Page 387 - 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
P. 387
socio-political discourses of the development of music education ...

On 31 March 1937 the Decree of the establishment of the state-spon-
sored secondary and tertiary art schools in Belgrade was passed, and in
September 1937 the first candidates passed entrance exams for the Acade-
my.7 The Secondary Music School and the Academy shared the same build-
ing situated in Park Manjež in Belgrade – the word “manjež” meaning
“school for horsemen.” The building itself was completed in 1931 as an aux-
iliary building for the National Assembly. Although adapted to host the
Academy, it was planned from the outset that it would be just a temporary
solution, until the new, purpose-built edifice of the Academy was erected;8
however, this plan was never realised and, as of 2019, the Academy is still
located in the same building!

The Academy was officially opened on 21 November 1937, in the pres-
ence of the political and cultural elite of that time (but without the at-
tendance of either King Peter II, President Milan Stojadinović or Minis-
ter of Education Dimitrije Magarašević – all of whom had sent only their
emissaries).9

Three professors prepared the curricula for all departments and rule-
books for professors’ and students’ conduct: first of all, Kosta P. Manojlović
(1890–1949), composer and musicologist, an alumnus of the University of
Oxford and the first Dean of the new Academy, who had previously taught
at the Belgrade Music School and the Faculty of Orthodox Theology of the
University of Belgrade.10 The second member of this triumvirate was Ste-
van Hristić (1885–1958), composer and conductor, who had served as the
Director of Opera of the National Theatre in Belgrade.11 The third member

7 Cf. Ivana Perković, “Dva početka. Godine 1937–1957” [Two Beginnings. Years 1937–
1957], in Naših 80 godina – Kultura sećanja, ed. Ivana Perković (Belgrade: Faculty of
Music, 2018), 22.

8 Cf. Ivana Perković, “Trajni déjà vu. Beleške o prvim godinama rada Muzičke ak-
ademije u Beogradu, povodom jubileja Fakulteta muzičke umetnosti” [Permanent
déjà vu. Notes on the First Years of Work of the Music Academy in Belgrade, on the
Occassion of the Anniversary of the Faculty of Music], Zbornik Matice srpske za
scenske umetnosti i muziku 57 (2017): 205.

9 Kosta P. Manojlović, ed., Muzička akademija u Beogradu – Academia artium musi-
carum Belgradensis [Music Academy in Belgrade], Annual report for the first aca-
demic year 1937/38 (Belgrade: Music Academy, 1938), 15–16.

10 On Manojlović’s life and work, see various studies at the first English-language col-
lection dedicated to him: Vesna Peno, Ivana Vesić, and Aleksandar Vasić, eds., Kosta
P. Manojlović (1890–1949) and the Idea of Slavic and Balkan Cultural Unification
(Belgrade: Institute of Musicology SASA, 2017).

11 On Hristić’s life and work see: Dimitrije Stefanović, ed., Život i delo Stevana Hristića [The
Life and Work of Stevan Hristić] (Belgrade: Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, 1991).

385
   382   383   384   385   386   387   388   389   390   391   392