A member of the Croatian modernist movement, also of the Mediterranean composer circle, the only true Croatian verist, composer Joseph Hatze , from his youth he embraced the genre of solo songs, in which he left some of the best examples of this type in Croatian music. A total of fifty-seven of them were composed on verses by poets of the Romantic period or Hatze's contemporaries. Love and meditative themes with a touch of melancholy, sometimes with motifs of nature and its symbolism, characterize his choice, which is in line with modern trends. Ship at night is one of Hatze's anthological poems, written to the verses of Rikard Katalinić-Jeretov. It is a two-strophe poem, marked by a gentle melodic line and soft chord accompaniment, evoking a nocturnal seascape that looms over human fragility. Lovely snack to the verses of the same poet, is another superb achievement of Croatian vocal lyrics, which Hatze wrote down both as a female choir and as a solo song. The simple, harmonious miniature, in the old-fashioned manner, describes the sweetness of the afternoon dream of a "little girl" and the gentle sensuality of her surroundings, in which she is kept company by a branch of lilac and a butterfly. In the poem Serenade The love passion described in Đuro Jakšić's text is conveyed by a captivating melody, the intensity of which is reminiscent of the Italian melodica of veristic opera arias.
One of the main characteristics of a series of achievements in creativity Crosses of Odak is inspired by folklore, which becomes the basis of a number of his best works, such as operas Dorica is dancing., ballet Imbrek with a nose, Five Rhapsodies for choir, masses and motets for choir. Although he was born in Siverić near Drniš, he most often found inspiration in the folklore of Međimurje. One of such works is the solo song The water is flowing., composed to the verses of Vinko Kos. The girl's sadness is embodied by the river, which leaves just as her "dove" left. The river and its symbolism, in this well-composed song, are described by a detailed, masterfully composed piano section, in polyphony with a vocal section, which underlines the archaic nature of the Međimurje pentatonic scale.
Ivana Lang In many ways, she is a unique voice in 20th-century Croatian music – a lone female composer in Croatian music during her lifetime, she left behind a large and diverse opus, from solo to opera and ballet music, combining in various ways the determinants of national style and contemporary trends. A total of thirty-five opuses of solo songs occupy an exceptional place in her work. She drew inspiration from the verses of Croatian poets, such as Antun Gustav Matoš, Vladimir Vidrić, Dragutin Domjanić, Vanja Radauš, Vesna Parun, Filip Valjalo and others. The first song she composed, Mulberries, to the lyrics of Dragutin Domjanić, with its unusual choice of harmonies and a folk-like melody, it demonstrates the composer's unique imagination.
One of the best Croatian opera singers of the mid-20th century, baritone Vladimir Ruždjak, he embodied about eighty characters in operas from Monteverdi to contemporary composers, being remembered especially as an unsurpassed interpreter of Zajčev's Nikola Šubić Zrinjski. He was also a prominent concert singer with a wide repertoire of solo songs. He also worked as an opera director and composer, and his arrangements of Međimurje tunes are particularly successful and frequently performed. Among such are Five of Međimurje from 1957, including the song Good night, a gentle lullaby, whose simple melody is accompanied by a harmonically rich, colorful piano accompaniment, rich registers, which from the first bars introduce the peaceful, gentle atmosphere of the lullaby.
The enthusiasm of the 20th century with its palette of new entertaining musical genres came to life in a very specific way in the oeuvre Ivo Tijardović (1895-1976), who managed to combine the world captivated by the rhythm of dance orchestras with the warm, intimate space of his native Split. His versatile talent captured the latest world music trends. Roaring Twenties and easily intertwined them with the Mediterranean musical tradition, and they resonated best in the masterpieces Little Floramye i Spli's watercolorThe first focuses on a girl named Floramye (borrowing from a popular French perfume), who, in the midst of World War I, arrives in Marseille during the second act of the operetta. She longs for her hometown and sings her famous aria The pearl of the sea is far from me.
Giuseppe Verdi His career spanned a long period. From his first great success with the opera Nabucco 1842, until the concluding operas Othello i Falstaff, at the end of the 19th century, Verdi outlines a long time span, an entire era, bringing to life different worlds and unforgettable characters. As fashions and tastes, social and political climates changed, so did Verdi himself, who from the early enchanting works that gave wings Risorgimento still fresh and vital, he came up with innovative late operas that looked to the future, Othello i Falstaff.
