk-music, while between the first and second world wars musical literature divides into various branches, including, apart from the study of folk-music, essays, historiography, musical aesthetics and sociology. After 1945 the Serbian writers' areas of research spread even wider to include not only the above-mentioned categories but also the study of mediaeval music in Serbia. With palaeographic analysis and transcription of neumatic manuscripts surviving on Mount Athos and in various libraries abroad, musical treasures unknown and neglected for centuries are being brought to light.