Dora Pejačević

Dora Pejačević

Dora Pejačević (10 September 1885 – 5 March 1923) was a Croatian composer, a member of the Pejačević noble family. She was one of the composers to introduce the orchestral song to Croatian music.[1]

Biography

Dora Pejačević (in old documents also Pejacsevich) was born in Budapest, a daughter of Croatian ban Teodor Pejačević and Hungarian Countess Lilla Vay de Vaya, herself a fine pianist. Her mother gave her first piano lessons. Paternally, she descended from the old Croatian noble Pejačević family, one of the most distinguished noble families in Slavonia, eastern region of Croatia.

Dora began to compose when she was 12. She studied music privately in Zagreb, Dresden and Munich and received lessons in instrumentation (from Dragutin Kaiser and Walter Courvoisier), composition (from Percy Sherwood) and violin (from Henri Petri in München). She was largely self-taught, however. She married Ottomar von Lumbe in 1921. Although Pejačević led a lonely life, she met many prominent musicians and writers, and befriended Austrian journalist and writer Karl Kraus and Czech aristocrat and patroness of arts Sidonie Nádherná. Dora died in Munich in 1923, a result of complications following a difficult childbirth (of her son Theo), and is buried at the cemetery in Našice, Croatia.

Dora Pejačević should be considered a major Croatian composer. She left behind a considerable catalogue of 58 opuses (106 compositions), mostly in late-Romantic style, including songs, piano works, chamber music, and several compositions for large orchestra, arguably her best. Her Symphony in F-sharp minor is considered by scholars the first modern symphony in Croatian music. Most of her music has yet to be published and released on compact disc, although concerted efforts have been made recently to rectify this situation. For example, the Croatian Music Information Centre has published some of her scores, including three of her orchestral works (Piano Concerto, Symphony, and Phantasie Concertante). In 2008, the Center also published a bilingual monograph (in English and Croatian), written by the Pejačević scholar Koraljka Kos, accompanied by a first all-Pejačević CD of piano and chamber music.

Her life is a subject of a Croatian biographical film Countess Dora (1993), directed by Zvonimir Berković and starring Alma Prica and Rade Šerbedžija.[2]

List of works

Vocal compositions

Lieder:
  1. Sicheres Merkmal
  2. Es hat gleich einem Diebe
  3. Taut erst Blauveilchen
  4. Es jagen sich Mond und Sonne
  5. Du bist der helle Frühlingsmorgen
  6. In den Blättern wühlt
  7. Es war einmal
  1. Ich schleiche meine Straßen
  2. Verweht
  1. Ein Schrei
  2. Wie ein Rausch
  3. Ich glaub', lieber Schatz
  4. Traumglück
  1. Als du mich einst gefunden hast
  2. Viel Fähren sind auf den Flüssen
  3. Ich bin eine Waise
  4. Ich war ein Kind und träumte viel
  1. Venedig
  2. Vereinsamt
  3. Der Einsamste
  1. Zu dir!
  2. Um bei dir zu sein
  1. Majčica, moj anđeo (Mommy, my angel)
  2. Dijete i baka (Child and grandmother)
  3. Mali Radojica (Little Radojica)
with orchestral accompaniment:
  1. Goldne Sterne, blaue Glöckchen
  2. Schwebe, du Schmetterling

Compositions for solo piano

  1. Sehnsucht
  2. Leid
  3. Frage
  4. Klage
  5. Bitte
  6. Wahn (2 versions: A and B)
  1. Schneeglöckchen
  2. Veilchen
  3. Maiglöckchen
  4. Vergißmeinnicht
  5. Rose
  6. Rote Nelken
  7. Lilien
  8. Chrysanthemen
  1. moderato
  2. grazioso
  3. im Lëndler-tempo
  4. wiegend
  5. lento
  6. tempo giusto
  7. allegretto
  8. grazioso, allegramente
  9. moderato
  1. (lost)
  2. Libelle
  3. Papillon
  4. Abendgedanke
  1. Con fuoco non troppo allegro
  2. Andante con molta espressione
  3. Allegro risoluto
  1. Ruhig und innig
  2. Langsam und ausdrucksvoll
  1. An dich!
  2. Vor deinem Bild
  1. Sehr ruhig, mit innigem Ausdruck, (Janowitz 20. – 21. Juli 1918. Dedicated to pianist Alice Ripper)
  2. Leicht bewegt und ferträumt
  1. Humoreske, allegretto vivo
  2. Caprice, vivace grazioso

Chamber compositions

Orchestral compositions

Songs for voice and orchestra (1915 – 1920)

Recordings

Public Video Recordings

Complete Works for Piano
First integral recording ever of Pejačević's works for piano, by pianist Yoko Nishii with help of PTNA (Piano Teachers' National Association of Japan). The videos are public, and as follows:

  1. Con fuoco non troppo allegro
  2. Andante con molta espressione
  3. Allegro risoluto
  1. Sehunsucht
  2. Leid
  3. Frage
  4. Klage
  5. Bitte
  6. Wahn
  1. Schneeglöckchen
  2. Veilchen
  3. Maiglöckchen
  4. Vergißmeinnicht
  5. Rose
  6. Rote Nelken
  7. Lilien
  8. Chrysanthemen
  1. Sehr ruhig, mit innigem Ausdruck
  2. Leicht bewegt und ferträumt
  1. I. Ruhig und innig
  2. II. Langsam und ausdrucksvoll
  1. moderato
  2. grazioso
  3. im Lëndler-tempo
  4. wiegend
  5. lento
  6. tempo giusto
  7. allegretto
  8. grazioso, allegramente
  9. moderato
  1. (lost)
  2. Libelle
  3. Papillon
  4. Abendgedanke
  1. An dich!
  2. Vor deinem Bild
  1. Humoreske, allegretto vivo
  2. Caprice, vivace grazioso

CD Recordings

References

  1. ↑ Historicisim in Croatia Vladimir Maleković, Vesna Lovrić Plantić, Graham McMaster - 2000 "In this period Josip Hatze composed the first modern cantata in Croatian music5 ; Dora Pejačević, Bersa and Baranovic introduced the song for voice and orchestra."
  2. ↑ http://www.film.hr/bazafilm_film.php?film_id=321 (Croatian)

Bibliography

External links

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