Who Was Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac

Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac (Negotin, 9 January 1856 — Skopje, 28 September 1914) was a Serbian composer, choir conductor, ethnomusicologist and music educator. He is called the father of Serbian music and is regarded in music history as the most important figure of Serbian musical Romanticism. By the Julian calendar his birth date is 28 December 1855, so older literature gives both years.

He is best known for the fifteen Rukoveti (Garlands), choral suites based on folk melodies from different regions. He is also known for his sacred works, among them the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, the Cherubic Hymn and the Requiem in F-sharp minor. Choirs still perform his compositions regularly, and some have become part of worship in the Serbian Orthodox Church.

From 1887 Mokranjac led the First Belgrade Singing Society. In 1899, together with Stanislav Binički and Cvetko Manojlović, he founded the Serbian School of Music in Belgrade. It was the first permanent music educational institution in the Kingdom of Serbia, and it now bears his name.

This biography follows his path from the family house in Negotin, through his studies in Munich, Rome and Leipzig, to the role he played in creating Serbian art music.

Early Life and Childhood

Family and the Origin of His Nickname

Stevan Stojanović was born in Negotin, then a small town near the border with Romania and Bulgaria, with just over three thousand inhabitants. His father, a prosperous innkeeper, had built the family house in 1850, but he died two days before his son was born. Stevan therefore grew up with his mother and three siblings.

He received the nickname Mokranjac after the village of Mokranje, where his ancestors came from. The word literally means a resident of Mokranje. Over time the nickname displaced the surname, so the composer is remembered in public as Stevan Mokranjac, and in official sources also as Stevan St. Mokranjac.

First Musical Impressions

He received his first violin at the age of ten. He spent his youth in Negotin, Zaječar and Belgrade, although sources differ about the places where he went to school, and some also mention Jagodina. He heard and absorbed traditional melodies as a child, in the church in Negotin. Those early impressions later had a decisive influence on his choice of material, because he saw in folk and church chant the foundation for art music.

The family lived in the Negotin house until 1883. That house was restored in 1964 and turned into a memorial museum, so it now preserves the memory of the composer’s childhood.

Education

Gymnasium and the Velika škola

He finished secondary school in Belgrade. While still a pupil, he sang in the First Belgrade Singing Society, founded on 14 January 1853. He later enrolled in the natural sciences and mathematics department of the Velika škola, then the highest educational institution in Serbia. According to one source, the ideas of Svetozar Marković influenced that choice.

Studies in Munich

With the help of the Singing Society, Mokranjac went to study music in Munich (German: München) at the end of the 1870s. Sources differ on when the studies began, some giving 1879 and others 1880. He studied with Josef Rheinberger, a respected German composer and teacher. In 1883 he temporarily interrupted his studies.

Rome and Leipzig

He continued in Rome, where in 1884 and 1885 he studied with Alessandro Parisotti. He then spent two years in Leipzig, studying with Salomon Jadassohn and Carl Reinecke. Musicologists describe his training as conservative and rooted in the German school. His later teaching combined German and Romance influences.

Beginning of His Career

Mokranjac appeared on the public stage while he was still a student. In 1878, on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the First Belgrade Singing Society, he organized a concert entitled “The History of Serbian Song.” In the mid-1880s he became choirmaster of the Kornelije Stanković society, named after one of the first Serbian composers, Kornelije Stanković.

He wrote his first rukovet in 1884. It was a work for male choir and tenor solo, and the marks of his mature style were already visible in it. Throughout his output the composer kept joining folk melody with artistic form.

After returning from Leipzig in 1887, he moved permanently to Belgrade and became conductor of the First Belgrade Singing Society. In the same year he began teaching music at the First Belgrade Gymnasium, where he stayed until 1900 or 1901. He then moved to the Seminary, where he taught church chant.

