Page 385 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2020. Konservatoriji: profesionalizacija in specializacija glasbenega dela ▪︎ The conservatories: professionalisation and specialisation of musical activity. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 4
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oi: https://doi.org/10.26493/978-961-7055-86-3.383-399

Beginnings of the Piano Department
at the Belgrade Music Academy

Ivana Medić
Srbska akademija znanosti in umetnosti
Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Foundation of the Belgrade Music Academy and its Piano
Department
Prior to the establishment of the first tertiary educational institution for
studying music, the Belgrade Music Academy in 1937, there were two mu-
sic schools in Belgrade: “Mokranjac” (previously Belgrade Music School,
founded in 1899 by the Belgrade Singing Society)1 and “Stanković” (founded
in 1911 by the eponymous singing society).2 Ever since the end of the Great
War, there were initiatives to transform this private domain into public and
to establish a state-funded music conservatory.3 Indeed, both schools had
ambitions to expand into conservatories; “Stanković” accomplished this
feat in the early 1930s during Emil Hajek’s tenure as the school principal4
– albeit, still without a comprehensive state support. On the other hand, in

1 A detailed history of music education in Belgrade before and after the foundation of
the music school “Mokranjac” is presented in the article by Stana Đurić-Klajn, pub-
lished in the festive monograph on occasion of the school’s 75th anniversary: Stana
Đurić-Klajn, “Muzičko školovanje u Srbiji do 1914. godine” [Music Education in Ser-
bia until 1914], in: Muzička škola “Mokranjac” 1899–1974 [Music School “Mokranjac”
1899–1974], ed. Vera Zečević (Belgrade: Music School “Mokranjac”, 1974), 11–41.
The school has been active to the present day; its official website is https://mokran-
jacbg.rs.

2 Radmila Pejović, “About School,” http://msstankovic.edu.rs/aboutschool.html.
3 Cf. Miloje Milojević, “O muzikalnom vaspitanju” [On Music Education], Part I,

Prosvetni glasnik 1 (1920): 19–27; Part II, Prosvetni glasnik 3 (1920): 150–156.
4 Pejović, “About School,” http://msstankovic.edu.rs/aboutschool.html.

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