Miloje Milojević (Serbian Cyrillic: Милоје Милојевић; 27 October 1884 in Belgrade – 16 June 1946 in Belgrade) was a Serbian composer, musicologist, music critic, folklorist, music pedagogue, and music promoter.
Biography The father of Miloje Milojević, Dimitrije, an apparel merchant, was born in the village of Dedina near the town of Kruševac. His last name was in fact Đorđević, but according to the custom at the time, he adopted a surname based on his father's first name. Dimitrije Milojević was rather musically gifted, being self-taught in playing the flute. The mother of Miloje Milojević, Angelina, was born in Belgrade, in the Matić clerk's family. She was also musically gifted and took private piano lessons. Miloje Milojević had a sister Vladislava, and brothers Vojislav, Vladislav, Branko, Milorad, and Borivoje, a renowned biologist.
Miloje Milojević began private violin lessons at the age of five, with Karlo Mertl, an orchestra member of the National Theatre in Belgrade. His first piano teacher was his mother, Angelina. His father's sudden death turned the family life upside-down. The changed financial situation made his mother, now a widow, move to Novi Sad where life was more affordable. The Milojević family lived in Novi Sad for six years. Miloje began his schooling in Novi Sad in his junior year at the Serbian Orthodox High Gymnasium (graduated 1904). This school was well known for its music activities (Svetosavke besede). During his music education, Miloje Milojević received encouragement from composer Isidor Bajić (1878–1915), his secondary school music teacher.
Milojević matriculated at the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Belgrade, where he studied for three semesters (fall 1904 until spring 1906): Germanics (Miloš Trivunac), comparative literature (Bogdan Popović), Serbian language and literature (Aleksandar Belić, Pavle Popović, and Jovan Skerlić), and philosophy (Branislav Petronijević). He concurrently attended Serbian music school (until 1907, and also later), where he studied music theory subjects and composition with Stevan St. Mokranjac and piano with Cvetko Manojlović.
For the next five semesters (summer 1907–1908 until summer 1909–1910 academic year), Milojević continued his studies at the Philosophy Department of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, where he studied musicology (with Adolf Sandberger and Theodor Kroyer), literature, and philosophy disciplines. At the same time, Milojević attended Munich Music Academy, studying composition (with Friedrich Klose), piano (Richard Meier-Gschray), and conducting with score reading (Felix Mottl). He graduated from Munich Music Academy in June 1910.
Between 1 September 1910 and 1 March 1911, Milojević served his military duty for the Kingdom of Serbia, in the student squadron. While in military service, he was appointed a music teacher in the Fourth Belgrade Gymnasium, and the same year also started teaching in the Serbian Music School. In 1912, he founded the Serbian Music School Teachers’ Chamber Society. This event initiated the nurturing of chamber music in Belgrade on a more regular basis.
In the fall of 1912, at the onset of the First Balkan War, Milojević was drafted as a sergeant for the Dunav Division cavalry squadron. Following the outbreak of World War I he was appointed to the Supreme Command headquarters (until 1917). He crossed Albania with the Serbian Army (Serbian army's retreat through Albania). In 1917, Milojević was in service for the Kingdom of Serbia Ministry of Education, during which he was sent to Paris to the Committee for Cultural Affairs. He remained in France from 1917 until mid 1919. During the entire war, he remained involved with composing; he also performed at concerts of Serbians music in Nice, Monte Carlo, Lyon, and Paris as a piano accompanist, and held a public lecture about modern Serbian music in Paris.
In 1919, Milojević returned to Belgrade and developed an extraordinary rich music career as a composer, musicologist, music critic, folklorist, music pedagogue, conductor, and organizer of music affairs. At first, he returned to his previous teaching positions at the gymnasium and music school. Concurrently, from 1920 until the beginning of 1922 he also held the conductor position with the Academic Singing Society “Obilić”. In fall 1922 he was appointed an assistant professor of Music History at the Belgrade University Faculty of Philosophy. Soon afterward he turned to completing his musicology studies and earned his doctorate degree at the Charles University in Prague (1925). Upon returning to Belgrade, he was a Docent and an associate professor of Music History until 1939. At the same time, up until 1946 he also taught at the Music School in Belgrade—previously Serbian Music School (principal 1943–1946). In 1939 he became a professor of composition and theory disciplines at the Music Academy in Belgrade. During World War II Milojević was arrested (1941) by fascist authorities. During the heavy bombing of Belgrade by the American forces on Easter Day in 1944, his house on 16 Nemanjina Street in Belgrade was demolished, leaving him wounded. Of a diminished health condition, starting in February 1946, he was no longer able to continue teaching at the Music Academy. After the liberation, as a formality, he was appointed to the Music Academy Institute of Musicology managed at the time by musicologist and pianist Stana Đurić-Klajn (now Institute of Musicology of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, SASA). Milojevic died 16 June 1946 in Belgrade.
