DOI: 10.4149/SH_2024_1_1

Ladislav Burlas (3. 4. 1927 – 11. 2. 2024) was a renowned Slovak musicologist and composer. From the very beginning of his career, he has been a scholar at the Institute of Musicology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences in Bratislava (between 1951 and 1987); in the period of 1960 – 1973, he was the head of the institute. After the success of his books promoting his music-historical and ethnomethodological research he focused his attention on more in-depth study of the systematic disciplines of musicology. As a scholar he has written (authored and co-authored) 21 books and dozens (about 160) of musicological papers and studies. He wrote some fundamental and, for musicology, most beneficial works: Hudobná teória a súčasnosť (1978) [Music Theory and the Present Time], Slovenská hudobná moderna (1983) [Slovak Music Modernism], Pohľady na súčasnú slovenskú hudobnú kultúru (1987) [Views on Present-day Slovak Music Culture]. Towards the end of the 1990’s, Burlas narrowed down his focus on depicting the issues of music and pedagogy, and music and education. This resulted in the writing of university coursebooks Teória hudobnej pedagogiky (1997) [The Theory of Music Pedagogy] and Hudba – komunikatívny dynamizmus (1998) [Music – Communicative Dynamism].
He was a student of one of the founding fathers of Slovak national music (Mikuláš Schneider- -Trnavský), and a composition student of a representative of the Slovak national modernism (Alexander Moyzes). In this way, he received the best possible private (in the hometown of Trnava), secondary (Conservatoire in Bratislava) and university music education that prepared him for a career of a composer (Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava where he has graduated in 1955). Among his most known and most often performed compositions are Svadobné spevy z Horehronia (1957) [Wedding Music of Horehronie], Metamorfózy krás [The Metamorphoses of the Beauty] for mixed choirs and solo violin (1964), vocal symphony Stretnúť človeka (1984) [To Meet a Man], etc. As “opus magnum” it is generally referred to Planctus (1968) for a string orchestra that was written as an artistic reaction to the 1968 military invasion of Czechoslovakia. Memories of those who came into contact with professor Burlas point to the humanistic dimension of his personality and his activities, which bear the mark of humanity, the fallible and the persuasive, the humble and the unbreakable approach to life. This is what makes the scientific, human and artistic life inspiring for future generations.

Keywords
Ladislav Burlas; musicology; music works; music education; art academy; humanism

DOI: 10.4149/SH_2024_1_2

The study examines the phenomenon of psychological blocks in relation to creativity, which occur in artists’ creative musical process. Based on the specialized literature as well as the author’s personal experience and research among musicians it attempts to identify the reasons for origination and manifestations of creative blocks in this realm. It explores potential strategies aimed at overcoming these obstacles while at the same time offering both theoretical knowledge and practical recommendations. With its combination of theoretical and empirical approaches the study contributes to the understanding of an intricate character of creative blocks in music creation and offers advice for musicians struggling to overcome them.

Keywords
emotional blocks; creative blocks; creativeness; art; psychology

DOI: 10.4149/SH_2024_1_3

The paper deals with a professional dance theatre – the Studio Dance Theatre in Banska Bystrica. It describes its artistic activity and characterizes selected dance works with an emphasis on the use of musical means of expression.

Keywords
dance theater; movement; Studio Dance Theatre in Banska Bystrica; music; performance

DOI: 10.4149/SH_2024_1_4

The study provides a structured look at original operatic works by Slovak composers that were performed in the post-1989 changed cultural and political conditions, with an accent on the situation in the new millennium. The author focuses on the issue from the point of view of the authors’ poetics, genres, topic, linguistic and dramaturgical aspects of the literary component or target audience groups. She reflects on the extent to which the works composed in the period reflected in the study develop the traditions of Slovak opera of the previous decades and to what extent they move away from them. For quite a few of them, the question arises whether they can be described as opera at all; this topic, which has been resonating in the international opera-theatre discourse for several decades, has become relevant in the Slovak cultural context in this period as well.

Keywords
Slovak opera; 21^st century; opera theatres; alternative theatre scene; opera for children

DOI: 10.4149/SH_2024_1_5

The contribution deals with the present situation in the Opera of the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava while taking into consideration the historical context of its existence. It studies the concept of “the national” and accentuates the question of the meaning of this attribute and what it should mean for the Opera of the SNT today. It seeks connections between the problems of the theatre ensemble and the situation of the society itself, i.e. the society-wide cultural anomalies. The text does not offer answers; on the contrary, it poses questions, with the goal to provide inspiration for positive changes in the Opera of the SNT, as well as in the society as a whole.

Keywords
opera; national; creation; tradition; society; culture