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45-559: The Prešeren Award was for the first time bestowed in 1947, on the basis of a decree from 1946. It was originally given on 8 February, Prešeren Day , the holiday commemorating the anniversary of the death of the Slovene national poet France Prešeren . In 1955, the first act on the Prešeren awards was passed. By it, the award gained its current name and the Prešeren Fund was established, which by

90-426: A law degree in 1828, he returned to Ljubljana, where he was employed as an assistant in the firm of the lawyer Leopold Baumgartner. He constantly strove to become an independent lawyer, filing as many as six applications, but he was not successful. In 1832, he briefly moved to Klagenfurt in the hope of furthering his career, but returned to Ljubljana after less than a year. In the spring of 1833, he met Julija Primic,

135-530: A lawyer in Kranj. According to some accounts, he was planning several literary projects, including a novel in the realistic style and an experimental play, but he was struck with liver disease caused by his excessive drinking in prior years. The revolution of 1848 left him rather indifferent, although it was carried out by the young generation who already saw him as an idol of democratic and national ideals. Before his death, he did however redact his Zdravljica , which

180-458: A master of the sonnet . His poems were noticed by the Czech scholar František Čelakovský , who published several highly positive critiques of it. Čelakovský's praise was extremely important for Prešeren's self-esteem and gave him the strength to continue in the path on which Čop had orientated him. Between 1830 and 1835, Prešeren composed his esthetically most accomplished poems, which were inspired by

225-508: A new daily journal in Slovene and invited Prešeren to participate in its cultural section. The two men came from rather different backgrounds: Bleiweis was a moderate conservative and staunch supporter of the ecclesiastical and imperial establishments and alien to the Romantic culture. He nevertheless established a fair relationship with the poet. Prešeren's participation in Bleiweis' editorial project

270-439: A touching, yet unexpectedly cheerful and vitalist poem to his late friend. After 1840, Prešeren was left without any interlocutor who could appreciate his works, but continued to write poetry, although much less than in the 1830s. He gradually departed from the typical romantic trend, adopting an increasingly diverse and innovative style. In 1843, an important breakthrough for Prešeren happened: Janez Bleiweis started publishing

315-494: A widespread popularity, but are still considered by scholars to be among Prešeren's most genuine and profound works. 1835 was Prešeren's annus horibilis . His closest friend Matija Čop drowned while swimming in the Sava River, Julija Primic married a wealthy merchant, and Prešeren became alienated from his friend and editor of the literary journal Krajnska čbelica , Miha Kastelic. Following his best friend's death, Prešeren wrote

360-500: Is celebrated not only in Slovenia, but also by Slovene communities all around the world. The anniversary of Prešeren's death first became a prominent date during World War II in 1941, when 7 February was celebrated as the day of all- Slavic unity. The proposal to celebrate 8 February as the Slovene cultural holiday was put forward in January 1945, during World War II , in Črnomelj by

405-774: The Prešeren Award Act ( Zakon o Prešernovi nagradi ) was passed, the Fund works under the auspice of the Slovenian administrative body in charge of culture. According to the act, at most two awards may be given. The Prešeren Award and the Prešeren Fund Award are bestowed by the Prešeren Fund Management Board ( Upravni odbor Prešernovega sklada ). Its 15 members are artists or other cultural workers, like critics, historians, and theoreticians. They are nominated by

450-726: The Slovene Liberation Front 's cultural worker Bogomil Gerlanc . It was officially proclaimed a cultural holiday with a decree passed by the Presidency of the Slovene National Liberation Council on 28 January 1945 and published in the newspaper Slovenski poročevalec on 1 February 1945. It remained a public holiday during the era of the Socialist Republic of Slovenia within the SFR Yugoslavia and

495-620: The Slovene nation , and declared a work-free day in 1991. On 7 February, the eve of the holiday, the Prešeren Awards and the Prešeren Fund Awards, the highest Slovenian recognitions for cultural achievements, are conferred. Prešeren Day continues to be one of the most widely celebrated Slovene holidays. During the holiday all state and municipal museums and galleries offer free entry, and various other cultural events are held. The holiday

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540-788: The Slovenian Government and elected for a four-year term by the National Assembly of Slovenia . The board, which was last elected in May 2008, elected Jaroslav Skrušny as its chair in July 2008. The Prešeren Fund now operates under the auspice of the Slovenian Ministry of Culture . In an interview in February 2012, Skrušny described the work by the Board as independent and denied any political pressure in

