PREFACE

This second volume of Guitar Compositions from Yugoslavia, from a set of six volumes
dedicated to the music for classical guitar in the in former Yugoslavia, includes the musical
works of the most active and representative guitarist/composers from Croatia during the 19th
and 20th centuries. All of the included pieces, except one, were never before presented outside
of the former Yugoslavia, and half of this selection was never even officially published in
Croatia nor in any other former Yugoslav republic. The intention was to bring to the public
information and selected works by our great classical guitar pioneers, thanks to whose admirable
passion for the instrument, as well as incredible tenacity, the guitar was elevated to a significant
level, becoming our most popular instrument.
The fact that Ivan Padovec was Croatia’s only professional guitarist and composer in the 19th
century, and that all others were mostly self-taught guitarists (many having quite different
professions for making a living), the value of the works presented here is even more special. We
also have to remember that after a golden age for the guitar in our country, ”the late sixties of the
19th century, when almost every house in our country had a guitar, and almost everybody
claimed to be able to play it, better or worse,” according to Franjo Kuhač, the Croatian
musicologist, we had decades of guitar decadence.
Thanks to the influence of music from other countries, and to the great optimism of our
amateur guitarists, especialy those working in the first decades of 20th century, a rapid
development of the guitar in our country was successfully under way. And then, in the early
1960s, we could proudly announce an original domestic school of classical guitar, with a newly
created tradition present in almost every former Yugoslav republic.
Selecting pieces for this album, we chose works by those composers who were guitarists, both
players and/or teachers. Most of them created their own guitar editions (in those days the number
of printed copies and their technical quality were very limited), and invented their own guitar
methods. We should remember that from the beginning of the 20th century up to the late 60s, it
was very hard to find or get any professional guitar literature in this country. Anyone who
managed to acquire albums of guitar methods like those of Carcassi or Carulli were lucky. No
wonder that our pioneers of guitar pedagogy had to make their own didactic materials.
Unfortunately, much of this is lost or forgotten today. This publication gives me an opportunity
to present a small part of probably the most important works for guitar done in Croatia, and
commemorate some of the greatest guitar enthusiasts we have had. Most of the world has likely
never before heard of any these men, and knowing the great love, strength and perseverence
exerted by all of them, it makes me very happy to know that with our edition we have managed
to give, if not much, then a little in return.

Uroš Dojčinović

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 NOTES ON THE COMPOSERS

Ivan Padovec (1800-1873), born in Varaždin, was

among the first of our professional guitarists, performers
and composers with an international reputation. He was
giving successful concerts both at home and abroad, and
composed over 200 compositions, instrumental (mostly for
one and two guitars) and vocal (songs for different voices
accompanied by guitar or piano). Many of his compositions
were published during his lifetime, by well-known
publishers in Vienna, Prague, etc. But some of his works
were kept in his, or his friends’ handwriting. We present
here his two Monferrin marches in A-major and D-major,
both kept in the city museum of Varaždin. The manuscript
was made by Padovec’s friend Lavoslav Vojska, probably
when the old guitarist was already totally blind. The
original title in the latter’s handwriting is “Monferrin
March”. Equally so the manuscript of “Polonaise in A-
minor,” which is in Vojska’s handwriting . “Polonaise in
A-major” is probably one of the most famous short Padovec pieces, and is taken from his
”Unterhaltungen Eine Reihe leichter und angenehmer original Stücke vorzüglih für den
Unterricht ,” Op. 6, published by Haslinger in Vienna. “Russian concert” could be the piece
which Padovec composed for a Russian competition for the best guitar piece, probably organized
by Makarov, the same guitarist who had years earlier held a competition for the best guitar
method, in which Padovec won first prize. Again he asked his friend Vojska to rewrite this piece
in his fine handwriting in l846, and sent it to this competition, but this time he did not win the
prize of 10 ducats. If a copy of that concert piece in A-major was saved, the one kept in the
Varaždin museum entitled “Russian concert” could be the same one.

Franjo Ksaver Kuhač (Osijek l834 – Zagreb 1911) was a

famous Croatian musicologist who himself played the guitar.
Being close with Padovec, Kuhač left much important
information about his much older colleague, as well as about
several other guitar amateurs. Among his other works we can
find a few guitar pieces, for solo and duo guitars. “Bagpiper”
is one of them, with light technical demands and with pure
traditional folk influence.

Anonymous Guitar Album from Samobor Most

guitarists, both beginners and more advanced used hand-
written pieces collected in various albums in their practice.
Often this kind of guitar album went from hand to hand,
changing owner several times. “Album for the Guitar (and
Zither) from Samobor” is one of these collections made

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during the second half of the 19th century. According to the written date under the title, most of
the pieces in it were collected in 1888, by a priest named Filipec living in the area around the
city of Samobor, near Zagreb. Most of the compositions are very easy didactic works in which
we can hear the influence of Padovec and Croatian folk music of the period. Nonetheless we
include these three short pieces to show the type of music being played at the time by non-
professional guitarists.

Milan Stahuljak (Bjelovar 1878 – Zagreb 1962) was a composer and conductor, teaching
ancient Greek and Latin at the high school level. His musical work especially emphasized the
tambour. He cooperated with Kuhač, and left among his more than 300 compositions, mostly for
tambours, several works for guitar. His “Memory Page” in this album was signed in 1946, and
has never before been published.

Josip Stojanović and Nikola Vukašinović were both

authors of original guitar-method books, very famous in the
early 1930s. Both published their editions with the music
company of Franjo Schneider (Končanica 1903 – Zagreb
1966), who had a great reputation as a fine instrument maker
(especially different kinds of tambours and guitars). Schneider
arrived in Zagreb in 1928 and started his large music
enterprise, making and repairing instruments as well as
pub1ishing music literature. Both above-mentioned guitar
methods, which had several later editions, were probably first
published around 1935. Each author was a very popular
player, and most of the pieces included in their schools (see
next page) are their own short compositions based on
traditional folk themes. They were active before and after
World War I in Zagreb.

The brothers Slavko Fumić (1912–1945) and Rudolf

Fumić (1915 – 1951) were both born in Zagreb, where they
began their guitar careers before World War II. Thanks to
another guitar-builder, their friend Ernest Köröskènyi, we
have today two of their albums with their selected pieces
published in Zagreb in 1956. They were very active, both as
composers and as solo and duo guitarists, who even recorded
for radio in those early days of broadcasting. Unfortunately,
Slavko died prematurely as a war victim and Rudolf didn’t
live much longer. Some of their pieces, like Slavko’s
“Nocturne”, continued to be some of the most popular
domestic works among our guitarists in the post-war period,
while one of his preludes was performed by the great Austrian
guitarist Luise Walker.
Cover of Compositions for Solo Guitar vol. II
by the Fumić brothers, Zagreb, 1956

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4
 Milan Grakulić (1909-1979) was born in Medulin
and spent the first five years of his childhood in Istra,
after which, like so many others faced with the tragedy of
World War I, he was taken to Austria, Hungary and
Czechoslovakia. Following the annexation of Istria after
the war, he continued living the hard life of an Istrian
refugee in the country. Working very hard, often as a
physical laborer, he managed to finish school and became
one of our most prominent architects. He was first
introduced to the guitar when he was 13, during his
school years in Karlovac, and never abandoned it
afterwards. All his life he has divided between his
professional career and his love for the guitar. He
managed to take some master courses given at that time
by Luise Walker in Vienna, as well as to attended master
classes held by Andres Segovia at the Chigiana Music Academy in Siena, Italy. Grakulić made
recordings for the Croatian record company “Jugoton” in Zagreb, and composed a few very
interesting virtuoso solo pieces. His music has never before been published, and the “Song and
Kolo Dance” from Slavonia in this album are among his favorite pieces.

The brothers Marko Jelčić (1918-1990) and Vincenco Jelčić (1921-1984) were clearly
among our greatest guitar enthusiasts in the first half of the 20th century. At the same time, just
as with the Fumić brothers, the
Jelčić were the second official
guitar duo in our country. Their
activities were mostly centered in
Dalmatia, the coastal province of
Croatia (they lived and worked most
of the time in the city of Split),
although they performed in other
parts of the country and organized a
number of different courses. In their
own edition dozens of little guitar
methods for the self-taught were
published, as well as several other
albums including their own
compositions.

(right)
Title page of the Jelčić brothers’
Modern Guitar School, Split, Croatia, 1956

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 Vjenceslav Samboliček (1904-1970) was also
introduced to the guitar as a very young boy, and later
managed to acquire a better instrument thanks to a job
he had at an instrument factory, where he received a
guitar instead of a salary for work he did there. After
the upheavalof World War II, in1949, Samboliček
enrolled in the music school in Virovitica, where he
would be teaching the classical guitar for about a
decade. He was also active as a guitar lecturer in
various Croatian cities around Virovitica such as
Daruvar and Podravska Slatina. Although he was a
professional house painter, as an amateur musician
Samboliček composed over 120 different pieces, mostly
for one and two guitars, but also for tambour orchestras
which he also conducted, and music for one operetta.
He wrote down many traditional Slavonic folk
melodies, and. some of them he published in his music
editions.

Viktor Himelrajh, born in the city of Čepun in l922, is another guitar-lover who started to
practice on this instrument when he was young. Later, working as a professional artist (professor
of art in various schools in Osijek), Himelrajh continued to study the instrument, paying special
attention to guitar history, pedagogy, and even a flamenco playing style. He self-published
different albums and collections of guitar works, which included dozens of his own pieces.

Edo Đuga, born in Zagreb in 1916, turned very early to professional

guitar teaching – first in primary schools, also teaching solfeggio and
conducting various youth choirs and orchestras. After 1962 his
attention was focused on classical guitar pedagogy and his first guitar
editions were published in Zagreb in l965. He also established a career
as a successful guitar professor.

Title page of Edo Đuga’s

Guitar Album, Zagreb, 1968