Franjo Ž. Kuhač: Stari Osijek i Zagreb

Antonija Kassowitz-Cvijić, a Zagreb writer, music pedagogue and cultural worker, published a work in 1924, printed on the occasion of the 90th anniversary of the birth of the great Croatian ethnomusicologist, folk song collector and music historian Franjo Ksaver Kuhač (1834–1911).

The book is not a classic scientific monograph, but a popular-biographical and memoir work. The author combines facts from Kuhač's life with personal memories, anecdotes and vivid descriptions of the cultural atmosphere of the 19th century. Two environments stand out in particular: his native old Osijek, where Kuhač grew up in a multicultural environment, and Zagreb, where he spent the most fruitful years of his work.

Kassowitz-Cvijić describes in detail Kuhač's passionate collecting activity, his pioneering study of South Slavic folk music, his polemics with European musicologists, and his role in the Croatian folk revival in the field of music. The book exudes a warm, nostalgic, and patriotic tone, typical of the biographical publications of the Matica Hrvatska of that time. It also contains Kuhač's portrait, which is already emphasized in the title.

The work is important as a testimony to one of the most significant Croatian cultural workers of the 19th century, but also as a picture of the musical and social life of Zagreb and Osijek of that time. Today, it represents a valuable source for the study of Croatian musical history and cultural heritage.

Overall, it is a warm, accessible, and emotionally colored monument to one of the founders of Croatian musicology.