Dugan, Franjo: Complete Organ Works

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Dugan, in particular with his organ works composed in 1892-1909, introduced into Croatian music the expressive and technical possibilities of modern organ playing; his preludes and fugues are the first significant works of this kind in Croatian organ music. He has also made valuable contribution to the field of chamber music by composing the first sonata for violin and piano in Croatia (1908) and the skillfully crafted string quartets. In his style Dugan achieved the synthesis of traditional polyphony and strict compositional forms with late-romantic harmonic expression. His works are based on solid traditional forms, demonstrating the imagination in harmony, which, through the development and use of chromatics, goes beyond its predecessors. Important part of Dugan’s untiring efforts was to promote Cecilian tendencies in reviving church music. From 1907 to 1943, he edited the sheet music supplement of the society’s journal Sv. Cecilija, in which he published many earlier and recent works of Croatian church music, and became one of the main promoters of Cecilianism in Croatia. As a cathedral organist, Dugan participated daily in the performances of the Gregorian chant. Due to the lack of printed scores, the organ accompaniment of the chant was mostly improvised. Those improvisations were later written-down by Dugan, thus creating a comprehensive work that encompasses the harmonization of Gregorian chants for the entire church year. Only upon his return from Berlin, Dugan introduced practice of concerts of organ and church music in Croatia.

 

Anđelko Klobučar