A determining constant of the multilateral personal evolution of Ladislav Burlas is his focusing on the issue of theory of music. Qualified by his musicological as well as compositional education, inspired by the ideas of his University teacher Jozef Kresánek he was able to join scientific, compositional-creative and educational dimension of the theory of music. As a theorist he began to deal with Slovak music of the 20^th century (a monograph on Alexander Moyzes, analysis of a theoretical concept of Eugen Suchoň, a synthetic view of the inter-war generation). In the history of theoretical reflection in Slovakia Burlas holds the top position namely due to his monograph publication Formy a druhy hudobného umenia (Forms and Genres of Music), the concept of which has been based on a study of mutual relations between thematic and dynamic forms, on a harmony of systematic and historic delineation of form-creating categories and on a definition of a music form as a music-theoretical, aesthetical and historical notion.

Musicological activities in the field of history of Professor Ladislav Burlas reach back to his University studies. With his diploma thesis Cantus Catholici 1655–1700 he graduated from the Philosophical Faculty of the Comenius University in Bratislava in 1951. In 1954 he published a chapter Duchovná hudba (Spiritual music) in the publication Music in Slovakia in the 17^th Century. Particularly positive feature of this work is a categorization of tunes of spiritual songs and their music-structural characteristics. Burlas presented here a methodologically new approach, historically-evolutional view on unison song and its development from the medieval Gregorian chant, through Hussite songs, folk songs, German reformational songs, to domestic songs. He worked out a transcription of songs of Cithara sanctorum and Cantus Catholici hymnbooks, which is the only one and precious essay in the critical edition of these hymnbooks up to now. He devoted himself to hymnology in an academic publication Dejiny slovenskej hudby (History of Slovak Music, 1957), in which he elaborated chapters Historická pieseň (Historic Song), Duchovná pieseň (Spiritual Song) and Baroková ária a pastorela (Baroque Aria and Pastorale). He was interested in the 19^th century music, too, and in 1953 he published an article Život a dielo Jána Levoslava Bellu (Life and Work of Ján Levoslav Bella).

Unlike an older synthetic publication of the history of Slovak music (K. Hudec, F. Zagiba), these works were based on new heuristic research joined with an origin of a general register of music sources. Burlas knew Slovak musicological scene well, he co-operated with older generation of musicologists as well as with younger music historians (Zdenka Bokesová, Alica Elsheková, Ivan Hrušovský, Jozef Kresánek, Ladislav Mokrý, Zdenko Nováček, Pavol Polák, Richard Rybarič, J. Šamko, Viera Šedivá, Ernest Zavarský). At the Philosophical Faculty of the CU he lectured not only on theory of music, but also history of Czech and Slovak music and history of Hungarian music. Since 1960 he became an employee of the Institute of Musicology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, in 1964 he became its first director and claims credit for its crystallization into three departments of the classical musicology, as we know it today.

Burlas did not continue his music-historical researches, however, historical approach remained the basis of his scientific reflection. Due to modern historic-evolutional explanation of form categories his book Formy a druhy hudobného umenia (Forms and Genres of Music) was printed in the fourth edition the previous year, and his publication Dejiny európskej hudobnej teórie (History of European Music Theory) was reedited, too.

Historical mind and philosophical reflection on music remained the basic card of Prof. Burlas in a position of a director (or a leader of the department) till 1987. Due to his liberal approach to scientific work a free choice of formulation of scientific problems has not disappeared in the historical department of the Musicological Institute of the SAS, and always a way was found, how to include them into the official five-year research plans. Despite ideological pressure Gregorian chant, motets and spiritual concerts were researched on, reviews of foreign monographs were published and music historiography did not lose a contact with Europe. The work on important projects continued, as were the source editions of Musicalia Danubiana and Stará hudba na Slovensku (Early Music in Slovakia) or a publication of a new academic publication Dejiny hudobnej kultúry na Slovensku I (History of Music in Slovakia I, 1984). In a preface to the Rybarič’s History Burlas clearly signed the modern project, which comprehended history of music as a process of various synchronic strata of music, defined by social structure. In many Burlas’ studies devoted to contemporary music and art traditions, historic-philosophical reflections (problems of stylistic basis of Slovak music, evolution of national character of music, polyhistoricity of music as a developing system, historic consciousness in music) can be found. It is almost the same system of categories, on which a concept of Hudobná historiografia (Music Historiography) by Richard Rybarič (1989, or 1995) is built and with which also a young generation of music historians works, too.

