Mihovil Logar

Mihovil Logar (1902–1998) was a composer and music writer. Born in Rijeka, he spent most of his life in Belgrade. He left behind over two hundred works across all genres – operas, ballets, symphonic music, concertos, cantatas, piano music, and songs. Once a prominent student of the so-called “Prague generation” of composers from Serbia, Logar is considered one of the most significant among those who actively contributed to the development of music professionalism in the country. Mihovil Logar was born in 1902 in Rijeka. In response to Italy's annexation and occupation of Rijeka by Benito Mussolini's fascists, Logar left for Yugoslavia. He completed his formal education in Prague, where after studying architecture at first, he pursued the vocation of composition. He studied at the State Prague Conservatory with K. B. Jirák and with Josef Suk at his master classes. In 1927, Logar relocated to Belgrade, where he at first taught theory disciplines and piano at the Music School (today “Mokranjac” Music School), followed by a position at the Secondary Music School, at the time conjoint to the Music Academy. Immediately after the World War II, Logar received tenure as an Associate Professor (1945) and Professor (1955) at the Music Academy (today Faculty of Music, University of Arts, in Belgrade). As a high school teacher and as a composition professor, Logar greatly contributed to the development of music education in pre- and post-war Serbia. He was President of the Composers' Association of Serbia from 1956 to 1958. Along with a rich and prolific composer's career, he appeared as a pianist, often performing his own pieces. Logar died 13 January 1998 in Belgrade. Mihovil Logar's oeuvre consists of over two hundred works in various genres. Among his most significant compositions are the operas Four scenes from Shakespeare (1931), and Nineteen-Forty-One (Četrdeset prva) (1959), ballet The Little goldfish (1950), cantata The Blue tomb (1934), orchestral Rondo-Overture (1936) and Sinfonia Italiana (1964), Concerto for violin in b-minor (1954) and Double concerto for clarinet and horn (1967), song cycles The Legend of Marko (1936), five string quartets (1926–36), and piano music collections .