Stanko Horvat


Stanko Horvat was a Croatian composer and music pedagogue.

Biography

Stanko Horvat graduated from the Music Academy in Zagreb in 1956 where he studied composition in the class of Stjepan Šulek. He further studied on the Paris Conservatoire with T. Aubin and privately with René Leibowitz. At the Electronic Studio of Technische Universität Berlin he has done studio research.
Between 1961 and 1999, when he retired, he taught at the Music Academy in Zagreb and many of the important Croatian composers were his students. He had a number of important public functions. He was a member of the Croatian [Academy of Sciences and Arts].

Oeuvre

Horvat's first works are deeply rooted in the classical tradition. After studying in Paris – and under Leibowitz's influence – he turned to dodecaphony, serialism and other contemporary composition techniques. However, he soon abandoned them as they are incompatible with his sensibility. The Polish School had a much stronger influence on his work. In all musical forms that he has employed, Horvat has focused primarily on musical expression. He is inclined towards pure sound, simple form and traditional treatment of the instrument. His works reveal a desire for reconciliation of the contemporary and romantic, the exact and free form, the structured and improvised. His fondness towards simplicity of texture is always apparent, occasionally reminding us of minimalistic music. Horvat's works are performed all over Europe and in almost all continents of the globe, at festivals in Croatia and abroad.

Works (selection)