Arti musices, Vol. 43 No. 1, 2012.
Izvorni znanstveni članak
The Zagreb Kvak Club and Music - with Special Emphasis on the Period from its Foundation in 1879 to 1907
Nada Bezić
; Knjižnica Hrvatskog glazbenog zavoda, Zagreb, Hrvatska
Sažetak
The Kvak Club, probably founded on the model of the Schlaraffia societies from other parts of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, was active in Zagreb from 1879 until 1941. The main aim of the Club was fun with subtle humour, while political and religious topics were banned. The Club’s emblem was a frog, hence the name of the Club (Croatian onomatopoeia for a frog’s croak is "kvak" [kva: k]). The members were male exclusively, mostly from the upper classes, wealthy citizens and artists, and each of them had a special Kvak name. Many were members of other respected societies (e.g. the Croatian Kolo Singing Society) and institutions. They met every Saturday and organized special events twice a year; almost all the meetings included music performances. Although it was closed to wider audiences, their repertoire was also known outside the seat of the Club (even outside of Zagreb, for example, in Požega in Slavonia), primarily through printed Kvak compositions and performances of operetta-parodies.
The upper limit of the researched period was determined by the available (incompletely preserved) sources. During those almost 30 years, the Club had a total of 65 members, some of whom were professional musicians such as Nikola Faller, but the music was mostly provided by music-amateurs from various professions (e.g. Milan Smrekar, a Kvak-composer with an extensive opus, a lawyer). Julije Šenoa, bank director and comedy writer, also one of the founders of the Club, was the most important writer of texts for Kvak.
The repertoire list contains 55 pieces written by Kvak members or written for Kvak, and 62 pieces that were part of their repertoire. The sheet music is preserved in the National and University Library, the library of the Croatian Music Institute and the Museum of the City of Zagreb, where the Kvak is presented in a permanent exhibition.
Basically the repertoire consists of short and simple songs and couplets. Particularly interesting are the theatre works, especially the operetta-parodies, based on the similar Viennese theatrical tradition.
The most successful among them were composed by nonmembers, Gjuro Eisenhuth and Srećko Albini. Following the increased interest of researchers in the Kvak in the last two decades, there was a modern performance of the Kvak operetta-parody Otelo in Zagreb in 2002.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
95737
URI
Datum izdavanja:
15.6.2012.
Posjeta: 3.539 *