No. 3 (2003): Musical Migrations

It is a well known that music and musicians have always been mobile, constantly in touch with other musical environments and traditions. Research into the numerous transformations of musical practice caused by those migrations proves to be inspiring for musicologists. Traces of migrations can be discovered in music, in the ways it is played and composed, and those traces can  ometimes unveil unusual stories. In choosing musical migrations to be the main theme of this issue we were aware that we would only be able to focus on a few problems that belong to this immense field of research. Two ethnomusicological articles attest to the crucial importance of obtaining a deep acquaintance with the history of migrations in order to draw valid conclusions in this discipline. The tragedy of forced migrations of different populations in the 20th century, caused by political events and wars, often unexpectedly benefited the cultures of the peoples that hosted them. Such cases are examined in the two articles devoted to the role of the Russian musical emigration in improving the performing standards on the Yugoslav opera and ballet stages between the two world wars. The fruitfulness of such contacts are further demonstrated in the articles on the activities of Italian musicians in Greece and Greek musicians in Italy in the 19th century. The last contribution in this rubric observes the effects that residence in the United States had on the outstanding musician Dimitris Mitropoulos. The authors of the three articles in the Varia rubric deal with contemporary music. One article is an analytical presentation of the art of synthesis as conceived and realised by Vladan Radovanović. It is published in honour of the artist's 70th birthday. The other articles deal with the term of musical texture, essential for understanding the music of the last decades, and a recent work by Adriana Hölzsky. The remaining texts are commited to church music topics and rethinking socialist realism. in honour of the 75th birthday of Dr Nadežda Mosusova, a distinguished personality in Serbian and Yugoslav musicology, and  a long time member of the Musicological Institute, we are publishing a modest hommage. We had also planned to mark the 80th anniversary of the birth of Dr Radmila Petrović, another esteemed colleague for many years. Her death at the beginning of this year has obliged us to pay her a tribute in an obituary.