Before 1848 several male choirs had been established in the Slovenian lands on the German model: the Marburger Männergesangsverein in Maribor in 1846, the Liedertafel in Tržič in 1848 and the Cillier Männergesangsverein in Celje in 1847. These German choirs organized Sängerfeste in Tržic (1862) and Maribor (1868), the latter also attended by singers from Styria. Occasional recitals were also held by the male choir of the Ljubljana Philharmonische Gesellschaft.

Slovenian choral societies were established after 1848. Between 1848 and 1853, the Slovenian society in Ljubljana organized nationalist events; singing in Slovenian brought together nationally-minded Slovenians who demanded equality of the Slovenian language alongside the official German. Pan-Slavically inspired Slovenian students in Graz organized nationalist events in 1850 and 1852, where Slovenian, Polish, Czech and “Illyrian” (Croatian) songs were sung; in Vienna the Slovenian Choral Society (1859-62) was conducted by Davorin Jenko. In 1860, he wrote the music for Simon Jenko’s Pan-Slavic anthem, Naprej zastava Slave (“With Slava’s banners forwards”), which was adopted by the Slovenians as their own (unofficial) national anthem.

Once the Habsburg Monarchy tolerated national-cultural societies, reading rooms were established (initially in Ljubljana, Trieste and Maribor, 1861); male-choral singing formed part of their activities. Church choirs, too, were known to perform at certain nationalist events. Singing folk-inspired songs was not only made for national or Pan-Slavic consciousness-raising, but also served an educational purpose. The Ljubljana Reading Room Choir, modelled on the Czech Hlahol, was led as of 1867 by the Ljubljana-based Czech musician Anton Foerster. Besides a patriotic repertoire and songs in folk spirit, this choir also performed more ambitious works by Slovenian, Croatian, Serbian and Czech composers.

Choral societies with mixed choirs emerged with the Nightingale Choral Society (established in Gorizia, 1876), the Lyre Choir (Kamnik, 1882), the Dolenjska Choral Society (Novo Mesto, 1884) and the Celje Choral Society (1894). Slovenian choral festivals were held in Ptuj from 1884 onwards. The Association of Slovenian Choral Societies was established in 1903, which pursued, as its statutes stipulated, both an artistic and a nationalist aim. In the late 19th century, a new type of choral society developed, organized according to the social or political affiliation of its members, e.g. the Nightingale Workers’ Choral Society (Ljubljana, 1884).

A vitally important occurrence in Slovenian musical development was the establishment of the mixed choir of the Glasbena Matica in 1891. Its aims were artistic, but the performances of the 150-strong choir bolstered Slovenian self-confidence in both cultural and national terms, and stimulated Slovenian composers. The Glasbena Matica choir performed ambitious pieces – such as Dvořák’s Stabat mater (1893), Haydn’s Die Schöpfung (1894), Mozart’s Requiem (1897) and Bach’s Matthäuspassion (1898). In Vienna it premiered Dvořák’s cantata Svatebni košile (“The spectre’s bride”) in Slovenian with the Viennese opera orchestra, and conducted by the composer (1896).