Two Letters of Franc Šturm

Abstract

The text, a tribute on the seventieth anniversary of Professor Marija Bergamo, discusses two letters written by the Slovene composer Franc Šturm (1912–1943) to the Slovene pianist Neda Kozina, whom he befriended in Prague, where they both studied. The letters refer to their plan to organise concerts of modern Czech and Slovene compositions in Maribor. Our pianist lived there for some time and their mutual friend, Czech pianist and composer Karel Reiner, provided help with acquiring scores of Czech composers. The first letter is considered to document the wretched position of contemporary thought on music in Maribor on the eve of World War II. The publication of the second letter is substantiated by the less known contribution of Šturm (Sodobnost, 1935) on music as a social factor. Sociology (along with aesthetics) pertains to philosophy. Reflection on these two disciplines offers a cursory view of the tradition of these subjects at the Department of Musicology of the Faculty of Arts in Ljubljana.