Stevan Mokranjac

(real surname Stojanovic). Born Jan. 9, 1856, in Negotin; died Sept. 28, 1914, in Skoplje. Serbian composer, specialist in the study of folklore, conductor, and teacher.

While Mokranjac studied in the philology faculty at the University of Belgrade, he participated in the Belgrade Singing Society. He studied in Munich in 1879, and, upon his return to Belgrade, he taught singing and directed the choir of the Stankovic Society. From 1887 up to his death, Mokranjac headed the Belgrade Singing Society; he toured Russia with the society’s choir in 1896. In 1899, together with S. Binidki and I. Manojlovic, he founded a music school in Belgrade (now bearing his name), laying the foundation for musical education in Serbia.

As a composer, Mokranjac is best known for his choral rhapsodies, Bouquets, which are masterful adaptations of folk melodies of the peoples of Yugoslavia. In these 15 rhapsodies, the first of which was composed in 1884, he created an original national style of choral composition. Of particular importance is the tenth rhapsody, the Ohrid Legend. Mokranjac’s other compositions include the choral work Seaside Melodies, church music (Liturgy, Requiem), and songs for voice and piano (“Lem Edim,” “Three Heroes”).