Kuhac, Franjo Žaver

(surname was Koch until 1871). Born Nov. 20, 1834, in Osijek; died June 18, 1911, in Zagreb. Croatian specialist in folklore, musicologist, and composer.

Kuhač was a pupil of F. Erkel (Budapest) and C. Czerny (Vienna). He moved to Zagreb in 1871. Kuhač laid the foundations of Croatian music scholarship, including ethnology, historiography, publicistic writing, and criticism. His chief work, the collection South Slav Folk Songs (issues 1–4, 1878–81; issue 5,1941), played an important role in the birth of a national trend in Croatian music after the period of Illyrianism. Among his other works are a monograph on V. Lisinskii and studies on the history of the music and musical instruments of the South Slavs.