Primož Ramovš (March 20, 1921 – January 10, 1999) was a

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

n composer and librarian.

Life

Ramovš was born in

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

, then the administrative centre of the Slovenian part of the

Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () has been its colloq ...

. He studied at the Ljubljana Academy of Music from 1935 to 1941 under

Slavko Osterc Slavko Osterc (17 June 1895 – 23 May 1941), was a Slovenian composer. Osterc was born in Veržej. He studied under Emerik Beran, who was a pupil of Leoš Janáček, in his youth before attending the Prague Conservatory from 1925 to 1927. Whil ...

. Afterwards, he studied in

Siena Siena ( , ; traditionally spelled Sienna in English; ) is a city in Tuscany, in central Italy, and the capital of the province of Siena. It is the twelfth most populated city in the region by number of inhabitants, with a population of 52,991 ...

under Vito Frazzi in 1941 and in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

with Goffredo Petrassi and

Alfredo Casella Alfredo Casella (25 July 18835 March 1947) was an Italian composer, pianist and conductor. Life and career Casella was born in Turin, the son of Maria (née Bordino) and Carlo Casella. His family included many musicians: his grandfather, a f ...

from 1941 to 1943. From 1945, he worked as a librarian at the

Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts The Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts ( (SAZU)) is the national academy of Slovenia, which encompasses science and the arts and brings together the top Slovene researchers and artists as members of the academy. Cultural significance Establis ...

and was the director of its library from 1952 until 1987. He also taught at the Ljubljana Conservatory from 1948 to 1964. He died in Ljubljana at the age of 78 years.

Musical style

Ramovš was a pioneer of Slovenian musical avant-garde and one of the most prolific Slovenian composers. Throughout his career, Ramovš wrote almost exclusively instrumental music, for which he found inspiration in the abstract world. His early works are neoclassical in style, but during the 1950s he adopted a more modern style and became a leader of the Slovenian avant-garde. His works from the 1960s and 70s employ

serialism In music, serialism is a method of composition using series of pitches, rhythms, dynamics, timbres or other musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though some of his contemporaries were also ...

and other modernist techniques, including experiments bordering on graphic notation and use of indeterminacy. He often experimented, even in very extreme sense: "If the result is negative, it will fall away by itself, but if it is positive, then it will be a new step in the development of music, which should never stop, but must go hand in hand with the times to build up our culture."

Works

*6 symphonies (1940, 1943, 1948, ''Simfonija 68'' 1968, ''Simfonija med klavirjem in orkestrom'' ymphony between piano and orchestra1970, ''Simfonija Pietà'' 1995) and a sinfonietta (1951) *''Kolovrat'', string orchestra (1986) *''Contrasts'', flute and orchestra (1966) *''Syntheses'', horn and ensemble (1971) *''Concerto profano'', organ and orchestra (1984) *Concerto for violin, viola and orchestra (1961) *Trumpet concerto (1985) *''Transformacije'' (Transformations) for 2 violas and 10 string instruments (1963) *''Tryptychon'', string quartet (1969) *''3 Nocturnes'', double bass (1972) *''Improvisations'', harp (1973) *''Aforizmi'' (Aphorisms) for viola and piano (1964) *''Nokturno'' for viola and piano (1959) *''Skice'' (Sketches) for viola and piano (1958)
''Za harmoniko'' (For Accordion) for solo accordion (1983)
performed by Dean Delgiusto *''Viribus unitis'' for violin, guitar and accordion (1983) *''Ernönek'' for classical accordion (1986) *''Izpolnjena želja'' (Fulfilled Wish) for two accordions (1997) *Film music

References

;Footnotes ;Sources *

Don Randel Don Michael Randel (born December 9, 1940) is an American musicologist, specializing in the music of the Middle Ages and Renaissance in Spain and France. He is currently the chair of the board of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a truste ...

, ''The Harvard Biographical Dictionary of Music''. Harvard, 1996, p. 725. 1921 births 1999 deaths 20th-century Slovenian classical composers Musicians from Ljubljana Prešeren Award laureates Slovenian male musicians Slovenian librarians University of Ljubljana alumni Slovenian male classical composers 20th-century male composers Yugoslav musicians {{Slovenia-composer-stub