Stanislav Binički

Stanislav Binički was a Serbian composer, conductor, and pedagogue. A student of German composer Josef Rheinberger, he became the first director of the Opera Sector of the National Theatre in Belgrade in 1889 and began working with the Belgrade Military Orchestra a decade later. He composed the first Serbian opera, At Dawn, in 1903. In 1911, Binički established the second Serbian Music School. He joined the Serbian Army following the outbreak of World War I and composed one of his most famous works, March on the Drina, following the Serbian victory at the Battle of Cer. He retired as head of the Opera Sector of the National Theatre in 1920 and died in Belgrade in 1942. He is considered one of the leading Serbian composers of the Generation of the 1870s.