Prominent Personalities - Josip Ipavec

Prominent Personalities

Josip Ipavec

Josip Ipavec was a member of the famous family of composers and physicians from Šentjur, near Celje. Members of the family had practised medicine since the mid-18th century. Franc Ipavec was known far and wide for his successful cataract surgery. He was also a composer, like his sons Alojz, Benjamin and Gustav, whose music left a powerful mark on the Slovene national awakening.

Perhaps the most gifted of all the members of this talented family was Gustav’s son, Josip Ipavec. After studying medicine in Graz, he practised in Vienna and Zagreb before taking over his father’s medical practice in Šentjur. He began composing while still a student. His advanced musical language, refined compositional technique and particular affinity for vocal music raised him far above many of his contemporaries. Of particular note are his compositions for organ and his art songs or lieder, most of which are settings of German texts, since this enabled them to reach a wider audience.

Notable works in Slovene include the popular song for male choir Imel sem ljubi dve (Two loves had I). Josip Ipavec was also the composer of the first Slovene ballet, Možiček (The Manikin), which enjoyed several stagings. His most extensive work, the operetta Princeska vrtoglavka (The Dizzy Princess), was not a success, largely because of the poor quality of its German libretto, and was not performed in full until 1997, to a new libretto by Igor Grdina.

Matjaž Barbo

University of Ljubljana

Faculty of Arts