Dora Pejačević (1885–1923)

Dora Pejačević was born in Budapest into a Croatian aristocratic family whose estate lay at Našice, in Slavonia. She received her first music lessons at home, then furthered her studies in Zagreb, Dresden and Munich, while remaining largely self-taught as a composer.

She composed from her teens: her first piano pieces, such as the Gondola Song Op. 4, date from that period. Her catalogue later grew to include chamber music, songs, the Piano Concerto in G minor Op. 33 and the Symphony in F-sharp minor Op. 41, regarded as the first modern symphony in Croatian music.

An independent, cultivated woman in touch with the artistic and literary circles of her time, she moved to Munich after her marriage. She died there in 1923, shortly after the birth of her son, aged thirty-seven.

Her style, nourished by Schumann, Brahms and Tchaikovsky, combines broad lyricism with fin-de-siècle harmonies. Her piano pieces, often short, are a fine way into the repertoire of women composers.