He sought to integrate high culture music techniques with traditional Croatian folk elements.

The year 1916 occupies a special place in Dobronić's biography for it was marked by three major cultural events.

On February 5 the First Symphony Concert of Young Croatian Composers was held; in addition to works by the composers Krešimir Baranović, Božidar Širola, Franjo Dugan, Svetislav Stančić and Dora Pejačević, Dobronić's symphonic portrait Carnevale had its first performance.

The concert also marked a turning point in his private life for that evening he made the acquaintance of Jerka Marković, a piano teacher, who a few years later was to become his wife.

Even after this colossal success in Zagreb, the young composer had to wait a few more years before making his much-desired move to the capital.

At that time his solo song cycles Girlish Dream Visions and Dilberke, the First String Quartet and his first opera Suton (Twilight).

The works for small ensembles gave him breathing space before going on with the big forms – the operas and the symphonies.

In his symphonic works he painted the national melodies he used with bold orchestration and for the names of the movements he often used non-musical terminology of a programmatic nature.

He wrote a large number of works for the choir, with particular attention being drawn by four collections containing more than 100 harmonised or arranged folk songs.