Composer Fran Gerbič and Trnovo near Ilirska Bistrica

The Slovenian composer Fran Gerbič (1840–1917) served as a teacher in Trnovo near Ilirska Bistrica between 1857 and 1868, during which he also spent three years (1864–1867) on a sabbatical at the music conservatory in Prague. Gerbič’s years in Trnovo represent his formative period, during which he was aged between seventeen and twenty-eight years and he obtained most of his music education, first as an autodidact and then as a Prague student. Drawing on his autobiography, memoirs, and especially documents on the school and teachers kept by the Archiepiscopal Archives of Ljubljana, the article presents Gerbič’s life and work in Trnovo and among its inhabitants. During his studies in Prague, they supported him for three years with their own funds allocated to his teacher’s salary. A few months after returning to his homeland, Gerbič renounced his teacher position in Trnovo for reasons not entirely clear.