Page 8 - 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. 8
O VREMŠAK (1930–2004)
worked as a professor.11 Marijan Lipovšek, the first of Vremšak’s mentors at the
Academy, was moderate in style. Being a former student of Josef Suk and Alfred Casella,
his compositions from the beginning of 1950s reveal his inclination toward the
neoclassical style; only later did he incorporate modern elements in his work. As for
Marjan Kozina, his compositions were even more moderate in terms of style than
Lipovšek’s. He studied at the Viennese academy with Joseph Marx, who claimed that
tonality was a natural law. Later, he studied at the Prague conservatorium with Josef Suk,
who was an adherent of expressionist melos.12 Samo Vremšak absorbed the virtues of his
professors, yet he gradually forged his own individuality in composition. In general, his
works were founded upon a traditional mentality - after all, he was a master of classic
musical sentence - but on the other hand, they are exceptional in harmonic diversity,
original in composition and persuasive in expression. Vremšak did not want to create any
other way. Despite the classic baseline and shift from tonal centres, his free
comprehension of the musical sentence is also noticeable in his work; his vocal pieces,
however, reveal a strong connection with poetic and prose forms. His Sonatina za klavir
was published in the score book issued by the members of Composers Club on its fifth
anniversary in 1958. In Pavle Merku’s view of Vremšak’s work, he points out that it had
the tonal design and chromatic satiation of the Late Romantic period, as well as sudden
modulations in the style of Prokofjev, characteristic of the second decade of the 20th
century; still, he recognized Vremšak’s talent and appraised his sensibility as regards
musical problems.13 In the beginning of the 1960s, a large section of the above-mentioned
society became part of the progressive music group “Pro musica viva”, which tried to seize
the most contemporary trends of Western Europe, although Vremšak was not among
them.
Samo Vremšak decided to study singing after his father, who recognized his abilities,
encouraged him to do so. As a talented singer with a vocal range of tenor and baritone, he
started to study solo singing as well, but interrupted his studies because of military service
after obtaining a bachelor’s degree. He resumed his studies in 1957 and graduated from
the Academy in 1960 under the mentorship of professor Ado Darian (1895–1966), who
had studied in Vienna and was an internationally renowned tenor, opera and concert
singer. From 1945, Darian worked as a professor of singing at the Academy of Music.
Like Julij Betetto, the spiritus agens of solo singing teaching, Darian trained a strong
contingent of excellent opera and concert singers. After having acquired both diplomas,
Samo Vremšak committed himself to composing, conducting “Lira” in Kamnik and
concert singing; he also worked as a teacher. Between 1957 and 1963 he taught a broad
range of subjects at the Secondary Music School in Ljubljana, such as harmony, score
playing, piano as a non-core subject, vocal technique, and conducted a girls’ choir.
Perhaps this was the choir he wrote the composition Mraèna Jesen (text by Èrtomir
Šinkovec) for, as it was his very first work written for such an ensemble. In 1963 the
composition was published in Grlica magazine. After passing the professional exam in
theoretical subjects at the Academy in 1959, he started to work there part-time. In order to
devote all his energies to his artistic career, he also worked as a freelancer for two years
11 Cp. Darja Koter, Slovenska glasba 1918–1991, Ljubljana: Študentska zalo ba, 2012, p. 125. The author
also refers to extensive literature.
12 Ibid. p.178–186
13 Pavle Merku, »Naši najmlajši«, Naša sodobnost (1958), 60(12), p. 1133.
8
worked as a professor.11 Marijan Lipovšek, the first of Vremšak’s mentors at the
Academy, was moderate in style. Being a former student of Josef Suk and Alfred Casella,
his compositions from the beginning of 1950s reveal his inclination toward the
neoclassical style; only later did he incorporate modern elements in his work. As for
Marjan Kozina, his compositions were even more moderate in terms of style than
Lipovšek’s. He studied at the Viennese academy with Joseph Marx, who claimed that
tonality was a natural law. Later, he studied at the Prague conservatorium with Josef Suk,
who was an adherent of expressionist melos.12 Samo Vremšak absorbed the virtues of his
professors, yet he gradually forged his own individuality in composition. In general, his
works were founded upon a traditional mentality - after all, he was a master of classic
musical sentence - but on the other hand, they are exceptional in harmonic diversity,
original in composition and persuasive in expression. Vremšak did not want to create any
other way. Despite the classic baseline and shift from tonal centres, his free
comprehension of the musical sentence is also noticeable in his work; his vocal pieces,
however, reveal a strong connection with poetic and prose forms. His Sonatina za klavir
was published in the score book issued by the members of Composers Club on its fifth
anniversary in 1958. In Pavle Merku’s view of Vremšak’s work, he points out that it had
the tonal design and chromatic satiation of the Late Romantic period, as well as sudden
modulations in the style of Prokofjev, characteristic of the second decade of the 20th
century; still, he recognized Vremšak’s talent and appraised his sensibility as regards
musical problems.13 In the beginning of the 1960s, a large section of the above-mentioned
society became part of the progressive music group “Pro musica viva”, which tried to seize
the most contemporary trends of Western Europe, although Vremšak was not among
them.
Samo Vremšak decided to study singing after his father, who recognized his abilities,
encouraged him to do so. As a talented singer with a vocal range of tenor and baritone, he
started to study solo singing as well, but interrupted his studies because of military service
after obtaining a bachelor’s degree. He resumed his studies in 1957 and graduated from
the Academy in 1960 under the mentorship of professor Ado Darian (1895–1966), who
had studied in Vienna and was an internationally renowned tenor, opera and concert
singer. From 1945, Darian worked as a professor of singing at the Academy of Music.
Like Julij Betetto, the spiritus agens of solo singing teaching, Darian trained a strong
contingent of excellent opera and concert singers. After having acquired both diplomas,
Samo Vremšak committed himself to composing, conducting “Lira” in Kamnik and
concert singing; he also worked as a teacher. Between 1957 and 1963 he taught a broad
range of subjects at the Secondary Music School in Ljubljana, such as harmony, score
playing, piano as a non-core subject, vocal technique, and conducted a girls’ choir.
Perhaps this was the choir he wrote the composition Mraèna Jesen (text by Èrtomir
Šinkovec) for, as it was his very first work written for such an ensemble. In 1963 the
composition was published in Grlica magazine. After passing the professional exam in
theoretical subjects at the Academy in 1959, he started to work there part-time. In order to
devote all his energies to his artistic career, he also worked as a freelancer for two years
11 Cp. Darja Koter, Slovenska glasba 1918–1991, Ljubljana: Študentska zalo ba, 2012, p. 125. The author
also refers to extensive literature.
12 Ibid. p.178–186
13 Pavle Merku, »Naši najmlajši«, Naša sodobnost (1958), 60(12), p. 1133.
8
