SCIENTIFIC FORUM
Reception of the Personality and Works of Stevan Mokranjac in Russian Literature
Olga Otašević, musicologist
The reception of Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac’s life and work in Russian literature is closely connected with the Russian perception of Mokranjac as a prominent figure in the musical life and culture of a country whose folk musical tradition had long been a subject of interest in Russia. In terms of themes and genres, Russian writings on Mokranjac can be grouped into three chronologically successive waves. The first wave, informative in character, originates from Mokranjac’s contemporaries and appears in the context of his performances with the Belgrade singing society in Russian cities, reported in the press of that time. The second wave is associated with the marking of the centenary of his birth through occasional texts and a monograph (I. Martinov). The third, more recent wave is linked to the study of Mokranjac’s spiritual music (A. Jevdokimova). These three waves correspond to three aspects of his activity: as conductor and organizer, as composer of secular music, and as composer of spiritual music. It was only with the second wave that an analytical insight into his secular works emerged, while his spiritual music was addressed in Russia for the first time in the 21st century. This paper examines these three waves analytically and situates them within the ideological frameworks that shaped the Russian reception of Serbian musical tradition and determined how Mokranjac was represented and interpreted in Russian literature.
Olga Otašević (née Jokić, 1984) completed her undergraduate studies in musicology at the Faculty of Music, University of Belgrade, and is currently in the final year of her doctoral studies, for which she has written a dissertation entitled Influence of Soviet musical science on development of musicology in Serbia. Her research interests also include Russian opera and Asafyev’s theory of intonation. She is currently employed at the Library of the Faculty of Music.