Krsto Odak: Complete Organ Works

On the Organ Work of Krsto Odak

Marked as a composer of transition – in the gap between tradition and modernity – Krsto Odak (1888 – 1965) also achieved a personal transformation from a priest – a member of the Franciscan order – to a secular person with a distinguished compositional work of vocal, chamber, and orchestral music. His small organ opus also indicates a kind of transition, both in its purpose (which is no longer liturgical in nature) and in its compositional expression, which is based on more exuberant chromatics and stronger emotional gestures. It is worth noting that in the first half of the 20th century – when these works were created – composing for the organ in the Croatian environment was, on the one hand, still defined by the liturgical needs of church organists, while on the other hand, in terms of the artistic repertoire for the organ, a significant corpus of compositions by Franjo Dugan the Elder (1874 – 1948) had already been created, composed in the period from 1892 to 1906 and published in the collection Franjo Dugan: Kompozicije za orgulje, 1925, in Zagreb. It is therefore conceivable that Dugan’s compositions had a significant influence on Odak in terms of templates, and their friendship and joint work at the Academy of Music in Zagreb (where Odak worked from 1922 to 1961) certainly influenced Odak’s views on the treatment of organ sound. In addition to the works for solo organ, it is interesting to point out a dozen vocal-instrumental works on sacred themes in which Odak regularly entrusted the accompaniment to the organ (with the obligatory use of pedals), and in which the denser style, which was traditionally attributed to the organ at that time, is noticeable, as well as the frequent inclusion of the organ in his own symphonic works.

(Pavao Mašić, from the editorial)