Page 414 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2017. Glasbene migracije: stičišče evropske glasbene raznolikosti - Musical Migrations: Crossroads of European Musical Diversity. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 1
P. 414
glasbene migracije: stičišče evropske glasbene raznolikosti
sna (The Threshold of Dreams, 1963). In his early Belgrade years, Damni-
anovitch had the opportunity to meet Marić and developed a great admira-
tion and respect for her works. Both composers aspire to achieve individual
expressions of their meditations on time and timelessness, on the spiritual
values transmitted from one generation to another through the centuries.
Both Damnianovitch and Marić are also very much moved by tradi-
tional Serbian (though not exclusively Serbian) folk singing whose char-
acteristic modal features, and those of the so-called “singing in seconds”
they introduce into their works, transforming them into specific identi-
ty marks. Church and folk traditions are united in their works, becom-
ing kinds of emblems of Serbian national identity. It is paradoxical that
Damnianovitch “discovered” Serbian folk music rather late, after he had al-
ready got to know the folkloric heritage of the French province of Brittany.
He found it a challenge to compose a work based on the texts of probably
the most ancient Celtic poem from that part of France. The work – Séries
(Series) for voice, guitar, flute and two harps (1989) – has been extensive-
ly admired due to its refined use of specific features of Breton folklore. It
happened that Damnianovitch was present at a performance of Series at a
folklore festival in Corsica, which proved to be of great importance to him
because he also got the chance there to hear a concert given by folk singers
and a group from Serbia21 and the music they sang proved to be a great reve-
lation to him! According to the composer himself, it was then that he heard
Serbian folk music for the first time, which may seem incredible. Howev-
er, at that time, a boy brought up in Belgrade without relatives in the coun-
tryside had very little chance to hear traditional Serbian music. Soon after-
wards he composed Trois chants serbes (Three Serbian Songs, 1991) for choir
and, later, Folksongs for soprano and string orchestra (1998-2002), consist-
ing of four Serbian and three Italian songs.
When trying to explain his views on his own works, Alexandre Dam-
nianovitch speaks about composing along a Orthodox-spiritual line that
includes secular elements too, as a way of “returning home”, affirming his
national identity and being “true to himself”22. Oecumenism is also some-
thing he strives to achieve, not on the level of religion but through music,
in the sense of harmonising the two cultures – the Orthodox Christian on
one side and the Catholic/Protestant Christian on the other – characteris-
tics that, according to him, best define the two countries most precious to
21 Nasta Stepanović, Svetlana Stević, the group “Pagan girls”.
22 From Damnianovitch’s mail sent to the author of this article on February 4, 2016.
412
sna (The Threshold of Dreams, 1963). In his early Belgrade years, Damni-
anovitch had the opportunity to meet Marić and developed a great admira-
tion and respect for her works. Both composers aspire to achieve individual
expressions of their meditations on time and timelessness, on the spiritual
values transmitted from one generation to another through the centuries.
Both Damnianovitch and Marić are also very much moved by tradi-
tional Serbian (though not exclusively Serbian) folk singing whose char-
acteristic modal features, and those of the so-called “singing in seconds”
they introduce into their works, transforming them into specific identi-
ty marks. Church and folk traditions are united in their works, becom-
ing kinds of emblems of Serbian national identity. It is paradoxical that
Damnianovitch “discovered” Serbian folk music rather late, after he had al-
ready got to know the folkloric heritage of the French province of Brittany.
He found it a challenge to compose a work based on the texts of probably
the most ancient Celtic poem from that part of France. The work – Séries
(Series) for voice, guitar, flute and two harps (1989) – has been extensive-
ly admired due to its refined use of specific features of Breton folklore. It
happened that Damnianovitch was present at a performance of Series at a
folklore festival in Corsica, which proved to be of great importance to him
because he also got the chance there to hear a concert given by folk singers
and a group from Serbia21 and the music they sang proved to be a great reve-
lation to him! According to the composer himself, it was then that he heard
Serbian folk music for the first time, which may seem incredible. Howev-
er, at that time, a boy brought up in Belgrade without relatives in the coun-
tryside had very little chance to hear traditional Serbian music. Soon after-
wards he composed Trois chants serbes (Three Serbian Songs, 1991) for choir
and, later, Folksongs for soprano and string orchestra (1998-2002), consist-
ing of four Serbian and three Italian songs.
When trying to explain his views on his own works, Alexandre Dam-
nianovitch speaks about composing along a Orthodox-spiritual line that
includes secular elements too, as a way of “returning home”, affirming his
national identity and being “true to himself”22. Oecumenism is also some-
thing he strives to achieve, not on the level of religion but through music,
in the sense of harmonising the two cultures – the Orthodox Christian on
one side and the Catholic/Protestant Christian on the other – characteris-
tics that, according to him, best define the two countries most precious to
21 Nasta Stepanović, Svetlana Stević, the group “Pagan girls”.
22 From Damnianovitch’s mail sent to the author of this article on February 4, 2016.
412
