It is worth noting that the important journal of the history of Serbian literature and music, the Serbian Literary Magazine (1901 - 1914, 1920 1941), became more Yugoslav-oriented within a relatively short period following its inception. From its early beginning to 1906, the Magazine's musical critics did not actively express its Yugoslav ideology. But from 1907 there was an increase of interest in both the music and the musicians from Croatia and Slovenia. In 1911 the Croatian Opera spent almost two weeks in Belgrade performing; the composer and musicologist, Miloje Milojević began to develop the idea of union with Slavs from the South in a critical analysis he rendered of their performance. Until the end of the first/old series, SLM highlighted a noticeable number of texts about Croatians and Slovenians: critical reviews of Croatian musical books, concerts of Slovenian artists in Belgrade, score editions of Slovenian music performances of instrument soloists from Zagreb in Belgrade - as well as notes about the musical work of Croatian Academy (Yugoslav Academy of Sciences and Arts, Zagreb). Echoes of rare tours of Serbian musicians in South Slavs cultural centers did not go unheard, either. In the older series of the journal, lasting and two-fold relations had already begun to lean towards Yugoslav ideology. From one side, even before World War I, Yugoslav ideology in the Magazine was accepted as a program objective of Serbian political and cultural elite. On the other, the journal does not appear to have negotiated any of its aesthetic criterion when estimating musical events that came from Zagreb and Ljubljana to Belgrade - at least not "in the name of Yugoslav ideology". In later series of SLM, the Yugoslav platform was being represented as official ideological statehood of newly created Kingdoms of Serbs, Croats and Slovenians (1918), i.e., the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (1929). At that time, the Magazine had occasional literary cooperation from Croatian musical writers such as Lujo Šafranek-Kavić, Božidar ...
Dr. Miloje Milojević (1884-1946) was a central figure in Serbian music criticism and academic essays between the World Wars. A large part of his writings on music were dedicated to the issue of the Serbian 'national music style', its means of expression, and the question of modernity, i. e. to what extent modernity is desirable in the 'national style'. This paper analyzes some twenty articles - reviews, essays, and writings for special occasions - published by Milojević between 1912 and 1942 in various Serbian newspapers magazines and collections: Srpski književni glasnik (The Serbian Literary Magazine, 1912, 1913, 1914, 1923, 1924, 1935), Prosvetni glasnik (The Educational Herald, 1914, 1921, 1942), Politika (The Politics, 1921, 1922 1923, 1937, 1938, 1940, 1941), Muzika (The Music, twice in 1928) Spomenica-album Udruženja muzikanata Kraljevine Jugoslavije 1928-1930 (The Commemorative Volume - The Album of the Society of Musicians of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia 1928-1930, 1930), Smena (The Change, 1938), and Slavenska muzika (The Slavonic Music, 1940). In the course of those thirty years Milojević passionately believed that the future of Serbian music lies in the 'national style', i.e. in the artistic transformation of anonymous Serbian folk songs and melodies. In spite of the changes of styles that occurred over the years, he never gave up anticipating the appearance of an ingenious composer who would develop the 'national style' to its climax and enrich Serbian music with 'national' symphonies, operas and chamber music. Milojević was in favour of a 'national style' mainly on principle. He rarely got into a discussion about the stylistic and technical means he considered most suitable for the 'national style'. In his text Naš muzičko umetnički program (Our music and artistic programme), published in the Serbian Literary Magazine in 1913, and another article, Za folklornu muziku (In favour of Folk Music), published in the Belgrade daily newspaper Politics in 1921, he recommended that Serbian 'national style' composers followed the model of some representatives of the European national schools of romanticism impressionism and moderately modern music. In a special kind of manifesto Za ideju umetnosti i umetničkog nacionalizma kod nas (In favour of the idea of art and artistic nationalism in Serbia), published in 1935 in the Serbian Literary Magazine, he gave an indirect answer to the question of which means of musical expression he preferred in the 'national style'. For example, he singled out the composition Sever duva (North Wind) by Kosta P. Manojlović (1890-1949), from his collection of choral songs Pesme zemlje Skenderbegove (The Songs from the Land of Skenderbeg, 1933), as an outstanding example of what he meant by 'national style'. This Albanian folk music was transformed into a relatively modern, but yet not avant-garde composition. Therein lies the answer as to what kind of 'national style' Milojević preferred. An advocate of a moderately modern music language, he wished Serbian art music to use its very rich folk heritage as best as it could. He was well aware that times had changed, and that there was not much inclination towards this style and ideology in the interwar period. However, he never abandoned this idea. Basically, he never accepted more radical, expressionist treatments of folk elements as a solution to the problems of 'national style'. It is also very significant that he never mentioned the name Béla Bartók in his writings, which is something we analyze in this paper. He was never able to give up romanticism, a style that never had time to fully develop in Serbian music. Serbian folk music was a perfect basis for composing in a romantic style. Nevertheless, due to many unfavourable circumstances in Serbian history, the Serbs became part of European music world only at the beginning of the 20th century, when it was too late to develop a modern romantic national style. ; Problem srpskog nacionalnog muzičkog stila, njegovih izražajnih sredstava kao i stepena poželjnog moderniteta toga stila, obeležio je značajan deo muzikografije Miloja Milojevića (1884-1946), centralne ličnosti srpske muzičke kritike i esejistike u razdoblju između dva svetska rata. U radu se pristupa analizi Milojevićevih tekstova o muzičkom nacionalizmu i otkriva piščeva 'formula' nacionalnog stila.
The Music Herald was the first music magazine to appear in Belgrade after WWI. It was published monthly, for a year (January - December 1922). Its editor-in-chief was Petar Krstić, a composer. Other members of the editorial staff were Božidar Joksimović, Stevan Hristić, Kosta Manojlović (composers) Vladimir R. Đorđević (an ethnomusicologist) and Jovan Zorko (a violinist). Over 200 articles were published in the magazine. It dealt with different genres of music writings, such as articles, treatises, documents on the history of Serbian / Yugoslav music, music criticism, polemics, necrologies and bibliographies. Twenty-four compositions by native composers were published in the musical supplement of The Music Herald, among them the works of its editors as well as those of other Yugoslav musicians. The Music Herald dealt with three fields of interest: music historiography, ethnomusicology and the current topics of its epoch. When the magazine started, Serbian musicology was in its initial stage so the editors were trying to foster its development. They published numerous biographies of Serbian 19th century musicians, as well as documents on Serbian music culture during the reign of Prince Miloš Obrenović. Music folklore was also very often the subject of interest in the magazine. The Music Herald was interested in current topics and covered the Yugoslav music school system, opera houses, military music music associations, etc. It was especially interested in choral societies which in the course of the 19th century took up not only an artistic, but also a political and patriotic role in the liberation movement. After WWI choral societies entered a period of crisis. Their political raison d'être was lost, so they were faced with the challenge of achieving higher professional standards. This study deals with two aspects of 'The Music Herald': aesthetic and ideological aspects. In terms of ideology, the magazine was strongly in favor of the Yugoslav idea. Its correspondents (more then 40 of them) came from all parts of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, as well as from abroad (Poland). The music culture of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was treated with equal enthusiasm. The articles were published in both Cyrillic and Latin script, and in two languages (Serbo-Croatian and Slovenian). The editors of The Music Herald were also Slavophiles. They wrote about Czechoslovakian and Polish music, and also covered the works of Russian musicians who had emigrated to Yugoslavia after the October Revolution in 1917. The so-called 'national style' was fostered in The Music Herald, because it was believed by the editors to be the future of Serbian and Yugoslav music. Avant-garde music was treated with suspicion although on one occasion a defense of contemporary music by Stanislav Vinaver, a writer and a music critic, was published. On the other hand fostering the 'national style' did not mean that moderate means of expression sufficed for the positive evaluation of a certain music piece. That is why the compositions of Petar Stojanović were judged as 'drawing-room music'. Although it lasted for just one year, The Music Herald has an important place in the history of Serbian music periodicals. Its orientation towards music historiography is, in this respect, especially important. It blazed the trail for the Serbian musicology in its dealings with unknown music data in the past. ; Prvi muzički časopis pokrenut u Beogradu posle Prvog svetskog rata bio je 'Muzički glasnik'. Izlazio je od januara do decembra 1922. godine. Glavni urednik bio je kompozitor Petar Krstić. Studija donosi analizu estetičke i ideološke orijentacije ovoga glasila, čiji su urednici i saradnici najvećim delom bili tradicionalno usmereni.
