Publications

Leksikon jugoslavenske muzike is the ultimate source documenting musicians and music culture of Yugoslavia in the early 1980s. It includes 5,020 unsigned entries about composers, musicians, ballet artists, pedagogues, music theorists, historians, and ethnomusicologists and historical musicologists as well as entries on music institutions and societies, ensembles, folk music, and diverse genres and instruments from the region. Special attention is paid to the presentation of musical creativity and the musical history and life of major cities. Articles cover concepts and disciplines such as ballet, church music, criticism, musicology, awards, opera, and similar. Kovačević also introduced a specific kind of entries (short articles about individual pieces of music), to cover larger topics, and worked with cross-references. Unlike the Muzička enciklopedija, which is of a general character, the Leksikon jugoslavenske muzike contains a much expanded national structure. Many articles were copied or adapted from the Muzička enciklopedija. Kovačević himself contributed over 800 articles (a full one-sixth of the lexicon), covering such diverse topics as biography, articles about individual musical pieces as well as entries about various ensembles, institutions, festivals, music societies, and cities. This reveals Kovačević’s vast personal engagement and enthusiasm to complete this lexicon, which, despite some imperfections, still stands as a valuable source of information pertaining to musical history and culture of Southeastern Europe.

The Muzička enciklopedija was first published in two volumes in 1958/1963 under the editorship by the eminent Croatian music historian Josip Andreis (1909–1982), followed by a second edition in three volumes which appeared from 1971 to 1977. Numerous biographical articles describe the life and output of composers along with exhaustive works lists; as well as the activities of many conductors, singers, instrumental virtuosos, music theorists, and critics. In subject articles, historical and contemporary musical instruments are described in detail, as well as all musical genres and forms, such as arias, canzones, cantatas, operas, symphonies, sonatas, and overtures. Many important domestic and foreign music societies, instrumental and dance ensembles, and music festivals and institutions are presented. The second edition features new articles on contemporary, avant-garde, and experimental music and musical personalities, from aleatoricism and dodecaphony to electronic and serial music. This edition also includes articles about artists from the world of pop music as well as jazz. Considering that choreographers and dancers often intersect with music on stage, the editorial board introduced a number of names from this creative field. For the sake of better integration, the folk music of each nation is included in geographical entries, joining the section on art music. The second edition features ample illustrations, increasing the number of artistic contributions in etching and color, selected by Koraljka Kos.