Biography

His rich oeuvre containing more than 250 compositions and the significance of his overall musical and social activities during his life affirmed Ferdo Wiesner Livadić (1799 – 1879) as the progenitor of the first generation of Croatian romantic classicism composers. By working in the surroundings (Samobor) that appreciated its prominent and “loyal son of the homeland”, distinguished city judge, honorary member of the People’s Music Institute in Zagreb (from 1859) and the Croatian Singers’ Society Kolo (from 1866), many of Livadić’s compositions – which was announced by Petar Preradović in his poem To Samobor – became “national heritage”.
Like many composers born at the end of the 18th century, Livadić profiled his musical expression at a time when clear role models and fundamental forces of neoclassicism were being established. In other words, on the foundations of traditional language sprung from the Austrian (European) musical romanticism. There were other influences, beside the original belonging to the tradition, that contributed to Ferdo Livadić’s overall creative identity, including the prevailing and often musically conservative Illyrian ideology on specific composing procedures and stylistic characteristics of compositions.
For a composer who was among the first advocates of the “Slavic idea in music” and who was the “musical embodiment of Gaj,” the idea of “Slavic embodiment” was best achieved through vocal lyric, which is confirmed by his many solo songs. Namely, Livadić’s oeuvre, which includes shorter, chamber forms, mostly solo songs, followed by instrumental (piano) and sacral compositions, contains a number of inspired works that clearly reflect moments of his life and deliberate composing gestures. This is mirrored in some songs that Livadić composed in Croatian, German and Slovenian, mainly using the verses of his contemporaries.