BALKAN MUSIC HISTORY IN THE SEVENTEENTH AND EIGHTEENTH CENTURIES. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

Abstract

For the benefit of those not familiar with the history of the Balkans we present a few points as background for the understanding of the complexities of the developments of events in the period under consideration. The Turkish conquests in the course of the 14th and 15th centuries have brought to an end the independence of most countries in the Balkans. In the 16th and 17th centuries took place the deepest penetration of Turks into Central Europe, culminating in the siege of Vienna in 1683. However, the northwestern territories and the Adriatic Coast were throughout these centuries under the domination of the Austrian Empire as well as Venitian rule over most of Dalmatia, with the exception of the independent city-state of Dubrovnik which managed to maintain an internal autonomy and in which cultural developments culminated in the period from the 15th to the 17th centuries. For most ethnic groups the period under discussion represented Dark Ages with exception of Dubrovnik, and to some extent of Slovenia and Croatia, and Hungary which being under Austrian domination were able to create some artistic activities. The remaining ethnic groups consisting of Romanians, Bulgarians, Serbs, Bosnia and Montenegro as well as Greece, all of which were as far as religious orientation is concerned, Eastern Orthodox, cultivated primarily the traditions of church music which was viewed as a way of asserting their ethnic and national identity. Numerous wars have contributed to migrations and intermingling of nations. Among these one of the most significant was the large migration of Serbs in 1690 when occured the Serbian migration into Austrian Empire with large numbers of refugees settling along the borders of