Mladen Bašić (1 August 1917,

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

- 21 November 2012, Zagreb) was a

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

and

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

Life and works

Mladen Bašić studied piano, conducting and composition in the Zagreb Conservatory. His music career began in 1940 as a

répétiteur A (; from the French verb meaning 'to repeat, to go over, to learn, to rehearse') is an accompanist, tutor or coach of ballet dancers or opera singers. The feminine form is . Opera In opera, a is the person responsible for coaching singers ...

. Since 1945 he worked as the conductor for the

Opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

of the

Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb The Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb (), commonly referred to as (), is a theatre, opera and ballet house located in Zagreb. Overview The theatre evolved out of the first city theatre opened in 1834, housed in the present-day Old City Hal ...

, where from 1955 to 1958 he also worked as the opera director. In 1959 he was invited to be the Opera Director for the

Salzburger Landestheater The Salzburg State Theatre (''Salzburger Landestheater'') is a theatre situated in Salzburg, Austria, a venue for opera, theatre, and dance, contemporary and older works, with resident companies of actors, singers and dancers. The theatre present ...

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

. A year later he was employed as main conductor for the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg. From 1962 to 1972 he was permanent invited conductor in the

Gran Teatre del Liceu Gran may refer to: People *Grandmother, affectionately known as "gran" * Gran (name) Places * Gran, the historical German name for Esztergom, a city and the primatial metropolitan see of Hungary * Gran, Norway, a municipality in Innlandet coun ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. In 1967 and 1968, Bašić was appointed as the main conductor of the Frankfurt Opera. From 1968 to 1970 he returned to work again in Croatia, this time as the music director of the summer festival "Splitsko ljeto" and as the opera director of the

Croatian National Theatre in Split The Croatian National Theatre in Split ( or HNK Split) is a theatre located in Split, Croatia. Originally opened in 1893, the theatre is owned and operated by the City of Split and is one of the oldest surviving theatres in Dalmatia. History The ...

. From 1970 to 1978 he was the permanent director and programming supervisor of the

Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra The Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra (Croatian: Zagrebačka filharmonija) is a Croatian orchestra based in Zagreb. The orchestra gives its concerts principally at the Vatroslav Lisinski Concert Hall and at the Croatian National Theatre, Zagreb. Hi ...

, where he had a cooperation with the main conductor of that time,

Lovro von Matačić Lovro von Matačić (14 February 1899 – 4 January 1985) was a Croatian conductor and composer. Early life Lovro von Matačić was born in Sušak, Rijeka, Sušak to a family that was granted a noble title in the early 17th century. Growing up, ...

. In 1978 he was invited to

Mainz Mainz (; #Names and etymology, see below) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, and with around 223,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 35th-largest city. It lies in ...

, where he worked until 1990 as the music general manager. As a conductor Mladen Bašić performed in many European concert halls. He also performed many premieres of Croatian contemporary composers, such as the premiere of

Boris Papandopulo Boris Papandopulo (February 25, 1906 – October 16, 1991) was a Croatian composer and conductor of Greek and Russian Jewish descent. Ha-Kol (Glasilo Židovske zajednice u Hrvatskoj); Djela hrvatskih skladatelja Židovskog podrijetla u Beču; ...

's dramatic

oratorio An oratorio () is a musical composition with dramatic or narrative text for choir, soloists and orchestra or other ensemble. Similar to opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguisha ...

''Marulova pisan'', and first performances in his country of the best known works of

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...

, Igor Stravinski,

Florent Schmitt Florent Schmitt (; 28 September 187017 August 1958) was a French composer. He was part of the group known as Les Apaches. His most famous pieces are ''La tragédie de Salome'' and ''Psaume XLVII'' ( Psalm 47). He has been described as "one of t ...

and

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hunga ...

Awards

* In 1997 Mladen Bašić received the Vladimir Nazor Award for Life Achievement in Music, given by the Croatian Ministry of Culture in acknowledgement of his professional career. * In 1998 he received the ''Tito Strozzi'' prize from the Croatian National Theatre of Zagreb for the performance of Benjamin Britten's opera ''

The Rape of Lucretia ''The Rape of Lucretia'' (Op. 37) is an opera in two acts by Benjamin Britten, written for Kathleen Ferrier, who performed the title role. Ronald Duncan based his English libretto on André Obey's play '. Performance history The opera wa ...

''. * In 2006 he received the "Lovro von Matačić" prize, given by the Croatian Association of Academical Musicians (in Croatian: HDGU), in acknowledgement of his music career.

Bibliography

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basic, Mladen 1917 births 2012 deaths Musicians from Zagreb Croatian conductors (music) Croatian male conductors (music) Vladimir Nazor Award winners Yugoslav musicians