At the Head of the Belgrade Singing Society

Conductor and Artistic Leader

He held the conductor’s baton of the Belgrade Singing Society until the end of his life, although because of illness he gradually gave up the duty from 1912. Under his leadership the choir gained a reputation in Serbia and abroad. It was known for its high standard of performance, and its repertoire included many folk songs and Mokranjac’s own works.

The society sang before rulers, among them the German emperor Wilhelm II and the Russian tsar Nicholas II. It was the choir that allowed Mokranjac to hear his works performed, to test them before an audience and then to refine them.

Concert Tours

Mokranjac traveled with the choir much farther than was usual for Serbian musicians of his day. Sources record the following tours:

• 1893: Thessaloniki and Skopje;
• 1895: Sofia, Istanbul and Plovdiv;
• 1896: Russia, with concerts in Saint Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow and Kyiv;
• 1899: Berlin, Dresden and Leipzig;
• 1910: Sarajevo, Mostar, Cetinje, Split, Šibenik and Zadar.

Russian newspapers praised the performances and the conducting, and also noted the kinship between Serbian and Russian folklore. The choir also appeared in Bulgaria, Croatia, Montenegro and the Ottoman Empire, so Mokranjac’s name spread across Central Europe and Russia.

The Serbian School of Music and Teaching

In 1899 Mokranjac, together with Stanislav Binički and Cvetko Manojlović, founded the Serbian School of Music in Belgrade. It was the first permanent music educational institution in the Kingdom of Serbia. Mokranjac remained its director until his death. Some sources date the school’s founding to an earlier year, but most agree on 1899.

After his death the school was given the name “Mokranjac.” Today it is one of the oldest music schools in Serbia, and its pupils and teachers continue the tradition he began.

Mokranjac did not limit his teaching to one institution. He taught at the First Belgrade Gymnasium, and from 1901 at the Seminary, where he taught future priests church chant. He wrote reports on the teaching of solfège and music theory, and colleagues remembered him as a methodical and strict teacher.

He also deserves credit for the first string quartet in Serbia, in which he played the cello himself. When the Association of Serbian Musicians was founded in 1907, he was elected its president, which shows how much respect he enjoyed among his colleagues.

Rukoveti – Folk Melody in Artistic Dress

What the Rukoveti Are

The Rukoveti are Mokranjac’s best-known secular work. The word means “handful” or “bunch,” and the composer used it for choral suites made up of several songs. In total he wrote fifteen Rukoveti with eighty-two songs. The fifteen suites were composed between 1884 and 1909, and the last song, “Winter Days,” was written in 1913.

He gathered his material in the field. He often traveled to Levač and Kosovo, where he wrote down folk melodies, and in this way he brought the rural music of Serbia into the concert hall. His record of Folk Songs and Dances with Melodies from Levač was published in 1902. Because of this work he is considered the founder of Serbian ethnomusicology.

The Most Important Rukoveti

Each rukovet has its own theme, and together they give a picture of the cultural space that Mokranjac considered Serbian. We single out several:

• Rukovet I (1884): for male choir and tenor solo, nine songs;
• Rukovet IV, “Mirjano!” (1890): for a soloist with mixed choir, piano and castanets;
• Rukovet VI, “Hajduk Veljko” (1892): dedicated to the hero of the 1813 defense of Negotin;
• Rukovet VII (1894): melodies from Old Serbia and Macedonia;
• Rukovet VIII, “From Kosovo” (1896);
• Rukovet IX, “From Montenegro” (1896);
• Rukovet X, “From Ohrid” (1901): one of the most significant, also known as “The Ohrid Legend”;
• Rukovet XIV, “From Bosnia” (1908);
• Rukovet XV (1909): melodies from Macedonia.

Musicologists stress that the Rukoveti brought a richer harmonic language and a more complex form than the works of his predecessors. The scholarly literature also debates how original these compositions are, since they arose from the reworking of existing folk melodies. Almost everyone agrees, however, that they are the best-known example of the union of folk and art creation in Serbian music.

