REPERTOIRE OF SERBIAN SINGING SOCIETES IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA DURING THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE

Abstract

The most important activity in the musical life of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the period of the Austro-Hungarian administration was played by singing societies. Among the most active were the Serbian singing societies. The aim of the paper is to illuminate the quantity and quality of the repertoire of Serbian singing societies in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the period of the Austro-Hungarian administration, while the tasks related to data collection, systematization, comparisons, analysis, synthesis. It was customary that in societies male choirs were first founded and then mixed choirs. On the repertoire of singing societies in the beginning were mostly simpler songs and compositions, while in time the repertoire expanded to demanding compositions by Serbian composers and Czech authors who had already been in Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The societies mostly performed on the Holocaust speeches, liturgies, concerts, parties and the repertoires were designed depending on the occasion and the type of performances. From the tour and concerts that were most often published by Sarajevo's Bosanska Vila, the impression was that, in addition to acting on an amateur basis, these choirs played spontaneously and honestly and achieved high quality. In this way they directly and efficiently participated in the process of music education of the citizens.