Preliminary communication

https://doi.org/10.21857/m16wjcep49

Andrija Szegedy’s Contribution in the Field of Church and Secular Music

Katarina Koprek ; Catholic Faculty of Theology, University of Zagreb

Abstract

Many Greek Catholic priests were prominent and active members of Croatian society. One of them was Andrija Szegedy/Segedi (born in the city of Šid in 1862 – died in Kričke in 1920) – known in the music world as »Andrija from Srijem«. As a cadet of the Greek Catholic seminary in Szeged, he fi nished high school in Zagreb and theological studies in Vienna as a student of the »Barbareum« College. In 1885 he was ordained Greek Catholic priest of the Diocese of Križevci. He was entrusted with various services: he was bishop’s secretary and aided with administrative tasks, he was rector of the Greek Catholic seminary in Zagreb, director of the Greek Catholic orphanage »Julianeum« and religious teacher for Greek Catholics in Križevci, he provided pastoral care in Kucuri, Vrbas and Dišnik. In his work, Andrija Szegedy always advocated improvement of the spiritual and material condition in his parishes, but also tried to raise the level of cultural and educational life for his parishioners. Musically talented, he especially nurtured church »chanting« and spiritual music, and is credited with the renewal and development of Greek Catholic liturgical singing in Zagreb and the Diocese of Križevci, mainly in the (Russian) Church Slavic language. Croatian Greek Catholics of the Žumberak Vicariate of the Diocese of Križevci brought to Croatia, fl eeing from the Turks, the old tunes of the octave, the so-called »prostopjenije«. They kept them by oral tradition through church singers, and there were fewer and fewer of them each year, and the danger emerged that this style of singing would be completely lost. Thanks to Andrija Szegedy (under the pseudonym Andrija Srijemac), this old church style of singing »prostopjenije« was preserved from oblivion, and became a part of the written tradition – a testimony of Žumberak’s church music tradition collected in the book Zbirka crkvenih napjeva, kako se pjevaju u grčko-katoličkom sjemeništu u Zagrebu [Collection of Church Songs, as they are sung in the Greek Catholic seminary in Zagreb] in 1894. This is the first work of its kind and a testimony that the Greek Catholic Church in Croatia has built its own path away from its beginnings based on the Byzantine tradition. Andrija Szegedy is credited with melographing the music edition of a small format embordered cloth titled Liturgija Sv. Joanna Zl. Duett [Liturgy of St. John Chryszostom – Duet]. With equal zeal, Szegedy worked hard on secular choral singing and music literature in high schools. He received great recognition from music experts for publishing the collection Jeka: zbirka izabranih domorodnih napjeva za mješovit zbor (s dječačkimi glas.) – udesio A. Sriemac [Echo: Collection of Indigenous Songs for mixed choir (with boys‘ voices) – arranged by A. Sriemac], which he intended for pedagogical purposes: as music literature for high school singing teachers. As a participant in the awakening of the national and restorative musical period of church and secular national music of the Christian East and West, Szegedy also tried his hand as a composer, composing a musical ballad Grob kaludjerov [The Tomb of the Monks] (1894) for the choir and soloists – based on the text written by Antun Nemčić. Andrija Szegedy has a unique role in the fi eld of church singing of Croatian Greek Catholics of the Žumberak Vicariate of the Diocese of Križevci. Thus, with his musical works, endeavors and intentions, Szegedy paved the way for the professionalization of the liturgical music in the Diocese of Križevci.

Keywords

Andrija Szegedy; Croatian Greek Catholics; Diocese of Križevci; Greek Catholic Seminary; prostopjenije; octoechos; Antun Nemčić; Grob kaludjerov

Hrčak ID:

271045

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/271045

Publication date:

15.12.2021.

Article data in other languages: croatian

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