FAMOUS CROATS - LUKA SORKOCEVIC

LUKA SORKOČEVIĆ The composer Luka Sorgo (Sorkočević), the most distinguished Croatian representative of the pre-classical period in music, was born in Dubrovnik, on 13 January 1734 as son of respectable aristocratic family. He was schooled at the Jesuits' Institute as was the custom with noble families of the time, where he probably also received his first musical education. At the age of 18 (in 1752) Luka was already elected to Great Council. As the member of the Great Council he was obliged to perform many duties which limited the time he could dedicate to music. In the period between 1756 and 1763 he most probably studied in Rome where he established many useful contacts. In 1764 he married Paula Bonda with whom he had seven children, one of whom was a respectful diplomat and composer Antun Sorkočević. Always greater number of duties decreased the time he could spend on music; in 1781 he became a delegate at the court in Vienna where he got to know many respectable people, among whom also Joseph Haydn. At the end of the 80-ies of the 18th century he began to suffer from depressions and also had to face a kind of isolation because he was advocating a pro-Austrian politics. On 11 September 1789, at the age of only 55, Luka Sorgo (Sorkočević) committed suicide by throwing himself through the window of his palace The musical legacy of Luka Sorkočević was saved from oblivion only in the second half of the 20th century; at that time the value of the author's compositions was recognised, which have since been in the constant focus of not only Croatian musicology but also of Croatian and recently also of international performers. The creator of a not so huge opus but also of first Croatian symphonies, which by numerous and formal finesses and genuine solutions belong to the circle of European composers of the pre-classical period Sorkočević was an amateur in music, but due to his talent managed to considerably exceeded his incomplete musical education. By numerous inspired musical ideas his music always seizes audience' s attention wherever performed and is recognised by the lovable, melodious beauty of thematic ideas, which have entered him forever into the anthology of Croatian music. Erika Krpan