In the wide scope of musicological and compositional activities of Ladislav Burlas his interest in traditional folk music was of universal use. It evolved on the basis of his active contact with the field research at the turn of the 1940’s and 1950’s and it was influenced by a strong development of Slovak ethnomusicology since the early 1950’s. Interest in domestic folk music tradition and in current ethnomusicological knowledge permeated majority of reasearch fields and topics, with which Burlas had occupied himself as a musicologist focusing on music historiography and some disciplines of systematic musicology (theory of music, music aesthetics and philosophy of music, music education). Penetration of elements of traditional music into the Ladislav Burlas’ music in his particular creative periods revealed itself in various forms, expression and meanings. From this viewpoint his piece Planctus for chamber orchestra (1968) is his supreme composition. This work is a synthesis of various music influences (inspiration by Bartók’s expression and compositional method, sublimed elements of folk lament preserved in traditional Slovak ambience and anthropological constant of grief and tragedy), and extra-music impulses (the piece originated as a reflection of the historic event of the military occupation of Czechoslovakia). Thus it reflects a concept of national music, to which the author has arrived in his theoretical reflection (Etika a estetika slovenskej národnej hudby, Ethics and aesthetics of the Slovak national music, 1964).

Only a complex view on the personality could bring the idea of how the Slovak traditional music is present in Burlas’ musicological and compositional work and how forms of both his artistic and theoretical reflection continually changed, widened and cummulated. If at the beginning a phenomenon of folk music and music folklore appeared as a part of ethnic and national category, later it emerged as a certain social and cultural type bound to particular surroundings and society, and finally it is comprehended as a component of the music universe, helping to widen the view on musicality, on its forms and demonstrations. Ultimately it became the basis of their comprehension on the anthropological principle (Vplyv slovenskej ľudovej hudby na hudobnú reč Bélu Bartóka (Influence of the Slovak Folk Music on the Béla Bartók’s Music Lnguage), 1971, Slovenská hudobná moderna (Slovak Music Moderna), 1983, Ľudová hudba a skladateľ (Folk Music and a Composer), 1987, Štýlový vývin slovenskej hudby vo svetle hudobnovedného bádania (Stylistic Development of the Slovak Music as Viewed by Musicology), 1986, Teória hudobnej pedagogiky (Theory of Music Teaching), 1997, etc.).

Ivan Hrušovský (1927–2001) was one of remarkable Slovak composers and theoreticians of European significance. His capacities to analyze, reflect and synthesize current tendencies in the realm of composition and theory of music were reflected in his composition and music-theoretical work. Integral character of his personality was enhanced by his huge knowledge of art and musicology, philosophy, literature, fine art and film. In his first compositions (trilogy Against the Death) he consciously endeavoured to join traditional compositional elements (modality and widened tonality) with the means of music avant-garde of the 1950’s and 1960’s. This compositional device culminated in the piece Musica nocturna. In the 1970’s he turned to choral and vocal music and his works from this period (Way to Light, Madrigal Sonata, Dithyramb, Canti etc.) contributed to a qualitative shift of the Slovak choral creation. Polystylistics is typical for Hrušovský’s instrumental composition in this period (Sonata in modo classico per il clavicemballo, Three 3-part Canons for violin and harpsichord, Confrontations for large orchestra etc.). A more marked stylistic change in his compositional work is obvious in his String Quartet (1983), dedicated to the memory of his late son. This tragical event pushed Hrušovský to spiritual music, what is obvious in all pieces, originated following the event (oratory Canticum pro pace, Cantate Domino…), to his last opus Requiem at the End of the Millenium. Hrušovský’s music-theoretical publications reflect his compositional and teaching practice. The works from the most recent period are the most precious, among them an extended theoretical treatise Principles of Controlled Aleatory from the Point of Theory and Composition excells; only selected passages of the work have been published yet.

Idea of national music reveals itself as one of the most essential problems of the Polish music in the first half of the 20^th century. The importance of this problem should be related to breaking historic events for the Polish nation. The year 1918 is the most important, as after the World War I Poland has acquired state independency. The origin of the independent state was inevitably joined with a necessity to mark out the direction and character of Polish cultural development. In music it meant to deal with a character of Polish national music, namely in the context of music creation. In the Polish music ambience after the WWI the process of transformation of an idea of national music became a subject of various discussions and debates, in which not only music critics but also composers took part. These debates pointed to a wide spectrum of opinions, which could be separated in a) traditional and b) innovative (modernistic) ones. In the Polish music the formation of the national style is joined namely with work of Fryderyk Chopin. Exponents of conservative movement ranged Chopin’s music into the romantic convention and even in the 1920’s this movement was represented by a large group of composers, mostly of an older generation (Tadeusz Joteyko, Piotr Rytel, Witold Maliszewski, Feliks Nowowiejski, Ludomir Rózycki). However, in the same time a group of composers headed by Karol Szymanowski appeared publicly, who based their notion of “national style” in music on analyses of Fryderyk Chopin’s work from its national aspect. K. Szymanowski, who also considered Chopin as a creator of national music, pointed on three basic dimensions of a category of nationality in Chopin’s music, its creativity, universality and timelessness and racial character. Criteria of nationality as characterized by Szymanowski became the discerning features of a category of nationality in the 20^th century in Poland. The next emerging generation of Polish composers followed these criteria, too. For a solution of the question of the national music the freedom of an artist was a crucial point, creation unlimited by conventions of historical style and open to current artistic course. Folklore in their music ceased to be only an external sign and elaborated it formed the substance of the national character of music. Szymanowski’s mazurkas for piano may serve as the example of such attitude. In them the composer returned to sources of this form, but in their music material he joined a sound idiom of music folklore of Podhal with harmonic means of current acoustic language. Thus he has created a model which motivated many other young Polish composers to follow him.

