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

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

who studied Croatian folk music. Kuhač did a great deal of field work in this area, collecting and publishing 1,600 folk songs. Like Cecil Sharp, 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. After becoming a teacher, Kuhač went to study music in

Pest, Hungary Pest () is the part of Budapest, the capital city of Hungary, that lies on the eastern bank of the Danube. Pest was administratively unified with Buda and Óbuda in 1873; prior to this, it was an independent city. In colloquial Hungarian langua ...

. Later, he went to

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, Leipzig and Weimar where

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

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

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Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

and from

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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'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 was also 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. Franjo Kuhač died on 18 June 1911 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, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

and was buried at Mirogoj Cemetery,

Sources

Kuhač, Franjo Ksaver

External links

* https://hgz.academia.edu/FranjoKsaverKuhac Repository of writings by Franjo Ksaver Kuhač * ttps://hrcak.srce.hr/file/356963 Kuhač was buried at Mirogoj cemetery {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuhac, Franjo 1834 births 1911 deaths Choral composers Composers from Austria-Hungary Croatian musicologists Haydn scholars Musicians from Austria-Hungary People from Osijek Burials at Mirogoj Cemetery