The ideology of moderated modernism in Serbian music and musicology

Abstract

The term ′moderated modernism′ has been current for quite some time in Serbian music historiography, but there have been only a few attempts to define it. I shall try to define the term, introduce some of its key concepts and features and demonstrate its applicability. Although moderated modernism was an international phenomenon which had divergent manifestations in various periods before and after the Second World War throughout Europe, my aim is to focus on the period between the decline of Socialist Realism and the ascent of post-modernism (roughly 1950 to 1980) in socialist Serbia, and to discuss the discourses and ideologies surrounding moderated modernism then and there.

Keywords

• socialist realism
• moderated modernism
• avant-garde
• Theodor W. Adorno
• Serbian music
• Cold War
• music criticism