Dragomir Krančević

Dragomir Krančević (Serbian Cyrillic: Драгомир Кранчевић, ; 4 October 1847 – 19 May 1929) was a Serbian violinist in Austria-Hungary.

Early life and education Born in Pančevo, Banat Military Frontier, Austrian Empire, Krančević was the son of a wealthy and respected merchant's family from Pančevo . He attended the primary school and the gymnasium of his native place. The little boy received his first violin lessons during the school education. Karl Heisler, his private violin instructor of Danube Swabian origin, recommended further promotion of his musical talent in Vienna. At the age of ten, Krančević arrived in the capital city of the Austrian Empire and continued his education. In 1859, he completed the entrance examination at the Viennese Conservatory of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde. Joseph Hellmesberger Sr. immediately recognized his extraordinary talent and accepted him as a student. Due to the fact that his professor, with whose family he lived during his studies, was surrounded by numerous wellknown composers and musicians, Krančević was able to meet Anton Rubinstein, Johannes Brahms, Hans von Bülow, Clara Schumann, Joseph Joachim, and work with composers like Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, Gustav Mahler or Karl Goldmark.

Career In 1861, Krančević gave his first public performance in Pančevo, a charity concert for the benefit of the city hospital. In March 1862, he made his Viennese debut at the ballroom of the old Musikverein's building, a charity concert in favor of the Serbian Orthodox Church. Until the end of his studies in 1867, the young man gave several charity performances with the Hellmesberger Quartet in favor of the Concordia Association of Writers and other Viennese organizations at the , the Sofiensaal and the Redoutensäle of the Hofburg Palace.

At the beginning of his career, Krančević was given the position of concertmaster of the Vienna State Opera as the only member of the ensemble who comes from Southeast Europe. Although he had to leave the Opera due to numerous solo concerts, he often played with the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra as a guest performer. Especially at the time when the orchestra was conducted by Felix Otto Dessoff (1860-1875) and Hans Richter (1875-1898). Krančević died in Vienna, aged 81. One of the leading Austrian newspapers, Neues Wiener Journal, published his obituary mentioning his "brilliant musicality and virtuoso mastery” while describing him as "one of the most remarkable human beings who ever lived among us, an artist, a philosopher, a misannthrope at the same time, seemingly an unusual person, in reality wise and intelligent, a man who was hit hard by fate, but who never wanted to admit it".

The archive of the Institute of Musicology of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts preserves some personal materials of Krančević's legacy including some postcards and letters to the violinist, written by Johannes Brahms and a few other artists of that time.

His nephew Petar Krančević (1869-1919) was a composer and choirmaster of the Serbian Singing Society of Sremska Mitrovica.