Arti musices, Vol. 55 No. 1, 2024.
Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.21857/90836c21py
The »Gruda« Choir from Rovišće – From Photography to Family and Broader Cultural Meaning
Alida Sokolović
orcid.org/0009-0000-5137-6823
; Glazbena škola Vatroslava Lisinskog Bjelovar, Bjelovar, Hrvatska
Abstract
Prompted by an encounter with a photograph of the mixed »Gruda« choir from Rovišće, in which she spotted the figure of her grandmother, the author investigates the founding and impact of peasant choirs in Bjelovar county throughout the latter half of the 1920s. In the absence of archival materials, the basic sources were the periodicals Seljačka prosvjeta (1926-1929), Glazbeni vjesnik (1919-1931) and Nezavisnost (1906-1935).
The »Gruda« choir was a collaborative project of local music enthusiasts of different social background, age groups and ethnicities. A large number of its members came from the first and second generation of Czech immigrants who moved to Rovišće at the end of the 19th century and peacefully integrated into the local society. The choir seemed to be a typical example of a former (Croatian) peasant choir, similar to city choirs; with a choirmaster and written music material, the choir would perform harmonized or arranged traditional Croatian folk songs, but also compositions by foreign authors, which was not common at the time. Also, the »Gruda« choir was the only choir in the near vicinity of Bjelovar that originated and actively acted under the aegis of the Seljačka sloga (Peasant Concord), a cultural-educational and philanthropic organization of the Hrvatska seljačka stranka (Croatian Peasant Party). With a self-reflexive final review at the research of a fragment of her own family’s history, the author was given an answer to the question of why she devoted herself to music, even though none of her close relatives were actively engaged in it.
Keywords
Choir »Gruda« Rovišće; Seljačka sloga (Peasant Concord); Croatian Singing Association; festivals; culture; integration; Bjelovar
Hrčak ID:
319644
URI
Publication date:
22.7.2024.
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