EN
This article examines the contribution of the university professor Dr. Dobroslav Orel, working in the 1920s and ’30s in Bratislava, to the knowledge of musical romanticism in Slovakia. The focus is on Orel’s activity as a music historian, conductor, populariser of music, and organiser. The analysis is made of his three pivotal monographs: on J. L. Bella, Š. Fajnor, and F. Liszt and his relationship to Bratislava. In the forefront stands the figure of J. L. Bella. Orel regarded him as the foremost composer, with a moral charisma on which a tradition of Slovak art music might be built. With regard to J. L. Bella’s personality, Orel’s lectures for the public, his support for the performance of the composer’s works (especially choirs, the opera Wieland the Smith and the cantata Jánošík’s Wedding), publishing activities and a posthumous exhibition presenting valuable exhibits from Bella’s estate are further examined.