Viktor Žmegač (21 March 1929 – 20 July 2022) was a Croatian musicologist and scholar. He authored a number of books, articles and essays in the areas of

cultural history Cultural history combines the approaches of anthropology and history to examine popular cultural traditions and cultural interpretations of historical experience. It examines the records and narrative descriptions of past matter, encompassing the ...

literary theory Literary theory is the systematic study of the nature of literature and of the methods for literary analysis. Culler 1997, p.1 Since the 19th century, literary scholarship includes literary theory and considerations of intellectual history, mo ...

, musicology,

art history Art history is the study of aesthetic objects and visual expression in historical and stylistic context. Traditionally, the discipline of art history emphasized painting, drawing, sculpture, architecture, ceramics and decorative arts; yet today ...

, and

German studies German studies is the field of humanities that researches, documents and disseminates German language and literature in both its historic and present forms. Academic departments of German studies often include classes on German culture, German hi ...

. Žmegač was born in Slatina on 21 March 1929. After finishing elementary school in his home town he went on to attend gymnasiums in

Virovitica Virovitica () is a Croatian city near the Hungarian border. It is situated near the Drava river and belongs to the historic region of Slavonia. Virovitica has a population of 14,688, with 21,291 people in the municipality (census 2011). It is als ...

and

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

. He then enrolled at the University of Zagreb Faculty of Philosophy and earned a double major degree in Yugoslav and German studies. He also studied

musicology Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

and German studies in

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

. He earned a doctorate in 1959 and later spent almost 30 years as a tenured university professor teaching

German literature German literature () comprises those literature, literary texts written in the German language. This includes literature written in Germany, Austria, the German parts of Switzerland and Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, South Tyrol in Italy a ...

at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb, from 1971 until his retirement in 1999. He was made

professor emeritus ''Emeritus'' (; female: ''emerita'') is an adjective used to designate a retired chair, professor, pastor, bishop, pope, director, president, prime minister, rabbi, emperor, or other person who has been "permitted to retain as an honorary title ...

in 2002. Žmegač was a full member of the

Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( la, Academia Scientiarum et Artium Croatica, hr, Hrvatska akademija znanosti i umjetnosti, abbrev. HAZU) is the national academy of Croatia. HAZU was founded under patronage of the Croatian bishop Jo ...

(HAZU) and member of the Saxonian Academy of Sciences and

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europea ...

. He was also awarded a number of Croatian and international prizes for his works, including the

Friedrich-Gundolf-Preis Friedrich-Gundolf-Preis is a literary prize of Germany. It was established by the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung in 1964 to promote German culture outwith Germany. The award is named after the Germanist Friedrich Gundolf. The award ...

(1987), Herder Prize (1993), the

Humboldt Prize The Humboldt Prize, the Humboldt-Forschungspreis in German, also known as the Humboldt Research Award, is an award given by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany to internationally renowned scientists and scholars who work outside of G ...

(1993) and the

Vladimir Nazor Award The Vladimir Nazor Award ( hr, Nagrada Vladimir Nazor) is a Croatian prize for arts and culture established in 1959 and awarded every year by the Ministry of Culture. Named after the writer Vladimir Nazor (1876–1949), the prize is awarded to C ...

for Life Achievement in Literature (2003). Žmegač died in

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, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

on 20 July 2022, at the age of 93.

Selected works

* ''Od Bacha do Bauhausa'' (2006) * ''Majstori europske glazbe'' (2009) * ''Prošlost i budućnost 20. stoljeća'' (2010)

References

External links

Viktor Žmegač biography
at the

Matica hrvatska Matica hrvatska ( la, Matrix Croatica) is the oldest independent, non-profit and non-governmental Croatian national institution. It was founded on February 2, 1842 by the Croatian Count Janko Drašković and other prominent members of the Illyri ...

website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Žmegač, Viktor 1929 births 2022 deaths People from Slatina, Croatia Vladimir Nazor Award winners Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb alumni Academic staff of the University of Zagreb Croatian non-fiction writers Members of the Croatian Academy of Sciences and Arts Herder Prize recipients Members of Academia Europaea Croatian musicologists 20th-century musicologists 21st-century musicologists Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery