Background
Merkù was born in Trieste on 12 July 1927.
composer ethnomusicologist musicologist
Merkù was born in Trieste on 12 July 1927.
He studied composition in Trieste.
He received a bachelor"s degree in Slavic studies at the University of Ljubljana in 1950, and he obtained his doctorate in Rome in 1960. As a composer, he primarily wrote chamber music and works for choral ensembles. He wrote the opera Kačji pastir (The Dragonfly).
His professional work involved both music and Slovene studies.
In the mid-1960s he started collecting folk songs among ethnic Slovenes living in Italy. This eventually grew into a collection of stories, customs, superstitions, and other folk material that he published in 1976 under the title Ljudsko izročilo Slovencev v Italiji (Slovene Folk Heritage in Italy).
In 2004 he published the book 1300 primorskih priimkov (1,300 Littoral Surnames), which complemented the etymological research of France Bezlaj. He died in Trieste at the age of 87.
Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts]
Merkù was a member of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts.