Origins

In the Calendar of the Goriška Mohorjeva Society for the year 1952, Zas, a member of the Slovenian Catholic Educational Society, gave a report on the educational work in the Goriška region. These are his thoughts: “The plough, which was set up in December 1949, left behind the first furrows. It is gratifying that the effort was not in vain, because the work that started back then is now being continued in a more planned way. During our educational evenings, a circle of people gathered to follow this work with joy and interest.” His statements regarding the prolific 1951 season are the following: “In our closing lecture on the 20^th of June, we discussed the political and cultural history of the Slovenes of Gorizia. We got acquainted with those individuals who offered invaluable help to start the development of our people. Mirko Filej’s choir performed for us for the first time, and this was the perfect end to the evening.” This date became known in the history of choral culture in the Goriška region as the birth date of the choir which was named after Lojze Bratuž only a few years later. The choir worked for many years as a member of the society until 1973, when it embarked on a more independent journey with its conductor who is also a member of the committee.

First steps

After the war, Slovenians of the Goriška region eagerly began to assemble fragments of their cultural wealth, which had been so violently and cruelly robbed and shattered throughout the fascism period. It is not surprising that the Slovenian songs (Lojze Bratuž was one of fascism’s first victims because of his passion for Slovenian songs) were the first to be sung as they were the most prosecuted alongside other written works in Slovenian. Enthusiastic singers, among them Polde Doljak, a big fan of musical muses, who was prematurely killed in a traffic accident near Chiavari, gathered into a sufficiently homogeneous group which, under the experienced guidance of Professor Mirko Filej, the founder and leader of the choir, quickly grew into an enviable music group. They had remarkable success everywhere. Shortly afterwards, they started performing more demanding compositions, including opera arias with solo inserts. Young pianists Lojzka Bratuž, Andrej Bratuž and Iva Hrovatin also undertook this endeavour, as they enriched their singing performances with their determined accompaniment.

In 1957, they also successfully performed Sattner’s cantata, The Oath of Jephthah. The charismatic musical spirit of prof. Mirko Filej and his extraordinary courtesy, liveliness, optimism, and simplicity impressed the audience to such an extent that similar remarks were heard: “The culmination occurred when a student from Dolina gave a bunch of flowers to Mr. conductor, which he accepted so kindly and warmly, that residents from Dolina and many other neighbours would never forget this gesture…” (KatG February 10, 1955). The choir performed several times in various ensembles (mixed, male, female and even as an octet), sometimes with the orchestra and with the soloists. Unfortunately, professor Filej passed away prematurely. His death left a void that was difficult to fill, as Filej was an excellent pedagogue (even today several conductors from his school still work in the Goriška region), organiser (he was the founder of the organ school in Piazzutta to educate organists for our churches) and an exceptional priest: he also managed the renovation and improvements of the Church of St. Giovanni, for which he nurtured great love from his arrival in Gorizia until his untimely death. A few months after his death at a memorial evening in the new hall of the Catholic Home, which was prof. Filej great desire, someone wrote: “When the curtain opened and a large choir of Lojze Bratuž stood on the stage in front of us, all hearts were constricted in pain. This was his choir, his true love for which he was sentenced to death. His wish was that all singers would perform on stage wearing uniforms. This was one of his last concerns before his death. He provided the singers with the uniforms, but when his idea came true that evening, he could not experience it.” (KatG October 4, 1962). After having led the choir for more than ten years, Mirko Filej re-established the meetings with fellow countrymen from Trieste. Furthermore, he created the first interactions with the Slovenians from Carinthia and, by doing so, he united those Slovenians who remained outside the motherland. According to the critics, the choir achieved an enviable artistic level and creative power in its first years. As early as 1951, at the memorial for the 20^thanniversary of the death of the archbishop F. B. Sedej, the choir sang, in addition to Gallus’ Ecce quomodo, the “psalm From the depths” too which was composed by the doyen of Slovenians of Friulian Slavia Ivan Trinko for the fifth death anniversary of the deceased archbishop. However, the song could not be performed back then since the Gorizia police headquarters at the time banned any external celebration in honour of the deceased archbishop. Therefore, this rather demanding composition by msgr. Trinko was premiered on Wednesday, November 28.” (KatG December 6, 1951). There were similar premieres since professor Filej, an excellent musician and composer, often rearranged or readapted his work for his choir. The first performances were unforgettable, e.g., a concert of songs by the composer Vinko Vodopivec from Primorska (1953) and two concerts in Trieste (1955). His heartfelt wish for the choir to have comfortable rooms for weekly rehearsals came true when the Catholic Home was extended. Unfortunately, professor Filej could not visit the Home as he died in the year of its inauguration. The beloved Mirko Filej was succeeded

