Ferdo Livadić

At the peak of his youth Ferdinand Wiesner had to decide whether to continue his studies in Austria or return to Samobor to take over his estate in the town centre. In the end, he came to Samobor, allegedly due to a heart break, which proved to be an excellent choice both for Ferdo and for Samobor. Wiesner became one with the homeland, accepted patriotic ideas, changed his German surname into Livadić and started to work on the cultural elevation of the Samobor area.

Livadić welcomed distinguished representatives of the Illyrian movement in his manor; his regular guests were Ljudevit Gaj, Ljudevit Vukotinović, Dragutin Rakovac, Petar Preradović, Stanko Vraz, Vatroslav Lisinski and many others.

Although he managed the estate and was a town mayor in a few occasions, his first love was music. He was visited by many foreign artists, and one of his guests was the famous Franz Liszt during his visit to Zagreb in 1846, when he (allegedly) played on Livadić’s piano.

Ferdo Livadić wrote over 250 compositions, the most well-known being Nocturno in F-sharp minor in 1822 which is one of the earliest examples of a nocturno in piano literature and was dedicated to his muse, noble Marija Hotković. Nationally, Ferdo Livadić will be remembered as a co-author of the song Još Hrvatska nij' propala – Croatia has not yet fallen, and the people of Samobor are grateful that his home is now the home of the Samobor museum with his bust in front of it.