Sacred Music and Church Chant

The second great part of his output is sacred music. The Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom is one of the best-known and most frequently performed works of its kind in Serbian art. Sources differ on the year of composition, some giving 1895 and others 1901. The Liturgy is based on the first tone of Serbian church chant, and the Serbian Orthodox Church recognizes it as part of its worship.

Mokranjac wanted to write a liturgy based on all eight tones, but he completed only the one in the first tone. Alongside the Liturgy there are other works, such as the Requiem in F-sharp minor, the Cherubic Hymn, the composition “Tebe pojem” and Ivko’s Slava. For Saint Sava he wrote a composition for male choir in 1893 and a mixed-choir version in 1906. In his sacred music he used a polyphonic style reminiscent of the Italian Renaissance composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.

His work in notating church chant is also significant. He published the Octoechos (1908), in which he set the chants down in notes, and prepared the collection “Strano pjenije” (1914). After the First World War the Octoechos became the basic textbook in Serbian seminaries. He harmonized the chants and stripped them of ornaments and microtones, which is why they differ from other Orthodox chants.

More recent researchers, among them Vesna Peno and Ivana Vesić, have critically re-examined his role in this field. They argue that his reputation somewhat exceeded what the documents confirm. That finding does not diminish the importance of his works, but it shows that the image of him was partly built after his death.

Greatest Achievements

Summing up what Mokranjac achieved, the following accomplishments stand out:

• fifteen Rukoveti, with which he raised folk melody to the level of art choral music;
• the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom and other sacred works that entered worship;
• leadership of the Belgrade Singing Society and tours across Europe, including Russia;
• the founding of the Serbian School of Music in 1899;
• the first string quartet in Serbia;
• the notation of folk and church melodies and the founding of Serbian ethnomusicology;
• the Octoechos, a textbook for seminaries.

According to the Collected Works, published in ten volumes, his bibliography comprises 289 items. Most of his works are written for choir, which decisively marked Serbian music of his time.

Personal Life

Mokranjac married Marija, a member of the choir who was about twenty years younger than he was. The exact year of the wedding is not confirmed in the sources consulted. The couple had a son, Momčilo (1899–1967), who became a chemist, professor and toxicologist, and who is credited with laying the foundations of Serbian and Yugoslav toxicology.

Marija Mokranjac played an important role in preserving the composer’s legacy. The memorial house in Negotin holds family portraits painted by Uroš Predić, as well as chairs carved by Marija. The correspondence between the spouses, preserved in the collection of the Museum of Krajina in Negotin, served as the basis for the monodrama “I Will Be Your Beloved.”

The family lived for a long time in Belgrade, in a house on the corner of Dositejeva Street and Gospodar Jevremova Street. That building, constructed in 1872, is now a cultural monument.

Final Years and Death

From 1912 Mokranjac was troubled by illness, and he gradually withdrew from his duties as choirmaster. When Austria-Hungary attacked Serbia in the summer of 1914, he left Belgrade and took refuge with his family in Skopje, far from the fighting.

He died in Skopje on 28 September 1914, at the age of 58. According to Wikipedia, the cause of death was liver complications after three years of illness. Most sources give 28 September, and some give other days around that date.

His remains were transferred from Skopje to Belgrade at the end of September 1923, accompanied by a two-day commemorative celebration. He was buried in the New Cemetery in Belgrade. His last, unfinished choral work, set to words by Jovan Jovanović Zmaj, was completed by Aleksandra Vrebalov and premiered in 2015.

Interesting Facts

• The nickname Mokranjac became his name. It literally means “resident of Mokranje.”
• He received his first violin at the age of ten, and later played the cello in the first Serbian string quartet.
• Davorin Jenko and Mokranjac died in the same year, 1914. The Institute of Musicology of the Serbian Academy marked the centenary of their deaths jointly.
• His portrait appears on the 50-dinar banknote issued in 2014, and he also appeared on banknotes of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
• The Museum of Krajina in Negotin stages a monodrama about his wife Marija, based on the couple’s correspondence.
• He wrote his first rukovet in 1884, and his last song, “Winter Days,” in 1913.

