Harmonic Chanting between theory and practice: The pedagogical model of Dragutin Blažek

The Teacher Training School in Sombor was one of the most prominent educational and cultural centres in the second half of the 19th century. As a stronghold of Enlightenment thought, it played a vital role in establishing the foundations of quality music education and contributed significantly to the city's cultural, artistic, and musical traditions. Following the fall of absolutism, new socio-political conditions emerged, reflecting an ideological orientation toward civic liberalism. Amid widespread reforms to the school system, the subject Harmonic Chanting was introduced into the curriculum to foster students' aesthetic education. Dragutin Blažek, originally from the Czech lands, became the first formally trained musician in the history of the Sombor Teacher Training School when he was appointed in 1870 as the instructor of Harmonic Chanting. Alongside his work as a composer, conductor, music essayist, and publicist, he also distinguished himself as a music pedagogue. This paper poses two main research questions in an effort to reconstruct the methodological framework of the Harmonic Chanting course: What was Dragutin Blažek's pedagogical approach to music literacy, and how does it compare to contemporary methods? The analysis shows that instruction was primarily oriented from theory toward sound in the domains of melody and rhythm. Musical phenomena were not taught through auditory perception, identification, and internalization by students. Due to the lack of auditory experience and a predominantly deductive approach, the development of functional knowledge in the area of music literacy was significantly limited.