Српске војне музике у земљама савезника током Великог рата (1916–1918)
Serbian Military Bands/Orchestras in Allied Countries during the Great War (1916–1918)

Summary/Abstract: This paper results from research of archival collections and periodicals on orchestras and prominent musicians of Serbian Army in the Great War. An author extensively considers organization, conception and achievements of the military division orchestras/bands of the Kingdom of Serbia in the Great War. Most prominent orchestra of Serbia Army, Music of the Royal Guard and their conductor, composer Stanislav Binički, successfully toured France in September 1916. Author also examines the dynamic concert activities of the Music of the Cavalry Division conducted by Dragutin F. Pokorni in North Africa. Aforementioned orchestra has established a network of fans from the Allied countries, mostly elite members of the French and British troops etc., and societies of Algeria and Tunisia. The paper also touches upon the work of the remaining seven military bands of the Serbian army and the prisoners’ orchestra called Slovene-Serbian Music settled in Corfu (Greece). An authors’ approach to Serbian military music in WWI was based on observation of three main functions of the military music in the context of the Great War: as a part of cultural diplomacy, promotion of national identity and construction of collective memory. An author raises the important hypothesis that rich activity of orchestras and bands of Serbian Army in WWI facilitate their professionalization in the encounter with other cultures and by performing in front of the different structure of audience and critic.

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