Petar Konjović (Serbian Cyrillic: Петар Коњовић, pronounced [pɛ̂tar kɔ̂ːɲɔʋit͡ɕ]) (5 May 1883 – 1 October 1970) was a Serbian composer. He was born in Čurug (Bačka). While a pedagogy student in Sombor, Konjovic self-taught himself the art of compositure and conducting. He finished his education at the Prague Conservatorium in 1906. In 1907, he traveled to Belgrade, following an invitation from Stevan Mokranjac to teach composition at the Belgrade Music School. He was an active adherent of the idea of Yugoslavia. He was manager of numerous cultural institutions: head of the Serbian National Theater in Novi Sad, director of the Zagreb Opera, and head of the Croatian National Theater in Osijek.[1] He was also a Rector of the Music Academy in Belgrade, a Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU) member, and a founder of the SANU Musicology Institute. His contemporaries were Petar Krstić, Isidor Bajić, Miloje Milojević, Stevan Hristić, Stanislav Binički, Bozidar Joksimović, Kosta Manojlović, Vladimir Đorđević (brother of folklorist Tihomir Đorđević), and others.
Konjović is the most significant representative of the nationalism of the Serbian modernism in music. His most famous works are operas ‘Vilin veo’ (A Fairy’s Veil), ‘Knez od Zete’ (The Prince of Zeta), ‘Koštana', 'Seljaci' (Peasants), and 'Otadžbina' (Homeland).
The period between two world wars was defined by Konjović who introduced several genres into Serbian music. [2]
His Czech experience encouraged his natural inclination toward folk sources and he began developing melodies, like Janaček, out of the inflection of speech. Konjovic's mature style strives for direct communication with broad audience while incorporating a sophistical harmonic vocabulary. His work includes over one hundred folk songs arrangements and twenty original choral pieces. [3]