Franjo Ksaver Kuhač (November 20, 1834 – June 18, 1911) was a piano teacher, choral conductor, composer, and comparative

musicologist 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 m ...

who studied Croatian

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

. Kuhač did a great deal of field work in this area, collecting and publishing 1,600 folk songs. Like

Cecil Sharp Cecil James Sharp (22 November 1859 – 23 June 1924) was an English-born collector of folk songs, folk dances and instrumental music, as well as a lecturer, teacher, composer and musician. He was the pre-eminent activist in the development of t ...

, who did similar work in Britain and Appalachia, Kuhač published the folk songs with a piano accompaniment.

Biography

Kuhač was born in Osijek on 20 November 1834 in a German family as Franz Xaver Koch. In Osijek he finished elementary school and Gymnasium. From 1848 to 1851 he was training to become a teacher in

Donji Miholjac Donji Miholjac ( hu, Alsómiholjác, german: Unter-Miholtz) is a town in the Slavonia region of Croatia, on the river Drava and the border with Hungary. Population In the 2011 census, there were 9,491 inhabitants in the area, 95% of whom were C ...

. After becoming a teacher, Kuhač went to study music in Pest, Hungary. Later, he went to

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

and

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together with the neighbouri ...

where Franz Liszt taught him piano playing. While analyzing different kinds of traditional music and discussing with his teachers about the relationship of folk music and classical music, he found out the value of folk music. From 1858 to 1871 he taught piano playing and singing in Osijek. He also was the chairman of the Osijek singing society where he conducted works of Slavic composers. In that period, he traveled across Europe, from

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and from

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

to Macedonia. He probably collected over 5000 folk songs in that period. In 1871 he changed his name to Franjo Ksaver Kuhač. In 1871 he moved to Zagreb where he taught piano at the Croatian Musical Institute (HGZ). From 1878 to 1881 he published his magnum opus, ''Južnoslavenske narodne popjevke'' (''Southslavic folk songs''). Most of the Croatian musicological etymology was introduced by Kuhač when he translated

Johann Christian Lobe Johann Christian Lobe (May 30, 1797 – July 27, 1881) was a German composer and music theorist. Born in Weimar, Lobe was either self-taught as a musician (Anon. 1885–92) or had music lessons from the age of seven (Brandt 2001). In 1810, he b ...

's ''Katechismus der Musik''. He published the following books: * ''Južnoslavenske narodne popjevke'' (South-Slavic Folk Songs), Zagreb, 1871 * ''Uputa u glasoviranje'' (Instruction in Piano-Playing), two volumes, 1896 and 1897 * ''Valpovo i njegovi gospodari'' (Valpovo And Its Proprietors), Zagreb, 1876 * ''Ilirski glazbenici'' (Illyrian Musicians), Zagreb, 1893 Kuhač became well known for tracing similarities between the Croatian folk tunes he collected and various themes in the music of Joseph Haydn. He also was known for his conjecture that Haydn was not Austrian but Croatian, a member of the Croatian ethnic minority resident in the Burgenland region of Austria. For more on both of these aspects of Kuhač's research, see

Haydn and folk music This article discusses the influence of folk music on the work of the composer Joseph Haydn (1732–1809). Background Haydn was of humble family, perhaps unusually so for a famous composer. His parents were working people (his mother Anna Maria was ...

. He died in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Slov ...

Sources

Kuhač, Franjo Ksaver

External links

* https://hgz.academia.edu/FranjoKsaverKuhac Repository of writings by Franjo Ksaver Kuhač {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuhac, Franjo 1834 births 1911 deaths Croatian composers Croatian musicians Haydn scholars Croatian musicologists Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery People from Osijek Choral composers