The Charity Concerts of the Croatian Music Club “Lisinski” – a Music Repertoire as a Reflection of a Change of Political Opinion

Abstract

This paper analyses nine charity concerts held by the Croatian Music Club “Lisinski” during World War I, with particular attention being given to the musical component of the concerts. Since the concerts were supposed to cater to as broad a public as possible, the programme was arranged very carefully and above all deliberately because the organisers hoped to recover the costs through donations. This makes them an excellent source for studying social history and the changes caused by World War I. Concerts were arranged in 1915, 1917, and 1918, while the performed works included pro-Monarchy compositions written early during the war, works by composers from the Slavic lands within the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, and even works by Serbian authors performed in 1918. Works by Croatian authors were, naturally, always present and included musical classics and contemporaneous young composers.