Davorin Jenko

Davorin Jenko

Davorin Jenko (9 November 1835 - 25 November 1914) was a Slovene composer. He is sometimes considered as the father of Slovenian national Romantic music.^[1][2][3] He also composed the melody for the Serbian national anthem Bože pravde and the former Slovenian national anthem Naprej, zastava Slave.

He was born in the Upper Carniolan village of Dvorje, in what was then the Austrian Empire. After graduating from high school in Trieste, he went to Vienna, where he studied law. During his Viennese stay, he founded the Slovene Choir Society in Vienna, which was sponsored by the national liberal politician Valentin Zarnik.

In 1862, he moved to the town of Pančevo in southern Vojvodina, where he worked as the choirmaster of the local Serbian Orthodox Church. He later moved on the other side of the Austrian-Serbian border to Belgrade, where he worked as a composer in the Serbian National Theatre.

Jenko was named among the first four members of the Academy of Arts of the Royal Serbian Academy of Sciences, named by King Milan I of Serbia on 5 April 1887.

He lived in the Serbia until 1897, when he moved to Ljubljana in his native Carniola.

During his life, Jenko composed several pieces both in Slovene and Serbian.^[4] He wrote the first Serbian operetta (The Sorceress, Врачара 1882).,^[5] and composed the music for the Serbian national anthem, based on the lyrics of Jovan Đorđević.

Most of his Slovene pieces were composed during his stay in Vienna. In 1860, he composed the music for the patriotic song Naprej, zastava Slave (Forward, Flag of Glory!) for the lyrics written by his cousin Simon Jenko. He also composed several other Slovene patriotic poems, which later became a crucial part of the Slovenian national canon.

He died in Ljubljana, and was buried in the Žale cemetery in the Bežigrad district.

References

1. ^ Geoffrey Hindley Larousse encyclopedia of music 1994 p576 "Davorin Jenko (1835-1914) is considered as the founder of Slovene national music"
2. ^ Dragotin Cvetko Davorin Jenko 1980
3. ^ Karel Mahkota Davorin Jenko 1935
4. ^ Stana Đurić-Klajn A survey of Serbian music through the ages 1972 "Davorin Jenko - Stankovic's work in Serbia was immediately continued by the manifold and beneficial activity of the Slovene Davorin Jenko. The first period of his life and work belonged to the time of Slovene romanticism, "
5. ^ Donald Jay Grout, Hermine Weigel Williams A short history of opera p539 "Among opera composers of importance in Serbia were Davorin Jenko (1835-1914), whose many works for the theater include Врачара (The Sorceress, 1882), the first Serbian operetta..."

Persondata
Name	Jenko, Davorin
Alternative names
Short description	Slovenian composer
Date of birth	9 November 1835
Place of birth	Dvorje, Upper Carniola
Date of death	25 November 1914
Place of death