Dora Pejačević


Dora Pejačević was a Croatian composer, a member of the Pejačević noble family. She was one of the composers to introduce the orchestral song to Croatian music and her Symphony in F-sharp minor is considered by scholars to be the first modern symphony in Croatian music.

Biography

Dora Pejačević was born in Budapest, Kingdom of Hungary, the daughter of a Croatian ban, Hungarian-Croatian Count Teodor Pejačević and Hungarian Baroness Lilla Vay de Vaya, herself a fine pianist. Her mother gave her first piano lessons. Paternally, she descended from the old Croatian noble Pejačević family, one of the most distinguished noble families in Slavonia, eastern region of Croatia.
Dora began to compose when she was 12. She studied music privately in Zagreb, Dresden and Munich and received lessons in instrumentation, composition and violin. She was largely self-taught, however. She married Ottomar von Lumbe in 1921. Although Pejačević led a lonely life, she met many prominent musicians and writers, and befriended Austrian journalist and writer Karl Kraus and Czech aristocrat and patroness of arts Sidonie Nádherná von Borutín. Dora died in Munich in 1923, a result of complications following a difficult childbirth, and is buried at the cemetery in Našice, Croatia.
Dora Pejačević is considered a major Croatian composer. She left behind a considerable catalogue of 58 opuses, mostly in late-Romantic style, including songs, piano works, chamber music, and several compositions for large orchestra, arguably her best. Her Symphony in F-sharp minor is considered by scholars the first modern symphony in Croatian music. Most of her music has yet to be published and released on compact disc, although concerted efforts have been made recently to rectify this situation. For example, the Croatian Music Information Centre has published some of her scores, including three of her orchestral works. In 2008, the Center also published a bilingual monograph, written by the Pejačević scholar Koraljka Kos, accompanied by a first all-Pejačević CD of piano and chamber music.
Her life is the subject of a fictionalized Croatian biographical film Countess Dora, directed by Zvonimir Berković and starring Alma Prica and Rade Šerbedžija.

List of works

Vocal compositions

;Lieder:
  1. Sicheres Merkmal
  2. Es hat gleich einem Diebe
  3. Taut erst Blauveilchen
  4. Es jagen sich Mond und Sonne
  5. Du bist der helle Frühlingsmorgen
  6. In den Blättern wühlt
  7. Es war einmal
  1. Ich schleiche meine Straßen
  2. Verweht
  1. Ein Schrei
  2. Wie ein Rausch
  3. Ich glaub', lieber Schatz
  4. Traumglück
  1. Als du mich einst gefunden hast
  2. Viel Fähren sind auf den Flüssen
  3. Ich bin eine Waise
  4. Ich war ein Kind und träumte viel
  1. Venedig
  2. Vereinsamt
  3. Der Einsamste
  1. Zu dir!
  2. Um bei dir zu sein
  1. Majčica, moj anđeo
  2. Dijete i baka
  3. Mali Radojica
;with orchestral accompaniment:
  1. Goldne Sterne, blaue Glöckchen
  2. Schwebe, du Schmetterling

    Compositions for solo piano

  1. Sehnsucht
  2. Leid
  3. Frage
  4. Klage
  5. Bitte
  6. Wahn
  1. Schneeglöckchen
  2. Veilchen
  3. Maiglöckchen
  4. Vergißmeinnicht
  5. Rose
  6. Rote Nelken
  7. Lilien
  8. Chrysanthemen
  1. Moderato
  2. Grazioso
  3. Im Laendler-tempo
  4. Wiegend
  5. Lento
  6. Tempo giusto
  7. Allegretto
  8. Grazioso, allegramente
  9. Moderato
  2. Libelle
  3. Papillon
  4. Abendgedanke
  1. Con fuoco non troppo allegro
  2. Andante con molta espressione
  3. Allegro risoluto
  1. Ruhig und innig
  2. Langsam und ausdrucksvoll
  1. An dich!
  2. Vor deinem Bild
  1. Sehr ruhig, mit innigem Ausdruck
  2. Leicht bewegt und ferträumt
  1. Humoreske, allegretto vivo
  2. Caprice, vivace grazioso
;Songs for voice and orchestra'''

Public video recordings

Complete Works for Piano

First integral recording of Pejačević's works for piano, by pianist Yoko Nishii with help of PTNA. The videos are public, and as follows: