Osterc's letters to Milojevic

Abstract

The correspondence between two of the most important composers in Yugoslavia during the period between the two world wars: Miloje Milojevic (1884-1946), a Serb living in Belgrade, and Slavko Osterc (1895-1946), Slovene living in Ljubljana, gives us valuable insight into their musical aspirations ambitions, relations to other colleagues, the functioning of musical institutions and the cultural and even political climate of the times. The stylistic features of their works are basically different, Milojevic being a modernist with late romantic roots, while Osterc was inclined to objectivity of the neoclassical and "constructive expressionist type. The main topics of their correspondence include: the activities of the Yugoslav section of the International Society for Contemporary Music, in which they were very much involved, and the efforts they made to have their works performed both in the country and abroad. Milojevic and Osterc maintained very good relations throughout the period covered by this exchange of letters, that is from 1933-1941 (Osterc's last letter was sent three months before his death in May 1941) and their correspondence provides evidence of several instances of the mutual generosity, as they helped each other in their careers. The portion of this correspondence that is kept in Ljubljana - Milojevic's letters to Osterc - has already been published and analyzed by Dragotin Cvetko. As such, the edition of the remaining correspondence, Osterc's letters to Milojevic, that is kept in the private archive of Milojevic's grandson Vlastimir Trajkovic in Belgrade, completes the picture. The language Osterc used was his mother tongue, Slovenian, with "borrowings" from the Serbian, the result being an often amusing mixture of the two.