585-523: The State Gymnasium . He learned Latin, Ancient Greek , and German, which was then the language of education, administration, and high culture in most areas inhabited by Slovenes . In Ljubljana, Prešeren's the poet Valentin Vodnik encouraged him to develop his literary skills in Slovene. As a high school student, he became friends with the future philologist Matija Čop . In 1821, Prešeren enrolled at

630-519: The University of Vienna , where he studied law. In Vienna , he studied the western canon including Homer , Goethe , Dante , and the Italian trecentists , especially Petrarch and Boccaccio . He also read contemporary Romantic poets, and he was fired from a teaching post at Klinkowström 's Jesuit institute for having lent a booklet of banned poetry to his friend Anastasius Grün . After acquiring

675-403: The 4th volume of Krajnska čbelica only in July 1834, with some changes. They are the most pessimistic of Prešeren's works. This is a group of six (initially seven) sonnets expressing the poet's despair over life. In the first sonnet, titled " O Vrba ," Prešeren reflects on what his life could have been like, had he never left his home village. The other sonnets from the circle have not gained such

720-460: The Prešeren Fund Award, altogether eight for the great award and 24 for the little award. The board then makes the final selection with a secret vote in November after a long discussion and proclaims the awardees after they are elected by two thirds of members. If necessary, more voting rounds may take place. Although in the past, the names of the awardees were announced already on 3 December, the date of

765-573: The Slovene Cultural Holiday ( Slovene : Prešernov dan, slovenski kulturni praznik ), is a public holiday celebrated in Slovenia on 8 February. It is marking the anniversary of the death of the Slovene national poet France Prešeren on 8 February 1849 and is the celebration of the Slovenian culture . It was established in 1945 to raise the cultural consciousness and the self-confidence of

810-582: The Slovene Lands , one of Prešeren's motifs, the "hostile fortune", has been adopted by Slovenes as a national myth, and Prešeren has been described being as ubiquitous as the air in Slovene culture. Prešeren lived in conflict with both the civil and religious establishment, as well as with the provincial bourgeoisie of Ljubljana. He developed severe alcoholism and tried to kill himself on at least two occasions, facing rejections and seeing most of his closest friends die tragically. His lyric poetry dealt with

855-525: The amendments of the act in 1956 became a legal personality. Since 1961, the awards were conferred also for the lifetime work. In addition, the Prešeren Fund Award was introduced. Since that year, these awards have been conferred only for exceptional achievements in the field of arts. In 1982, the Prešeren Fund came under the auspice of the Cultural Community of Slovenia . At most three Prešeren Awards and ten Prešeren Fund Awards were given. Since 1991, when

900-460: The anniversary of Prešeren's births, in the last years they have remained secret until the award ceremony. Since Slovenian declaration of independence in 1991, the majority of the Prešeren Award winners have been literary artists, among them the only woman being Makarovič, who declined the award in 2000 but accepted the money. From the field of performing arts, only two artists won the award. From

945-493: The anniversary of the poet's birth, has also become widely celebrated as an alternative holiday. Today both days are almost equally celebrated, with no antagonism between the two, although only Prešeren Day in February is officially recognised as a national holiday. Since it became a work-free day, it has become even more highly valued. France Pre%C5%A1eren France Prešeren ( pronounced [fɾanˈtsɛ pɾɛˈʃeːɾn] ) (2 or 3 December 1800 – 8 February 1849)

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990-496: The autumn of the same year, Andrej Smole, one of Prešeren's friends from his youth, returned home after many years of living and travelling abroad. Smole was a relatively rich young intellectual from a well-established merchant family, who supported the development of Slovene culture. The two spent much of the winter of 1839–1840 on Smole's estate in Lower Carniola , where they planned several cultural and literary projects, including

1035-461: The chief representative of the Romantic school in Slovenia. Nevertheless, recognition came slowly after his death. It was not before 1866 that a real breakthrough in the reception of his role in Slovene culture took place. In that year, Josip Jurčič and Josip Stritar published a new edition of Prešeren's collection of poems. In the preface, Stritar published an essay which is still considered one of

