During his prolific and creative career the Croatian composer BORIS PAPANDOPULO (1906 – 1991) tried his skill in the various music forms, ranging from vocal miniature, then chamber and instrumental compositions, to symphony, opera and oratorio. In the first, pre-war period of work Papandopulo “on the wings of the youthful temperament got carried away with the skilful treatment of the musical expressive devices, polyphonic play with tones, brilliant combinations of sounds, external decorative quality and optimistic serenity”. The composer’s affinity for the baroque vivacity as well as the essential elements of neo-classical musical style became prominent in that creative period. The archaic overtones of some anthological works of the time seem as if they were searching the very origins of music, thus encountering the inevitable sources of rituals, movements and dance. In the post-war opus Papandopulo tries to follow certain guidelines of the European Modernism, but at the same time he does not give up either the traditional forms of musical cells, the conventional development of motifs and structure or the well-established rules of melodic movement. In time more modern overtones find their way into this extensive opus, so the master sometimes resorts to the basics of dodecaphonic or serial constructional expression. Although he perceives almost each of the ideological-and-aesthetic movements of our century as the basis, which is the starting point on his journey into the unknown and perilous search for its reflection within himself, in the end the composer is not partial to any of the creative schools. Thus neither of the doctrines triumphed over Papandopulo, but he did not gain control of any of the creative creeds either; the music ideology and aesthetics on one side, and practical, above all talented musician Papandopulo on the other side played the game of life with a draw. Still, on his way towards the artistic maturity, in the process of more intensive enrichment of his own music in terms of content, Papandopulo had always stood on the elementary principle of his creative approach to a work: the process of assuming structure and final shape on the basis of a pure musical substance. If certain definition is appropriate, then one should look for the summary of Papandopulo’s opus in a kind of synthesis of all the important latest musical and global influences with the rhythmic-melodic-harmonic features of the Croatian folk music. (Dubravko Detoni)
Cantus - KDZ, 2002.
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