Stanko Premrl (28 September 1880 – 14 March 1965) was a Slovene

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

priest, composer, and music teacher. He is best known as the composer of the music for the Slovene national anthem, "

Zdravljica "Zdravljica" (; English: "A Toast") is a '' carmen figuratum'' poem by the 19th-century Romantic Slovene poet France Prešeren, inspired by the ideals of '' Liberté, égalité, fraternité''. It was written in 1844 and published with some chan ...

". Premrl was born in the village of Šent Vid (now

Podnanos Podnanos (; formerly ''Šent Vid'' or ''Šentvid'' (''nad Vipavo''), german: Sct. Veit, it, San Vito di Vipacco) is a village in the upper Vipava Valley in the Municipality of Vipava in the traditional Inner Carniola region of Slovenia. It is now ...

) in the upper

Vipava Valley The Vipava Valley (; sl, Vipavska dolina, german: Wippachtal, it, Valle del Vipacco) is a valley in the Slovenian Littoral, roughly between the village of Podnanos to the east and the border with Italy to the west. The main towns are Ajdovš ...

, in what was then the

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

Duchy of Carniola The Duchy of Carniola ( sl, Vojvodina Kranjska, german: Herzogtum Krain, hu, Krajna) was an imperial estate of the Holy Roman Empire, established under Habsburg rule on the territory of the former East Frankish March of Carniola in 1364. A h ...

(now in

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

). He graduated from the music conservatory in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. From 1909 to 1939, he served as music director at the

Ljubljana Cathedral Ljubljana Cathedral ( sl, ljubljanska stolnica), officially named Saint Nicholas's Church (, unofficially also ), also named Saint Nicholas's Cathedral ( sl, stolnica sv. Nikolaja), the Cathedral of Saint Nicholas, or simply the Cathedral (), is a ...

. Between 1908 and 1939, he was head of the organ school in

Ljubljana Ljubljana (also known by other historical names) is the capital and largest city of Slovenia. It is the country's cultural, educational, economic, political and administrative center. During antiquity, a Roman city called Emona stood in the a ...

. He was a significant influence on the development of Slovenian church music. He was one of the most prolific Slovenian composers of the 20th century, publishing over 2,000 songs. On 24 September 1905 he composed the music for

France Prešeren France Prešeren () (2 or 3 December 1800 – 8 February 1849) was a 19th-century Romantic Slovene poet whose poems have been translated into many languages.

's patriotic poem ''

''. Premrl's composition soon prevailed as the most popular music for the song; by the 1940s, it had become one of the most popular Slovene patriotic songs. In 1989, it was officially adopted as the regional anthem of the

Socialist Republic of Slovenia The Socialist Republic of Slovenia ( sl, Socialistična republika Slovenija, sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Socijalistička Republika Slovenija, Социјалистичка Република Словенија), commonly referred to as Sociali ...

, then a part of

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

. In 1991, it became the national anthem of independent Slovenia.National Anthems
/ref> Stanko Premrl was the uncle of the Slovenian

Partisan Partisan may refer to: Military * Partisan (weapon), a pole weapon * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line Films * ''Partisan'' (film), a 2015 Australian film * '' Hell River'', a 1974 Yugoslavian film also kno ...

resistance fighter Janko Premrl, a.k.a. Vojko.

References

1880 births 1965 deaths Slovenian composers Male composers Slovenian organists 20th-century Slovenian Roman Catholic priests National anthem writers People from the Municipality of Vipava 20th-century organists Male organists 20th-century male musicians Yugoslav Roman Catholic priests Slovenian male musicians {{Slovenia-composer-stub