Croatian Recordings 1901-1936 (Standard format, CD)

The basic idea underlying the Series 11 - Croatian Recordings - was conceived by Gerda Lechleitner (Phonogrammarchiv of the Austrian Academy of Sciences) and Grozdana Marosevic (Institute of Ethnology and Folklore Research, Zagreb) when they first considered publishing the work as a co-operative venture of both institutions. They decided to include all the material housed in the Vienna Phonogrammarchiv that was recorded in the first half of the 20th century either on the territory of todays Croatia or among Croats living outside Croatia. Because of its size, Series 11 will be published in two parts: the first part (Series 11/1 - Croatian Recordings 1901-1936) is made up of all the smaller collections, while the second part will comprise the extensive collection compiled by Milovan Gavazzi and Bozidar Sirola during the 1920s in a co-operative venture of the Phonogrammarchiv and the Department of Folk Music, founded in 1921 as part of the Ethnographic Museum in Zagreb. This publication features the very first recordings made by Milan Resetar in 1901 during his investigation into the dialect boundaries in northern Croatia; in 1907 Resetar again took a recording machine with him to conduct field research in Acquaviva Collecroce (Kru ) near Campobasso in Molise, studying the life and culture of the Croats living there. In Istria only single recordings were made of Istro-Romanian and Italian dialects, while Frantisek Pospisil's project of recording Croats in Moravia in 1910 generated a greater output. Matija (Mathias) Murko recorded and studied epic songs in 1913; Croatian soldier songs, recorded in Karlovac in Croatia during World War I, are also included. Quite often the Phonogrammarchiv took the opportunity to invite visitors to make a recording, e.g. Josip (Josef) Florschuetz (1912) or four singers from Parndorf (Burgenland Croats, 1936). Mention must also be made of the sizeable collection of Josip Siroki, who was researcher, performer and technician all in one. His collection (1913-1920) includes items of all South Slavic music styles (he not only sings but also performs on several instruments) and various dialects (spoken by him) - it is, as far as we know, our only collection compiled in this way. German text booklet included.