In the contribution three opinions of three Polish composers born in the 20^th century are present: of Tadeusz Baird, Wojciech Kilar and Krzsystof Meyer. They are musicians representing distinct kinds of creative personalities and individual composers’ idioms. Traces of West-European music tradition and their creative relation to it are obvious in their work. This attitude has been formed by their teachers of composition, devotees of neo-classicism (Nadia Boulanger Boleslaw Woytowicz, Piotr Perkowski), as well as adherents of late Romantic aesthetics (Piotr Rytel) among them. In the work of Baird, Kilar and Meyer, too, we can discern creative periods in their attitude towards European music tradition. Despite the fact that all of them were the pioneers in infiltration of West-European music avant-garde elements to Poland in the 1950’s and 1960’s, their work is clearly joined with Polish music tradition and tradition of European music of older stylistic periods. For all three of them a creative confrontation with avant-garde is typical, in form, expression and content of the work. Classical-romantic tradition of the music artefact as highly individual and emotional expression is repeatedly present in self-reflection of all three composers and it is joined with their efforts to preserve their own unique idiom; a romantic as well as completely current necessity. Artistic attitudes of Baird, Kilar and Meyer share a common conviction, that current authentic music artefact uncovers its multilateral rooting in tradition even when the composer does not accentuate the intellectual dimension of the work demonstratively.

Theintroduction of the contribution presents some remarks on integral interaction of music, word and gesture based on a concept of corporeality of artistic expression, interpreting mutual relations of music and various art media from the position of their genuine syncretism,  developed by American composer and music-intermedia bricoleur Harry Partch.

Following the research of Jan Mukařovský’s, the study applies his model of sematic structure of utterance on other arts. Artistic media are defined by different kinds of temporal being, realization in time – temporaly performative textuality and fixed textuality (Aage Hansen-Löve), and since the beginning of the second half of 20^th century they are combined in unexpected, unconventional fusions. Therefore, the contribution is focused on the problem of specific character of their correla(c)tivity – mutual relationships of artistic media at present as well as on correla(c)tive relationship of actual forms of intermediality and changes of human consciousness in the process of its percepion.

An important institution Slovak Radio has been patricipating in gradual professionalization of the Slovak music culture in the 20^th century. Since its origin in 1926 by the way of broadcasting music programmes it spread knowledge of music, its exponents and works. The contribution concentrates on development of a share of contemporary Slovak artistic creation in the broadcasting of Bratislava Radio with the accent on a decade 1960–1970. In this time the preceding efforts of music editors and dramaturges in intermediation of values of domestic compositional creation to the audience culminated, being initiated already in the inter-war period, developed in the time of the World War II and during the 1950’s. Although according to the radio management artistic music, including contemporary Slovak creation, should have had important position in the broadcasting, the reality was often different. The demand of artistic level, inventiveness and innovativeness was not always supported, as quantitative indicators of the taste and demands of listeners were the most important. Last but not least the ideological character of the broadcast programmes was watched. The tension between innovativeness and pragmatism was typical for the observed period. In the 1960’s the music archive of the Bratislava Radio had a representative record library at its disposal, concentrating almost all works by living Slovak composers. The credit for it is claimed by the radio symphonic orchestra, founded in 1929 and led by the conductors possessing favourable attitude towards the 20^th century music (Kornel Schimpl, Ľudovít Rajter, Ladislav Slovák, Bystrík Režucha). Tabular summaries document the development of the radio attention towards the current Slovak composition. At the beginning of the 1960’s 154 pieces by 38 living composers were broadcast in the Bratislava radio, which were continuously joined by other, namely the memebers of the just emerging young generation. Majority of the works were broadcast in premiere in special programmes or live from the concerts.

[The contribution is available only in Slovak language in the printed version of the revue.]