Life
Runjanin was born in December 1821 and baptized in the Orthodox shrine of the Descent of the Holy Ghost (Silaska Svetog Duha) in Vinkovci. He received his education in Vinkovci, and then Sremski Karlovci. He served in the Imperial Army as a cadet in the town of Glina along the Military Frontier. While serving in Glina, he attained the rank of Captain, and became proficient in playing the piano, being taught by the military kapelnik of Glina. There, he was introduced to the Illyrist circles, where he met noted poet Antun Mihanović. It is generally agreed that Runjanin, an amateur musician, composed the music for Mihanović's patriotic Croatian song Lijepa naša domovina in 1848 using inspiration from Gaetano Donizetti's opera Lucia di Lammermoor. However, this Croatian Anthem would be first played in the streets of Zagreb in 1891 during the Croatian-Slavonian exhibit, so both men only achieved postmortem fame. An obedient soldier, Josif later was later made colonel.
In 1864 at the age of 43, he married the daughter of the pensioned captain Toma Perković. As a representative of the First Banate regiment, he entered the Croatian Assembly in 1865.
After retirement, Josif moved to Novi Sad where he died at the age of 57 on 2 February 1878 and was buried at the Serbian Orthodox Ascension Cemetery (Uspensko groblje).
Read more about this topic: Josip Runjanin
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