Composer and ethnologist Marolt in focus of new exhibition

Marolt worked as choir director for several choirs and adapted folk songs for his choirs. He was highly respected, which is evident by his roles in many organisations and by his correspondence with important Slovenian and Yugoslav contemporaries, the museum says.

He collected resources on Slovenian folk songs, dances and traditions and opened the Folklore Institute in 1934, which went on to become the Institute of Ethnomusicology, the oldest research institute of the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.

In 1948 Marolt founded a folk dance group to be able to put on stage the materials he gathered in his fieldwork. The group started with only three dancing pairs but grew to become the largest such group in Slovenia today with some 80 members.

Marolt also took inspiration from his folk music and dance research in his work as composer. He worked as a lecturer at the Ljubljana Academy of Music and editor at the national radio and organised folk dance festivals.

The exhibition focuses on Marolt's key idea, the search for folklore material that he used to justify Slovenian national identity. It also shows documents portraying Marolt's enthusiasm for research, devotion to music and the search for ideals he wanted to reach through art.

The exhibition runs until 26 January.