At the opera Othello from 1887, he collaborates with Arrigo Boita, once his ardent opponent, and returns to his permanent inspiration, Shakespeare. Iago's plot successfully leads to Othello's downfall, and Desdemona, after Othello's jealous and aggressive outbursts, foresees her end in the last act. In her prayer Ave Maria Verdi brilliantly artistically shapes the reality of the moment, composing at first a Gregorian declamation, which develops into a melody of fervent prayer.
Antonín Dvořák He is the author of ten operas, the ninth of which is Rusalka, the most famous. Inspired by the fairy tales of Karel Jaromír Erben and Božena Němcová, which were suggested to the composer by librettist Jaroslav Kvapil, Rusalka was a natural outgrowth of Dvořák's previous work. Erben's stories inspired a series of his symphonic songs with supernatural themes, which seemed to prepare him for an opera about a water nymph, Rusalka, in which the real and fairy-tale worlds intertwine. Dvořák's strong talent for melody and orchestration merges with the influences of Wagner and Verdi, and his youthful role models - Schubert, Weber, Mozart and Beethoven, while the entire expression is permeated with a Czech, Slavic softness, which overshadows Dvořák's eclecticism. Rusalka falls in love with a mortal, the Prince, and decides to follow him to earth, and her curse is that she thereby loses her immortality, as well as her beautiful fairy voice. Before she leaves the water world, she sings a song to the moon, The moon in the deep sky, in which she asks the moon to tell her beloved that she is waiting for him.
A portrait of a time and a city that many other cities would envy Split (and which today's Split could be imagined to be like), brings Ivo Tijardović in the operetta Spli's watercolor, premiered in Split in 1928, which he dedicates to the "Split Malomen regiment, the true author of this work". Skilled not only as a composer, but also as a visual artist, writer, journalist, choreographer, this versatile artist once again writes the libretto himself, centered on the loving couple Marica and Tonči. Poverty stands in the way of their love, but a happy ending awaits them. In this operetta, he also uses various contemporary dance rhythms, and in Marica's aria There are no miracles yet. a finely applied syncopated tango rhythm is heard.
Giacomo Puccini He is an innovator of vocal-orchestral characterization of characters and the creation of a special color, impressionistic details and atmosphere in his operas, creating a typical fin-de-siécle a nervous storm of feelings, set in an emotional strait of intense short arias and phrases. The short opera, charged with humor and brilliant melodies, is a one-act Gianni SchicchiInspired by an episode from Dante's Divine comedies, the opera presents a picture of medieval Florence and the family of the old Buoso Donati, who, with the help of the deceit of the titular Schicchi, wants to get hold of Buoso's inheritance. Schicchi's daughter Lauretta, on the other hand, thinks only of love, and in one of the most famous excerpts, the passionate aria Oh mio babbino caro, begs her father to allow her to marry Rinuccio, one of Buoso's relatives.
Puccini used a special sensitivity to build the female characters of his operas, whose love stories are almost disproportionately strong in relation to their own fragility, and who therefore have no other choice but to die for love. One of such is Cio-Cio-San, respectively Madame Butterfly from the opera of the same name, premiered at La Scala in Milan in 1904, based on the play by Davide Belasco, which Puccini saw in London in 1900. The young geisha Cio-Cio-San is convinced of the truth of her marriage to the American naval officer Pinkerton, waiting for his return to Japan with his child and his faithful maid Suzuki. Pinkerton returns, but he comes for the child accompanied by his "real" American wife. The gentle watercolor with which Puccini paints the character of the young geisha now thickens into the crimson colors of tragedy – at the most difficult moment of the opera, she says goodbye to her child in an aria You, you, little God and takes his own life.