1080-737: The daughter of a rich merchant, who would become the unfulfilled love of his life. In 1833, he became a member of the Ljubljana high society's social club , called the Casino Society ( Slovene : Kazinsko društvo , German: Casino-Gesellschaft ), and met Julija in 1834 and 1835 at the theatre and at the dances at the Casino Building , but did not have the courage to directly show her his feelings towards her. In 1834, he began working as an assistant to his friend Blaž Crobath, who gave Prešeren enough free time to engage in his literary activities. In

1125-435: The early 1920s, all his surviving work had been catalogued and numerous critical editions of his works had been published. Several scholars were already dealing exclusively with the analysis of his work and little was left unknown about his life. Slovene composer Breda Šček set his works to music. In 1945, the anniversary of his death, called Prešeren Day , was declared as the Slovene cultural holiday. In 1989, his Zdravljica

1170-519: The epic-lyric poem The Baptism on the Savica ( Krst pri Savici ), dedicating it to Čop. Set during the forced Christianisation of the predecessors of Slovenes, the Carantanians , in the late 8th century, the poem addresses the issues of collective identity and faithfulness to the ancestors' ways, as well as the issue of individual and his hope and resignation. The philosopher Slavoj Žižek interpreted

1215-417: The equal representation of gender, regions, generations, and world views, trying to achieve a balanced and plural choice. Both the established artists and debitants have won the award. The nominees are then selected by the four field committees of the Prešeren Fund, each comprising seven members named by the Prešeren Fund Management Board. Each committee proposes two names for the Prešeren Award and six names for

1260-640: The establishment of a daily newspaper in Slovene and the publishing of Anton Tomaž Linhart 's comedy Matiček's Wedding which had been prohibited as "politically inappropriate" in 1790, due to the outbreak of the French Revolution . Both projects failed: the planned journal Ilirske novice was blocked by the Viennese censorship, and Linhart's play would be staged only in 1848, without Prešeren's assistance. Smole died suddenly in 1840, literally in Prešeren's arms, while celebrating his 40th birthday. Prešeren dedicated

1305-408: The field of music, the awardees have been mainly composers and conductors, with the only instrumentalist being the flautist Irena Grafenauer . A general trend of older men active in institutionalised arts is recognisable among the awardees. The group of the Prešeren Fund Award winners is more diverse. Pre%C5%A1eren Day Prešeren Day ( Slovene : Prešernov dan ), full name Prešeren Day,

1350-476: The first Slovene ballad . It was titled " The Water Man " ( Povodni mož ) and was a narration about Urška, a flirt from Ljubljana that ended in the hands of a handsome man who happened to be a water man . In 1830, his friend from high school, Matija Čop, returned to Ljubljana and re-established contacts with Prešeren. Čop soon recognized his friend's poetic talent and persuaded him to adopt Romanic poetic forms. Following Čop's advice, Prešeren would soon become

1395-470: The influence of Valentin Vodnik and the rich tradition of Slovene folk poetry. In 1825, he completed a collection of "Carniolan poems," which he showed to the philologist Jernej Kopitar . Kopitar was very critical of the young man's literary attempts, and so Prešeren destroyed the entire collection. Kopitar's rejection hindered the development of Prešeren's creativity; he did not publish anything more until 1827, when his satirical poem "To Maidens" ( Dekletom )

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1440-642: The love towards his homeland, the suffering humanity, as well as his unfulfilled love towards his muse , Julija Primic. He wrote poetry primarily in Slovene , but also in German. He lived in Carniola and at first regarded himself a Carniolan, but gradually adopted a broader Slovene identity. France Prešeren was born in the Upper Carniolan village of Vrba , then part of the Habsburg monarchy (today in Slovenia ), as

1485-437: The most influential essays in Slovene history. In it, he showed the aesthetic value of Prešeren's work by placing him in the wider European context. From then on, his reputation as the greatest poet in Slovene was never endangered. Prešeren's legacy in Slovene culture is enormous. He is generally regarded as the national poet . In 1905, his monument was placed at the central square in Ljubljana, now called Prešeren Square . By

1530-485: The motifs of his own unhappy love with that of an unhappy, subjugated homeland. The poem was recognized as a masterpiece by Matija Čop, but it did not gain much recognition beyond the small circle around the journal Krajnska čbelica . Moreover, Julija was unimpressed. Understandably, Prešeren moved to more bitter verses. Another important work from this period are the " Sonnets of Misfortune " ( Sonetje nesreče ), which were first drafted already in 1832, but were published in

