Aesthetics behind the concert life of Ljubljana in the 19th century: 1794-1872

In 1794, the Philharmonic Society was established in Ljubljana. Its main purpose was the organization of music concerts. Concert programs are known since 1811 and there were no better concerts, or equally important institution in Slovenia, till the establishment of the Musical Society Glasbena matica (1872). The Philharmonic Society offered hundreds of concerts. The functioning of the Philharmonic Society and their concerts are preserved through a variety of critical records and notices reported by daily newspapers (Laibacher Zeitung, Illyrisches Blatt). Activities of the Ljubljana Philharmonic Society are indicated in some music historiographical works (Kuret, Philharmonic Society), yet they are almost completely ignored as musical phenomena with aesthetical impact as well as efforts emerging out of certain social background within a period, when the German-speaking cultural space appeared specific with regard to the contemporary philosophical currents resulting in the views on music. By, for instance, E. T. A. Hoffman, R. Schumann, E. Hanslick et al. Their essays and criticism created fertile philosophical background, out of which a reflective platform for specific musical practices emerged and according to which also the music itself was composed. Undoubtedly the music scene in Ljubljana was a part of this process – part of the broader currents of art –and the question arises as from which aesthetic background, either implicitly or explicitly, Ljubljana's concert life took its shape. In the proposed project, the concert programmes of the Philharmonic Society would be interpreted with regard to the then current social and philosophical concepts and the perception of those concerts will be analyzed, mainly on the basis of the music criticism. - It is expected that the interpretation of musical events in Ljubljana on the social and philosophical background should clarify the cultural atmosphere of the Slovenian capital in the period before the Slovenian nationalism grew strong as one of the most virulent musical concepts.