Soprano Valentina Fijačko Kobić is one of the most prominent artists on the Croatian opera scene, whose singing and acting skills are well known to visitors to national theatres in Split, Zagreb, Rijeka and Osijek, as well as to audiences at music festivals held in Croatia. She began learning singing in her hometown of Varaždin, studied and received her master's degree at the Academy of Music in Zagreb (in the class of Lidija Horvat-Dunjko), and continued her studies in Vienna (with Kammersängerin Olivera Miljaković). Among her numerous awards, the most notable are the award for the most successful young musician in 2003 (Ivo Vuljević) and 2004 (Zagreb Philharmonic and PBZ American Express Award), as well as the Croatian Theatre Award (2007), the Antun Marušić Award of the Split Croatian National Theatre for the 2007/2008 season, the Milka Trnina Award (2008) and the annual Award Marijana Radev of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb in 2014 and 2018 for the best artistic achievements. For her exceptional and creative work in the field of musical art in 2019, she was awarded the Order of the Croatian Day Star with the image of Marko Marulić, and in 2020 she received the annual Vladimir Nazor Award.
She made her debut at the Zagreb Opera of the Croatian National Theatre in 2001 as Lauretta (G. Puccini: Gianni Schicchi). She was a soloist of the Opera in Osijek from 2003 to 2006, and from 2007 to 2018 a member of the Opera in Split. In 2018, she became the first lady of the Opera of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb. On the opera stage, she has performed a number of demanding soprano roles in operas by Italian, French and Slavic composers. She pays special attention to soprano roles in operas by Croatian authors, and so far she has interpreted Jelena (I. pl. Zajc: Nikola Šubić Zrinjski), Mara (J. Hatze: Adel and Mara), Đula (J. Gotovac: Ero s onoga svijeta), Marica in the operetta Spli's watercolor (I. Tijardović), and Lisabeth (B. Bersa: The Shoemaker of Delft).
As a concert singer, soprano Valentina Fijačko Kobić collaborates with all leading Croatian conductors, symphony ensembles, pianists and organists. In this context, she has performed a whole series of suggestively rendered solo parts in stylistically very diverse vocal-instrumental scores by Giovanni Pergolesi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Gioachino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, Juraj Wiesner Morgenstern, Richard Strauss, Leoš Janáček, Arthur Honegger, Benjamin Britten and Igor Kuljerić, as well as a whole handful of art songs and sacred compositions by Croatian and world composers.
Mario Copor He attended elementary and secondary music school at the Elly State University and graduated (1995) and received his master's degree (1998) from the Zagreb Academy of Music in the class of Professor Stjepan Radić.
He studied in Austria with Prof. Ludowig Hoffman and Prof. Konrad Richter in the solo repertoire and as a pianist in the interpretation of solo songs and opera music. Since high school and during his studies, he has won prestigious awards at state competitions, and has performed in Croatia and abroad, from Japan across Europe to the USA and South Africa. For his performances in Japan, he won the Rector's Award. Opera singers have a special importance in his artistic work, collaborating with a number of prominent opera artists, singers of musicals, operettas, popular and jazz music, performing at joint concerts and recording numerous sound carriers with them (CD with Lidija Horvat Dunjko for elementary school textbooks published by Školska knjiga, CD with Mira Vlahović, 2 CDs with the children's and girls' choir Mozartine, CD with soprano Nela Šarić, etc.).
From 1998 to 2012, he was a permanent member and artistic associate of the Zagreb Opera Studio under the direction of maestro Antun Petrušić, from whom he later took over the directorship. In 2002, together with flautist Renata Penezić and oboist Branko Mihanović, he founded a trio and performed virtuoso instrumental arrangements of various popular opera arias. In early 2009, they released a joint CD Opera Souvenirs published by Croatia Records.
He is a permanent member/pianist and co-founder of the modern music ensemble Acoustic Project under the auspices of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2016, he recorded ten episodes of the show The boundless world of musical concepts for Croatian Radio and Television, as an artistic collaborator and pianist in vocal-instrumental performances by students and professors of solo singing at the Academy of Music in Zagreb.
In 2015, 2016 and 2018 he was the official accompanist of the International Singing Competition for Opera Singers. Zinka Milanov (held at the Croatian National Theatre Ivan pl. Zajc Rijeka). Since 1996, he has been continuously working as an artistic associate at the singing department of the Academy of Music of the University of Zagreb, and in 2020 he became an artistic advisor at the MA in Zagreb.
He is the winner of the Award Oscar of knowledge Education Agency for the results achieved in working with students in 2018/2019.