by his student, professor Ivo Bolčina, who prepared the choir for the international singing competition C. A. Seghizzi on two occasions – in 1963 and 1964 (when Stanko Jericijo replaced Ivo Bolčina as the conductor due to Bolčina’s illness). At the request of the cathedral chapter, the choir participated in the archbishop’s masses in the Gorizia cathedral church throughout the 1964-1965 season. These performances had a substantial public response. However, they posed a great challenge to the choir regarding the study and interpretation of the songs. Two examples of such arduous endeavour are the choir’s performances at two masses, cf. at the mass of Gruber’s Erste Sonntag Messe and at the Messa a due voci pari of C. Dobicij. The period during which the choir was led by Ivo Bolčina is thus characterised mainly by church music, as singing in the Gorizia cathedral church required considerable preparation and a unique approach from the singers towards sacred music.

“The golden era”

In 1965 the position of conductor was taken over by prof. Stanko Jericijo, the chaplain for Slovenian worshippers in the church of St. Giovanni and an outstanding musician. He brought many novelties to the choir. He paid special attention to the singing technique and the interpretation. He wanted each singer to delve into the lyrics and message of the song, taste its beauty and then express these features vocally. Professor Jericijo’s selfless and tenacious work with the choir lasted more than thirty years. During this time, he created many compositions which were all premiered by the choir. This period was distinguished by polyphony, Slovene folk and adapted songs, as well as more daring compositions by contemporary Slovene authors. Although the tradition of polyphonic singing dates to the time of Professor M. Filej, professor Jericijo was the one to guarantee it a more permanent and regular role. In three long decades, the choir perfected countless compositions of Renaissance masters, particularly those of Jakob Petelin Gallus who occupies a place of honour. The choir’s repertoire expanded quickly, singers were very inclined towards polyphonic compositions which were extremely rare in the programs of Slovenian choirs in Italy, and most likely completely absent in the Goriška region. In accordance with the expansion of its program and with its more varied offer, the choir also aimed for a larger audience and for more places to carry out performances. It is probably the first Slovenian choir based in Italy to perform far abroad and unite Slovenian emigrants with a song. In 1977, the choir impressed the Slovenians of Paris, who were, to everyone’s delight, able to bring along many French to the concert. This performance is still memorable among fellow Slovenians of Paris. The choir managed to connect other Slovenians around the world with the presentation of its musical creativity by performing in Rome (for this occasion the recording took place in the great auditorium of Vatican for Slovenian broadcasts of Radio Vatican), by travelling twice across Switzerland and by having a concert among Slovenians in Milan. The choir gradually began to undertake the works of local contemporary composers, who repeatedly dedicated their compositions to the choir L. Bratuž. In addition to the conductor himself, it is opportune to mention mainly Andrej Bratuž, Ubald Vrabeca and Pavle Merkù. Thanks to them, many premiere performances were made available to the choir (e. g., Merkù’s Parcè a mi Signor in 1979 in Camino al Tagliamento; Vrabec’s Na goriškem Travniku in 1992). Around the eighties, the choir had some performances in the form of a women’s ensemble led by Franka Žgavec, and in 1980 it appeared in the magazine Primorska poje in Trieste.

Beside conducting the choir L. Bratuž, Prof. Jericijo was also the conductor of the parish choir Sant’Ignazio. For this reason, he wanted to establish closer ties between the two choirs in terms of singing cooperation. This ingenious idea paid dividends rather soon: in 1975 both singing groups performed in the church in Piazza Vittoria with various polyphonic compositions sung by both choirs. For Gorizia, this was a pleasant novelty and an immense musical experience. In the following years, performances at Italian music events in Gorizia became more frequent (e. g., concerts in the Church of St. Giovanni on the religious holiday of St. Cecilia, Christmas concerts in the Provincial Auditorium). The collaboration with the aforementioned Italian choir culminated with the presentation of the composition Missa Octo vocum by Francesco Bianciardi (1572-1607). The concert took place in Siena, the birthplace of Bianciardi, in Kranj, Venice and Millstatt in Austria. The vocal music is being joined by instrumental accompaniment in these last years. The choir has enriched its musical offer with vocal-instrumental compositions and has worked together with some neighbouring choirs. A stand-out performance worth mentioning is Jephthah’s oath, H. Sattner’s cantata for choir, soloists, and orchestra. The cantata, based on Gregorčič’s text, was sung by the choir with great success at Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana. In the beginning of the 1990s, the choir prepared some high-profile monographic concerts, often in relation with important anniversaries, such as a cycle of Gallus’ compositions to commemorate the composer’s 400^th death anniversary, and a concert of Vodopivec’s church works. It is worth mentioning the magnificent celebration held during the Pope’s visit to Gorizia in 1992. For that event, the L. Bratuž Choir as well as some Italian and Friulian choirs, accompanied by the orchestra and led by Stanko Jericijo, performed the mighty composition Tu es Petrus, composed by the conductor himself.