Dora Pejačević (September 10, 1885 – March 5, 1923) was a Croatian composer, a member of Pejačević noble family.
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Dora Pejačević (in old documents also Pejacsevich) was born in Budapest, a daughter of Croatian ban Teodor Pejačević and Hungarian Countess Lilla Vay de Vaya, herself a fine pianist. Her mother gave her first piano lessons. Paternally, she descended from the old Croatian noble Pejačević family, one of the most distinguished noble families in Slavonia, eastern region of Croatia.
Dora began to compose when she was 12. She studied music privately in Zagreb, Dresden and Munich and also received lessons in instrumentation (from Dragutin Kaiser and Walter Courvoisier), and composition (from Percy Sherwood). She was largely self-taught, however. She married Ottomar von Lumbe in 1921. Although Pejačević led a lonely life, she met many prominent musicians and writers, and befriended Austrian journalist and writer Karl Kraus and Czech aristocrat and patroness of arts Sidonie Nádherná. Dora died in Munich in 1923, a result of complications following a difficult childbirth (of her son Theo), and is buried at the cemetery in Našice, Croatia.
Dora Pejačević should be considered a major Croatian composer. She left behind a strong catalogue of 58 compositions, mostly in late-Romantic style, ranging from songs, piano works, chamber music, and several compositions for large orchestra, arguably her best. Her Symphony in F-sharp Minor is considered by scholars the first modern symphony in Croatian Music. Most of her music has yet to be published and released on compact disc, although concerted efforts have been made recently to rectify this situation. For example, the Croatian Music Information Centre has published some of her scores, including three of her orchestral works (Piano Concerto, Symphony, and Phantasie Concertante). In 2008, the Centre also published a bilingual monograph (in English and Croatian), written by the Pejačević scholar Koraljka Kos, accompanied by a first all-Pejačević CD of piano and chamber music.
Her life is a subject of a Croatian biographical film Countess Dora (1993), directed by Zvonimir Berković and starring Alma Prica and Rade Šerbedžija.[1]
Recordings: CPO CD#777-418-2 Symphony in F# minor op41, Phantasie Concertante op48 for Piano & Orchestra in D minor CPO CD# Chamber music ( to be released late 2011) Croatia Records CD #5783374 Piano Pieces: Flowers' Life op19,Intermezzo 1&2 op38,Six Fantasy Pieces op17,
" " " Piano Quintet in B minor op40. " " CD #5558910 String Quartet in C major op58 (1922)( plus String Sextet by Papandopulo) " " CD #5872221 Violin Sonata no1 in D major op26 (plus works by Kunc,Papandopulo & Slavenski)