Awards and Honors

• Corresponding member of the Serbian Royal Academy from 3 February 1906;
• president of the Association of Serbian Musicians, founded in 1907;
• Order of Saint Sava, Third Class (Kingdom of Serbia);
• Order of Prince Danilo I, Third Class (Kingdom of Montenegro);
• Order of Saint Alexander, Third Class (Kingdom of Bulgaria);
• Order of the Osmanieh, Third Class (Ottoman Empire);
• included among “The 100 Most Prominent Serbs”;
• the Serbian School of Music bears his name;
• the Negotin house was turned into a museum in 1964, and a memorial bust from the same year is the work of the sculptor Rista Stijović;
• the “Mokranjac Days” festival has been held in Negotin since 1965;
• a monument in the yard of the family house was erected in 1981, on the 125th anniversary of his birth.

Legacy and Influence

Mokranjac is regarded as the founder of the Serbian national school in music. Younger composers, among them Stevan Hristić, Miloje Milojević and Kosta Manojlović, continued to develop what he had begun. In 1923 Kosta Manojlović also prepared a memorial volume dedicated to Mokranjac. The chants he notated form the basis of most contemporary Serbian church singing.

The “Mokranjac Days” festival in Negotin now brings together choirs from Serbia and abroad. As part of the choir competition, the Golden Statuette “Stevan Mokranjac” is awarded. The opening of the festival traditionally begins with the laying of flowers at the memorial bust and the performance of one of the Rukoveti.

Musicologists also point out that Mokranjac’s image was partly mythologized during the twentieth century, so some see him as a symbol of the entire national culture. Regardless, his music is still alive, and the choir remains the form in which Serbian art music sounds at its best.

Biography – Frequently Asked Questions

Who was Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac?

He was a Serbian composer, choir conductor, ethnomusicologist and music educator, and one of the founders of the Serbian School of Music in Belgrade. He is regarded as the father of Serbian music.

When and where was Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac born?

He was born on 9 January 1856 in Negotin. By the old calendar that is 28 December 1855, so some sources give both years.

Why was Stevan Stojanović called Mokranjac?

He received the nickname after the village of Mokranje, where his ancestors came from. Over time it became the surname by which everyone knows him.

What is Mokranjac best known for?

He is best known for the fifteen Rukoveti, the Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom, the Cherubic Hymn and the Requiem in F-sharp minor, as well as for leading the First Belgrade Singing Society.

What are the Rukoveti?

They are choral suites based on folk melodies from Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia. Fifteen rukoveti were written, with a total of eighty-two songs.

Where did Mokranjac study music?

He studied in Munich with Josef Rheinberger, in Rome with Alessandro Parisotti, and in Leipzig with Salomon Jadassohn and Carl Reinecke. Before that he enrolled in the natural sciences and mathematics department of the Velika škola in Belgrade.

Which school did Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac found?

In 1899, together with Stanislav Binički and Cvetko Manojlović, he founded the Serbian School of Music in Belgrade. After his death it was named “Mokranjac.”

When and where did he die, and where is he buried?

He died on 28 September 1914 in Skopje, where he had taken refuge with his family because of the war. The cause of death was liver complications. His remains were transferred to Belgrade in 1923, where he was buried in the New Cemetery.

Why is Mokranjac called the father of Serbian music?

Because he raised folk and church melodies to the level of art music, founded a music school and led the most respected choral society of his time. Generations of Serbian composers built on his work.

Conclusion

Stevan Stojanović Mokranjac joined folk melody to the European musical tradition and in doing so laid the foundations of Serbian art music. His Rukoveti, Liturgy and Cherubic Hymn are still performed, and the Serbian School of Music he founded continues to educate musicians. He died in Skopje in 1914, but his work still lives among listeners and choirs.