Page 122 - Glasbenopedagoški zbornik Akademije za glasbo v Ljubljani / The Journal of Music Education of the Academy of Music in Ljubljana: Jakob Jež (1928-) Tokovi sodobne zborovske glasbe, leto 14, zvezek 29 / Year 14, Issue 29, 2018
P. 122
SBENOPEDAGOŠKI ZBORNIK, 29. zvezek
Summary
In his music, Pavle Merku displayed love and affection for his two lifelong
fascinations–music and language. He was a living link and mediator between two cultures,
bringing unknown poetics of Italian and Slovenian literature (as well as traditional poetry)
of various (even less known) authors closer to the language cultures of both nations.
Moreover, he revived and recorded, probably as the last witness, the genuine and
full-blooded national heritage of forsaken and marginalized Slovenians in Italy with a
great deal of healthy national consciousness. Being both a linguist and a musician, he
knew how to handle the unique long-time field work and collecting, leaving an invaluable
legacy. Merku’s works make a significant contribution to Slovenian choral music,
especially due to their great scope and his innovative treatment of traditional song
material. His relationship to traditional music is based on his knowledge and respect of its
elementary characteristics. He got to know it in person, researching and discovering the
social environment where this music was still alive. This approach brought him
composing freedom. He was free to choose the ways and means that suited him the most
for a particular piece: from simple transcriptions to loose arrangements demonstrating the
composer’s skills and sensitivity. He was certain that the arrangements of traditional songs
and their treatments can offer plenty of new creative possibilities to contemporary music
and at the same time bring it freshness and earthiness: a balance between the past and the
present day and a relationship with the heritage. He was interested in traditions, which
were his starting point, as well as in new possibilities of expression popularized in the
avant-garde: respect towards the great composers of the past and the interest towards the
experiments of most modern revolutionary currents, which clearly impacted him after
1950. The urge for expression and the search for his own style accompanied him
throughout his career, which was constantly looking for ideal harmony between the new
sound possibilities and the balance of classical form.
122
Summary
In his music, Pavle Merku displayed love and affection for his two lifelong
fascinations–music and language. He was a living link and mediator between two cultures,
bringing unknown poetics of Italian and Slovenian literature (as well as traditional poetry)
of various (even less known) authors closer to the language cultures of both nations.
Moreover, he revived and recorded, probably as the last witness, the genuine and
full-blooded national heritage of forsaken and marginalized Slovenians in Italy with a
great deal of healthy national consciousness. Being both a linguist and a musician, he
knew how to handle the unique long-time field work and collecting, leaving an invaluable
legacy. Merku’s works make a significant contribution to Slovenian choral music,
especially due to their great scope and his innovative treatment of traditional song
material. His relationship to traditional music is based on his knowledge and respect of its
elementary characteristics. He got to know it in person, researching and discovering the
social environment where this music was still alive. This approach brought him
composing freedom. He was free to choose the ways and means that suited him the most
for a particular piece: from simple transcriptions to loose arrangements demonstrating the
composer’s skills and sensitivity. He was certain that the arrangements of traditional songs
and their treatments can offer plenty of new creative possibilities to contemporary music
and at the same time bring it freshness and earthiness: a balance between the past and the
present day and a relationship with the heritage. He was interested in traditions, which
were his starting point, as well as in new possibilities of expression popularized in the
avant-garde: respect towards the great composers of the past and the interest towards the
experiments of most modern revolutionary currents, which clearly impacted him after
1950. The urge for expression and the search for his own style accompanied him
throughout his career, which was constantly looking for ideal harmony between the new
sound possibilities and the balance of classical form.
122
