Goto vac, Jakov

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Goto vac, Jakov

Goto vac, Jakov, Croatian conductor and composer; b. Split, Oct. 11, 1895; d. Zagreb, Oct. 16, 1982. He studied law at the Univ. of Zagreb, and music with Antun Dobronić in Zagreb and with Joseph Marx in Vienna. In 1923 he was appointed conductor of the Croatian National Opera in Zagreb, retaining this post until 1958. He composed mostly for the theater; his instrumental music is imbued with the folkways of Croatia, enhancing the simple native materials by carefully proportioned modernistic mutations while pre-serving the impulsive asymmetrical patterns of the original songs.

Works

DRAMATIC Opera : Dubravka (1928); Morana (Brno, Nov. 29, 1930); Ero s onoga svijeta (A Rogue from the World Beyond; Zagreb, Nov. 2, 1935; in Ger. as Ero der Schelm, Karlsruhe, April 3, 1938); Kamenik (The Quarry; Zagreb, Dec. 17, 1946); Mila Gojsalica (Zagreb, May 18, 1952); Stanac (Zagreb, Dec. 6, 1959); Dalmaro (Zagreb, Dec. 20, 1964); Petar Svačiç, opera-oratorio (1969). ORCH.: Simfonijsko kolo (Zagreb, Feb. 6, 1927); Orači (Ploughmen; 1937); Pjesme i pies za Balkana (Balkan Song and Dance) for Strings (1939); Guslar (Gusla Player; Zagreb, Oct. 7, 1940); Bunjevacka igra (1960); Dalmatinsko pastirče (Dalmatian Shepherd) for Recorders (1962). VOCAL: Choral pieces; songs.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire