Page 7 - Glasbenopedagoški zbornik Akademije za glasbo v Ljubljani / The Journal of Music Education of the Academy of Music in Ljubljana, leto 10, zvezek 21 / Year 10, Issue 21, 2014
P. 7
ja Koter, SAMO VREMŠAK: ARTIST AND PEDAGOGUE
Lipovšek’s class and then in Marjan Kozina’s class, graduating in 1956 with a
performance of the 1st movement of Simfonija za veliki orkester, which he later completed.
In the 1950s the Department of Composition in the Academy of Music Ljubljana was
heavily influenced by a group of rather traditionally-oriented professors, led and perhaps
even directed by Lucijan Marija Škerjanc. His aesthetic and compositional principles
affected a great many students, although some of them, as composers, later pursued their
own, even avant-garde, paths – which were generally ignored by Škerjanc, who foremost
advocated developmental continuity. He surrounded himself with composers who shared
his point of view and assigned them to the chairs of theoretical subjects and composition.
These professors were: Marjan Kozina, Karol Pahor, Bla Arniè, and Matija Bravnièar.
Samo Vremšak absorbed these traditional, safe approaches to composing and based his
lifelong creative output upon them. Throughout his heterogeneous oeuvre, he
demonstrated a fundamental mastery in classic compositional techniques that he
complemented with a touch of originality and contemporaneity. He did not care much
about experimenting with dodecaphony, aleatorics or other principles, most probably
owing to his particular gift – the ability to realize his musical imagination through the
prism of tonal music with rich diatonic and chromatic alterations. Although traditionally
inclined, Vremšak was more strongly attracted to the company of fellow progressive
students and tried to seize the Modernist stream of Western Europe under the influence of
Jurij Gregorc, a professor at the Secondary Music School in Ljubljana. In 1953 they
founded the so-called “Klub komponistov” (Composers Club) as a form of protest against
the obsolete educational approaches at the academy, which were causing a rift between the
students and professors at the composition department. The main initiator of the
progressive young musicians’ movement was Ivo Petriæ, who gathered around him a circle
of talented students, such as Alojz Srebotnjak, Darijan Bo iè, Milan Stibilj, Samo
Vremšak, Marijan Fajdiga, Marko igon, Igor Štuhec and Lojze Lebiè. Among the most
important objectives of their society was the public performance of student compositions,
the authors of which tried to follow Western musical culture: they implemented modern
compositional methods that had already been implemented in Europe and America into
their works, however they saw fit. The works Samo Vremšak presented in the concerts of
the Composers Club, such as Sonatina za klavir, Trije preludiji za klavir, and his first
solo-songs, were less modern in comparison with other compositions.10 Vremšak’s
musical personality did not seek extreme novelties, which was somewhat curious, as he
was initially taught harmony and contrapunct by Sreèko Koporc, who was regarded as a
modern-oriented composer and excellent contrapuntist and had been mentored by Marij
Kogoj. Koporc studied at the Neues Wiener Konservatorium with Schönberg’s student
Egon Lustgarten and graduated in 1929 in Prague, where the progressionist Josef Suk
taught, as well as Alois Hába, known as the father of quarter-tone music. Koporc’s
pre-war style was predominantly Neo-classical and expressionistically audacious;
however, in the 1950s he attempted to compose with the dodecaphonic technique,
although only for a short time. He was well educated in music theory and an insightful
researcher. After the war, until 1948, he gave private lessons in music theory and after
10 Accesible at: www.lira-kamnik.si/zbor03_03.html (last visited Dec. 14, 2014).
7
Lipovšek’s class and then in Marjan Kozina’s class, graduating in 1956 with a
performance of the 1st movement of Simfonija za veliki orkester, which he later completed.
In the 1950s the Department of Composition in the Academy of Music Ljubljana was
heavily influenced by a group of rather traditionally-oriented professors, led and perhaps
even directed by Lucijan Marija Škerjanc. His aesthetic and compositional principles
affected a great many students, although some of them, as composers, later pursued their
own, even avant-garde, paths – which were generally ignored by Škerjanc, who foremost
advocated developmental continuity. He surrounded himself with composers who shared
his point of view and assigned them to the chairs of theoretical subjects and composition.
These professors were: Marjan Kozina, Karol Pahor, Bla Arniè, and Matija Bravnièar.
Samo Vremšak absorbed these traditional, safe approaches to composing and based his
lifelong creative output upon them. Throughout his heterogeneous oeuvre, he
demonstrated a fundamental mastery in classic compositional techniques that he
complemented with a touch of originality and contemporaneity. He did not care much
about experimenting with dodecaphony, aleatorics or other principles, most probably
owing to his particular gift – the ability to realize his musical imagination through the
prism of tonal music with rich diatonic and chromatic alterations. Although traditionally
inclined, Vremšak was more strongly attracted to the company of fellow progressive
students and tried to seize the Modernist stream of Western Europe under the influence of
Jurij Gregorc, a professor at the Secondary Music School in Ljubljana. In 1953 they
founded the so-called “Klub komponistov” (Composers Club) as a form of protest against
the obsolete educational approaches at the academy, which were causing a rift between the
students and professors at the composition department. The main initiator of the
progressive young musicians’ movement was Ivo Petriæ, who gathered around him a circle
of talented students, such as Alojz Srebotnjak, Darijan Bo iè, Milan Stibilj, Samo
Vremšak, Marijan Fajdiga, Marko igon, Igor Štuhec and Lojze Lebiè. Among the most
important objectives of their society was the public performance of student compositions,
the authors of which tried to follow Western musical culture: they implemented modern
compositional methods that had already been implemented in Europe and America into
their works, however they saw fit. The works Samo Vremšak presented in the concerts of
the Composers Club, such as Sonatina za klavir, Trije preludiji za klavir, and his first
solo-songs, were less modern in comparison with other compositions.10 Vremšak’s
musical personality did not seek extreme novelties, which was somewhat curious, as he
was initially taught harmony and contrapunct by Sreèko Koporc, who was regarded as a
modern-oriented composer and excellent contrapuntist and had been mentored by Marij
Kogoj. Koporc studied at the Neues Wiener Konservatorium with Schönberg’s student
Egon Lustgarten and graduated in 1929 in Prague, where the progressionist Josef Suk
taught, as well as Alois Hába, known as the father of quarter-tone music. Koporc’s
pre-war style was predominantly Neo-classical and expressionistically audacious;
however, in the 1950s he attempted to compose with the dodecaphonic technique,
although only for a short time. He was well educated in music theory and an insightful
researcher. After the war, until 1948, he gave private lessons in music theory and after
10 Accesible at: www.lira-kamnik.si/zbor03_03.html (last visited Dec. 14, 2014).
7
