Scientific Conference ’ Symphonic Music after 1945’

The three-day scientific conference titled ’ Symphonic Music After 1945’ was opened on Wednesday, 29 October, at the SASA Grand Hall.

In the history of Western art music after 1945, some important questions have been raised regarding the continuous development and survival of symphonic music genres – symphony, symphonic suite, orchestral concerto, symphonic poem, and similar genres. In countries where socialist realism prevailed, on the one hand, the cult of symphonic music as the music of the ’new society’ and ’new age’ was promoted. On the other hand, numerous authors of symphonic music remained obscure, masked by dominant avant-garde post-Second World War trends. The history of post-war symphonic music in Serbia, in particular, is such an example. It appears in composers’ productions and musicological interpretations, managing to survive between these two extremes: as a series of accomplishments of various symphonic genres, which would often get a designation of ’autonomous music.’ This would underscore their ideological neutrality, which was frequently ’overshadowed’ by new movements appearing in the music of the second half of the 20th century.