1575-452: The past few years. On 10 February, the Prešeren Fund announces a public tender, which lasts until 15 September. Any physical or legal person may nominate authors for the award, but have to provide appropriate rationale and references. About 100 proposals are put forward each year, the majority of proposals from the performing arts . The selection is based on artistic value of the works by the proposed artists as well as other criteria, such as

1620-688: The poem as an example of the emergence of modern subjectivity . In 1837, Prešeren met Emil Korytko , a Polish political activist from Galicia , confined by the Austrian authorities to Ljubljana. Korytko introduced to Prešeren the work of Adam Mickiewicz , which had an important influence on his later works. The two even jointly translated one of Mickiewicz's poems ("Resygnacja") from Polish to Slovene and started collecting Slovene folk songs in Carniola and Lower Styria . In 1839, Korytko died, leaving Prešeren without an important interlocutor after Čop's death. In

1665-557: The same time. He also spent a lot of time travelling throughout Carniola, especially to Lake Bled , from the scenery of which he drew inspiration for his poems. In 1846, Prešeren was finally allowed to open his own law firm and moved to Kranj with his family. He died there on 8 February 1849. Upon his deathbed he confessed that he had never forgotten Julija. Prešeren's first serious poetic attempts date from his student years in Vienna. In 1824, he wrote some of his most popular poems, still under

1710-629: The same year, he met the Czech romantic poet Karel Hynek Mácha and the Slovene-born Croatian poet Stanko Vraz and had long and fruitful discussions on poetry with them. Around 1836, Prešeren finally realized that his love for Julija would never become mutual (she had married another man the previous year). The same year, he met Ana Jelovšek, with whom he entered into a permanent relationship. They had three children, but never married. Prešeren supported Ana financially and treated her as his rightful mate, but engaged in several other love affairs at

1755-502: The setbacks in his personal life, especially by his unrequited love for Julija Primic. Prešeren followed Čop's advice and transformed Julija into a poetic figure, reminiscent of Dante's Beatrice and Petrarch's Laura . A Wreath of Sonnets ( Sonetni venec ) is Prešeren's most important poem from his early period. It is a crown of 15 sonnets. It was published on 22 February 1834 in the Illyrian Paper . In it, Prešeren tied together

1800-554: The third of eight children and the first son in the family of a well-off farmer and an ambitious and better educated mother who taught her children to write and read and soon sent them to their uncles who were Roman Catholic priests. At the age of eight, he was sent to elementary schools in Grosuplje and Ribnica , run by the local Roman Catholic clergy. In 1812, he moved to the Carniolan provincial capital of Ljubljana , where he attended

1845-488: Was a 19th-century Romantic Slovene poet whose poems have been translated into many languages. He has been considered the greatest Slovene classical poet and has inspired later Slovene literature . He wrote the first Slovene ballad and the first Slovene epic . After his death, he became the leading name of the Slovene literary canon . He tied together the motifs of his own unhappy love with that of an unhappy, subjugated homeland. Especially after World War II in

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1890-572: Was celebrated also by the Carinthian Slovenes and the Slovenes in Italy . It was marked with many cultural festivals and remembrances and with school excursions to culturally significant institutions. The declaration of Prešeren Day as a work-free day in 1991 was opposed by many, claiming it would bring the banalisation of a holiday designed to be dedicated to cultural events. As a result, 3 December,

1935-469: Was left out from the 1847 volume of poems, and made some minor adjustments for a new edition of his collected poems. Today, Prešeren is still considered one of the leading poets of Slovene literature, acclaimed not only nationally or regionally, but also according to the standards of developed European literature. Prešeren was one of the greatest European Romanticists. His fervent, heartfelt lyrics, intensely emotional but never merely sentimental, have made him

1980-491: Was published by the German-language newspaper Illyrisches Blatt    [ sl ] (Illyrian News). In 1828, Prešeren wrote his first important poem, "A Farewell to Youth." However, it was published only in 1830, in the literary almanac Krajnska čbelica (The Carniolan Bee), established the same year by the librarian Miha Kastelic in Ljubljana. The journal published another well-known poem by Prešeren that year,

2025-424: Was the closest he would come to public recognition during his lifetime. In 1844, he wrote the patriotic poem " Zdravljica " (A Toast), the most important achievement of his late period. In 1847, a volume of his collected poems was published under the simple title Poezije dr. Franceta Prešerna (Poems of Dr. France Prešeren). Prešeren spent the last two years of his life occupied with private life and his new job as

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