Milojević was married (from 1907) to a vocalist and music pedagogue Ivanka Milutinović (1881–1975). They had one daughter, Gordana (1911–2003), a pianist and music pedagogue. Nephew Đorđe (1921–1986), the son of Borivoje, was a violoncellist and a composer. The grandson of Miloje Milojević is a composer and member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Vlastimir Trajković (1947), Professor of Composition and Orchestration at the Faculty of Music, University of Arts, in Belgrade.
Composer Together with Petar Konjović and Stevan Hristić, Miloje Milojević represented a generation of composers who introduced modern styles and a high compositional technical level to Serbian music. In the beginning phase of his creative development, Milojevic set out from the Serbian Romanticist national school (Stevan Mokranjac and Josif Marinković). During his studies in Munich, he discovered German New Romanticism and became closely involved with the music of Richard Strauss. His stay in France resulted with even stronger impressions. The influence of French Impressionism was decisive in Milojević's stylistic development. While in Prague, working on his dissertation, he made contacts with Czech avant-garde composers. In certain works, Milojević turned to expressionism. Throughout his life, though, he preserved his affinity toward the national style—toward folklore as a foundation of art music. Thus, the last stage of his creative work is characterized by utilizing folk melodies amidst the stylistic blend of Neo-romanticist and Impressionist elements.
The most prominent areas of his output are lieds and character pieces for the piano, but he also wrote choral and chamber works.
In his Lied, Milojević used Serbian, Croat, French, German, and Japanese poetry. His interpretation of the lyrics was realized by supple melodies and rich harmonic palette of the piano part.
Before the Magnificence of Nature (Pred veličanstvom prirode), a collection of ten songs, was conceived between 1908 and 1920. This song cycle features all the elements representative of Milojević as a composer of this genre (Serbian romanticist Lied, influences of R. Strauss, and Impressionism). Among the most successful Lieder in this cycle are The Autumn Elegy (Jesenja elegija), The Eagle song (Pesma orla), Japan, The Nymph, and The Bells (Zvona).
About fifteen Lieder composed in France in 1917 after the lyrics by French poets were influenced by Impressionism, the best known among them being Berceuse triste (Tužna uspavanka). From his later period, important ones include The Three songs for high voice (Tri pesme za visoki glas), the most remarkable being “A very hot day” from 1924 (“Vrlo topli dan”), composed upon German lyrics, and Haikai (Hai-kai), after the poetry of Japanese poet Matsuo Bashō, from 1942. These works merge impressionistic and expressionistic elements.
A Field feast (Gozba na livadi), “a lyrical symphony for voice and orchestra” (1939) represents the first example of symphonic Lied in Serbian music.
Milojević also wrote choral music. His activities in this genre encompass simple, unassuming music for children's and youth choirs to complex works. The most significant include: How green is the long field (Dugo se polje zeleni) (1909), a miniature for mixed choir, after the lyrics of Vojislav Ilić; dramatic ballad Presentiment (Slutnja) (1912), marked by Neo-romanticist chromaticism and polyphony, and considered among masterpieces of Serbian choral literature; and cycle The Feast of illusions (Pir iluzija) (1924), after poetry of Miroslav Krleža (Evening decorations (Večernje dekoracije), Triptych (Triptih), and Dark gloomy afternoon (Crno sumorno popodne)), a work of modern expression and high technical demands regarding choral texture. Milojević's most popular choral composition, The Fly and a Mosquito (Muha i komarac) (1930), is a humorous scherzando piece written upon folk text and utilizing tone painting. This effective work is often compared to The Goat-herd (Kozar) by S. Mokranjac. Milojević also wrote sacred music (two liturgies, three opelos (Orthodox Requiem), a particularly successful piece being A Short Opelo in b-flat minor (Kratko Opelo u b-mollu), for men's choir (1920).
Miloje Milojević is one of the most significant Serbian composers of piano music. By their high artistic qualities, his Four piano pieces (Četiri komada za klavir) (1917), marked a shift in the history of Serbian piano music. His highly successful collections Cameos (Kameje) (1937–42) and My mother (Moja majka) (1943) are characterized by the synergy of Neo-romanticism and Impressionism. His cycles entitled Melodies and rhythms from the Balkans (Melodije i ritmovi sa Balkana), The Kosovo suite (Kosovska svita), and The Povardarie suite (Povardarska svita) (all from 1942), are all based on folklore and Milojević's own folk transcriptions. These works feature impressionistic solutions, but also a somewhat robust use of folklore similar to Béla Bartók. His work Rhythmical grimaces (Ritmičke grimase) (1935), a stride toward Expressionism, occupies a special place in his oeuvre, whereas the piano is treated in a somewhat percussionist way, certain places are void of meter markings, and the harmonic aspect is characterized by the departure from tonality and use of tone clusters.
Milojević was less prolific in the genre of orchestral music. Among his orchestral compositions is The Death of the Jugović mother (Smrt majke Jugovića) (1921), with glimpses of R. Strauss's influences. This work somewhat exhibits insufficiencies in the aspects of thematic development and orchestral sound. His suite for string orchestra, Intimacy (Intima) (1939), built on the re-la-do-mi-la motive, deems far more successful. While featuring six movements and several moods (depicted by the subtitles), this composition demonstrates coherency and rich sound colour.