Dora Pejacevic

The first female composer in the country, Dora Pejacevic, was given a memorial room within the Native Museum in 1985. Dora was born in 1885 in Budapest. She spent her childhood at the family manor-house in Nasice. Her talent for music, as well as the first musical lessons, came from her mother Lilla, an excellent piano player, singer, and author of small musical pieces. Dora wrote her first piece when she was 12. Her subsequent musical education began in Zagreb, and then continued in Dresden and München. After her marriage in 1921, she was living in München, where she suddenly died in 1923. She led a lonely life, never quite fitting into her aristocratic environment and never really approving of it. In spite of her isolation, she was very well acquainted with contemporary art developments of her times. It is a known fact, for instance, that she was friends with Karl Kraus, the famous Austrian writer. She left behind a rich opus (58 pieces), many of which have never been published, but are kept as manuscripts. She was buried at the local cemetery in Nasice. The memorial room holds objects from Dora's personal life, pieces of furniture from her room, family photographs and documents, note records, concert documentation, and rare survivals from the Pejacevic family estate. Of particular value are the piano and a marble bust called "Sorrow" from 1906 which she used to keep in her room.