Horvat, Stanko

Horvat, Stanko, Croatian composer; b. Zagreb, March 12, 1930. He studied composition with Sulek at the Zagreb Academy of Music, graduating in 1956, and then took a course with Aubin at the Paris Cons, and private composition lessons with Leibowitz (1958–59). Returning to Yugoslavia, he was appointed to the music faculty of the Zagreb Academy of Music in 1961. In his style of composition, he traversed successively a period of neo-Classical mannerisms, serialism in its dodecaphonic aspect, aleatory expressionism, and sonorism; eventually he returned to a median technique of pragmatic modernism.

Works

dramatic:Izabmnik (The Chosen One), ballet (1961); 3 Legends, television opera (1971). orch:Sinfo-nietta (1954); Sym. (1956); Concerto rustico for Strings (1958); Piano Concerto (1966; Zagreb, April 3, 1967); Choral for Strings (1967); Taches for Piano and Chamber Orch. (Graz, Sept. 26, 1968); Hymnus (1969); Perpetuum mobile for Strings (Zagreb, May 9, 1971); Krik (The Cry) for Mezzo-soprano and Orch., after Garcia Lorca (1968; Zagreb, March 19, 1969). CHAMBER: Choral Variations for String Quartet (1953); Contrasts for String Quartet (1963); Rondo for String Quartet (1967); Frénésie for 2 Double Basses (1997). Piano: Variants (1965); Sonnant (1970); Accords (1979); Ostinati (1983); Manual (1984); Paysage sombre (1988); De diebusfuroris (1992). VOCAL: Jama (The Pit), cantata (Zagreb, Dec. 18, 1971); The Murmur of Winds, the Murmur of Water, cantata for Soprano and Orch. (1992).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire