Vasilije Mokranjac - Personal Style

Personal Style

Vasilije Mokranjac's entire oeuvre is dedicated to instrumental music. His personal style can be positioned within the broadly defined neoclassicism and moderated modernism. Mokranjac's early output is mostly neo-romantic, but embroidered with elements of stylised folklore: such a stylistic orientation was forced upon young composers after the end of World War Two, when the ideology of Socialist Realism, “imported” from the USSR, was prescribed by the cultural officials. Furthermore, Mokranjac's composition teacher Stanojlo Rajičić was a conservative, who insisted that his students should express themselves in traditional forms of absolute music (such as sonata-form). On the other hand, Mokranjac's mature works exhibit a synthesis of neo-expressionist and neo-impressionistic elements.

Mokranjac's oeuvre can be divided in three stages, distinguishable by the visible changes in the composer's stylistic orientation, but also by the changing interest in certain genres and performing forces.