The interwar period brought about a number of modernist tendencies in the
heterogeneous cultural context of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, which is
particularly salient in the works of the young composers belonging to the
so-called ?Prague group.? Having completed their studies, dozens of
composers and conductors, including Ljubica Maric (1909-2003), Stanojlo
Rajicic (1910-2000) and Milan Ristic (1908-1982) contributed to the
establishment of the new movement in the conservative milieu of interwar
Belgrade. After World War II, socialist realism became, in effect, the only
approved style for the artists of the period. However, only a decade after
the Tito-Stalin split, modernist tendencies reappeared fullblown in the
output of Yugoslav composers. It is therefore of the greatest interest to
analyse and present the way in which modernist music managed to find its way
back to Yugoslav composers, performers and audiences in such a short period
of time (the 1950s). To do so, we have chosen three piano concertos, written
at the very beginning, in the middle, and at the very end of this period.
This overview would not have been possible if we had analysed works
belonging to other genres, as most had already been established in the
pre-war period. However, it is also safe to conclude that the limitations on
the Yugoslav scene were not imposed only by political authorities, but also
by the conservative tastes of its audience and society, which were already
in place before WWII.
The Architectural Department of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia Civil Engineering in Serbia in the and interwar period