Rajičič, Stanojlo

Rajičič, Stanojlo , Serbian composer and pedagogue; b. Belgrade, Dec. 16, 1910. He studied composition (diplomas, 1934 and 1935) with Karel and Suk and piano (diploma, 1935) with Alois Sima at the Prague Cons. He then attended piano master classes of Hoffmeister in Prague and of Walter Kerschbaumer in Vienna. From 1937 to 1977 he was prof. of composition at the Belgrade Academy of Music. In 1950 he was elected a corresponding member and in 1958 a fellow of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, serving as secretary of its dept. of visual and musical arts (from 1964); also was elected a member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts (1975). He received the Serbian State Prize (1968), the Gottfried von Herder Prize of Vienna (1975), and the Vuk Prize (1986). His early compositions are set in a radical idiom of atonal music, verging on dodecaphony, but later he adopted a national style derived from melorhythms of Serbian folk songs.

Works

DRAMATIC: Opera: Simonida (1956; Sarajevo, May 24, 1957); Karadjordje (1973; Belgrade, June 26, 1977); Dnevnik jednog ludaka (The Diary of a Madman; 1977; Belgrade, April 4, 1981); Bele noći (White Nights; 1983; Belgrade, April 14, 1985). Ballet: Pod zemljom (Under the Earth; 1940). ORCH.: 6 syms. (1935, 1941, 1944, 1946, 1959, 1967); 3 piano concertos (1940, 1942, 1950); 3 violin concertos (1941, 1946, 1950); 2 clarinet concertos (1943, 1962); Cello Concerto (1949); Bassoon Concerto (1969). CHAMBER: Piano Trio (1934); 2 string quartets (1938, 1939); piano pieces. VOCAL: Magno-venja (Moments), song cycle for Mezzo-soprano and Orch. (1964).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire