The third volume of Zgodovina glasbe na Slovenskem (The History of Music in the Slovene Lands), subtitled Music in the Slovene Lands between 1800 and 1918, is part of a large project in which four volumes describe the main shifts in the development of musical culture in Slovene lands, from prehistory to the present day. Similar to the other volumes in this collection, this volume is also the result of cooperation of many Slovenian musicologists. The volume’s content was first compiled by Nataša Cigoj Krstulović, then after her early retirement the work was finished as planned by Aleš Nagode. The book was put together by a representative group of researchers who in recent decades have made a crucial contribution to creating better insights into the history of 19th-century music.
The new publication attempts to capture the musical culture of the 19th century Slovene lands as comprehensively as possible. It contains a series of contributions that illustrate two of its components in parallel. On the one hand, there is the public and private performance of music, which due to Slovene political reality at the time was very strongly rooted in the cultural environment of the Austrian monarchy. At the forefront are primarily similarities and specifics in comparison with the broader Central European and European context.
On the other hand, the contributions also focus on compositional creativity, which gradually developed over the course of the century from a helpless supplement into an increasingly equal contribution to European production. The historical viewpoint also took in a broader range of musical genres. Alongside the traditionally discussed artistic music genres, two new additions include a contribution on music for social dances and one on the relationship between folk and art music.
The book tries to fulfil two aims; first of all it provides an updated overview of Slovenia’s musical past, including findings made by musicological research into Slovene 19th century music in the past decades. At the same time, it attempts to correct some ideological and methodological distortions, which were virtually self-evident in older musicological studies.
A work has been created that is useful both for the scientific and professional public, as well as for any educated person or enthusiast interested in 19th century musical culture in Slovene lands.

Asst. Prof.  Dr. Aleš Nagode