Page 441 - 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. 441
summaries
since plans to establish similar schools for the theatre and fine arts were not
realised until after the war.
Keywords: World War I, Conservatory, Glasbena Matica, Matej Hubad,
Stanko Vurnik
Maruša Zupančič
Bohemian Violinists in Ljubljana: Jan Šlais’s Contribution
to Ljubljana’s Violin School
Jan Šlais (1893–1975) was one of the last Prague violinists active in Slovenia
during the twentieth century. Today he is considered a founder of the Lju-
bljana violin school. He trained an important generation of Slovenian vio-
linists and was the coda to a long tradition of violinists from Bohemia that
contributed to the development of violin playing in this region for over one
hundred fifty years.
The phenomenon of Bohemian musicians’ extensive migrations across Eu-
rope began taking place as early as the end of the seventeenth century. The
earliest musicians from Bohemia appeared in Ljubljana in the 1720s and the
first Bohemian violinists in the 1790s. After the establishment of the Prague
Conservatory in 1811, the most important violinists from Bohemia came
out of that institute: they were the Prague violinists that appeared in Lju-
bljana only in the 1870s. Initially, they were teaching at the Philharmonic
Society, then at the Music Society, and some of them privately. Hans Gerst-
ner moved to Ljubljana in 1871 and became one of the most important Lju-
bljana’s violinists and musical figures. He was a brilliant and successful vi-
olin teacher, and taught his pupils a very challenging violin repertoire. But
the conditions were not yet right for him to train them as professional vio-
linists and his students still had to perfect their violin studies abroad.
Fifty years later, young Jan Šlais was more fortunate in this sense when he
was appointed as a violin teacher at the newly-founded Ljubljana Conserv-
atory. During his twenty-five years of teaching in Ljubljana, he profound-
ly influenced the development of violin playing for the next hundred years,
and the majority of today’s Slovenian violinists can be considered his “vi-
olin descendants.” He was also one of the most important promoters of
Ševčík’s violin system in Ljubljana. It would remain a leading teaching sys-
tem in schools throughout the twentieth century and it is still today part
of violin curricula. Šlais influenced not only violin playing but also vio-
la playing, not only in Ljubljana but all over Slovenia. Among his pupils
were: Karlo Rupel (1907–1968), Leon Pfeifer (1907–1986), Albert (Ali) Der-
439
since plans to establish similar schools for the theatre and fine arts were not
realised until after the war.
Keywords: World War I, Conservatory, Glasbena Matica, Matej Hubad,
Stanko Vurnik
Maruša Zupančič
Bohemian Violinists in Ljubljana: Jan Šlais’s Contribution
to Ljubljana’s Violin School
Jan Šlais (1893–1975) was one of the last Prague violinists active in Slovenia
during the twentieth century. Today he is considered a founder of the Lju-
bljana violin school. He trained an important generation of Slovenian vio-
linists and was the coda to a long tradition of violinists from Bohemia that
contributed to the development of violin playing in this region for over one
hundred fifty years.
The phenomenon of Bohemian musicians’ extensive migrations across Eu-
rope began taking place as early as the end of the seventeenth century. The
earliest musicians from Bohemia appeared in Ljubljana in the 1720s and the
first Bohemian violinists in the 1790s. After the establishment of the Prague
Conservatory in 1811, the most important violinists from Bohemia came
out of that institute: they were the Prague violinists that appeared in Lju-
bljana only in the 1870s. Initially, they were teaching at the Philharmonic
Society, then at the Music Society, and some of them privately. Hans Gerst-
ner moved to Ljubljana in 1871 and became one of the most important Lju-
bljana’s violinists and musical figures. He was a brilliant and successful vi-
olin teacher, and taught his pupils a very challenging violin repertoire. But
the conditions were not yet right for him to train them as professional vio-
linists and his students still had to perfect their violin studies abroad.
Fifty years later, young Jan Šlais was more fortunate in this sense when he
was appointed as a violin teacher at the newly-founded Ljubljana Conserv-
atory. During his twenty-five years of teaching in Ljubljana, he profound-
ly influenced the development of violin playing for the next hundred years,
and the majority of today’s Slovenian violinists can be considered his “vi-
olin descendants.” He was also one of the most important promoters of
Ševčík’s violin system in Ljubljana. It would remain a leading teaching sys-
tem in schools throughout the twentieth century and it is still today part
of violin curricula. Šlais influenced not only violin playing but also vio-
la playing, not only in Ljubljana but all over Slovenia. Among his pupils
were: Karlo Rupel (1907–1968), Leon Pfeifer (1907–1986), Albert (Ali) Der-
439
