Page 13 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2021. Opereta med obema svetovnima vojnama ▪︎ Operetta between the Two World Wars. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 5
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foreword
man destiny and the world that are posed by operettas means that they are
anything but trivial.”3
Closely connected to Vienna as they were, Ljubljana, with its Estates
Theatre, and Maribor, with its permanent professional German city thea-
tre founded in 1852, had always paid close attention to current events in the
capital on the beautiful blue Danube. The operetta repertoire, which in the
early years accounted for almost all the activity of Maribor’s opera house,
was rich and diverse. New operettas arrived in Maribor relatively quick-
ly, particularly in comparison to new operas. The First World War and the
bloody revolutions that followed it thoroughly altered the geographical and
political map of Europe while at the same time bringing about a profound
cultural change. Despite the crisis that engulfed operetta performance af-
ter the end of the war, several composers established themselves in this pe-
riod with prominent operettas, as discussed in the papers that make up the
first thematic section of the present monograph (Modernization of the Op
eretta between the Two World Wars). New librettists came to the fore and
aspired to modernise operetta; younger practitioners began to forge a repu-
tation, despite frequently lacking the characteristics of their celebrated old-
er colleagues.
In the new cultural and political reality of the state of the Southern
Slavs that emerged after the First World War, the opportunity arose to es-
tablish a second Slovene professional theatre, in Maribor. The Slovene Na-
tional Theatre was founded in 1919 at the initiative of the city’s Dramatic So-
ciety, with the help of the actor and director Hinko Nučič, who became its
first manager. The following year, on 1 May 1920, the Opera of the Slovene
National Theatre made its debut with a performance of Hervé’s popular op-
eretta Mam’zelle Nitouche. This was followed in subsequent seasons by nu-
merous operettas by Franz von Suppé, Jacques Offenbach, Johann Strauss
II, Oscar Straus, Franz Lehár, Leo Fall, Robert Stolz, Emmerich Kálmán
and Ralph Benatzky, among others. Slovene composers also began to de-
vote themselves more intensively to operetta after the First World War. As
well as three operettas by Viktor Parma, the Maribor Opera performed op-
erettas by Josip Jiranek, Pavel Rasberger, Danilo Bučar, Marjan Kozina and
Radovan Gobec in the period Between the Two World Wars. Operetta pre-
dominated in Maribor right up until the start of the Second World War,
when the theatre was forced to close its doors. A review of the activity of the
Maribor Opera Between the Two World Wars, which is the subject of the
3 Moritz Csáky, Ideologie der Operette und Wiener Moderne. Ein kulturhistorischer Es
say zur österreichischen Identität (Wien: Böhlau, 1996).
11
man destiny and the world that are posed by operettas means that they are
anything but trivial.”3
Closely connected to Vienna as they were, Ljubljana, with its Estates
Theatre, and Maribor, with its permanent professional German city thea-
tre founded in 1852, had always paid close attention to current events in the
capital on the beautiful blue Danube. The operetta repertoire, which in the
early years accounted for almost all the activity of Maribor’s opera house,
was rich and diverse. New operettas arrived in Maribor relatively quick-
ly, particularly in comparison to new operas. The First World War and the
bloody revolutions that followed it thoroughly altered the geographical and
political map of Europe while at the same time bringing about a profound
cultural change. Despite the crisis that engulfed operetta performance af-
ter the end of the war, several composers established themselves in this pe-
riod with prominent operettas, as discussed in the papers that make up the
first thematic section of the present monograph (Modernization of the Op
eretta between the Two World Wars). New librettists came to the fore and
aspired to modernise operetta; younger practitioners began to forge a repu-
tation, despite frequently lacking the characteristics of their celebrated old-
er colleagues.
In the new cultural and political reality of the state of the Southern
Slavs that emerged after the First World War, the opportunity arose to es-
tablish a second Slovene professional theatre, in Maribor. The Slovene Na-
tional Theatre was founded in 1919 at the initiative of the city’s Dramatic So-
ciety, with the help of the actor and director Hinko Nučič, who became its
first manager. The following year, on 1 May 1920, the Opera of the Slovene
National Theatre made its debut with a performance of Hervé’s popular op-
eretta Mam’zelle Nitouche. This was followed in subsequent seasons by nu-
merous operettas by Franz von Suppé, Jacques Offenbach, Johann Strauss
II, Oscar Straus, Franz Lehár, Leo Fall, Robert Stolz, Emmerich Kálmán
and Ralph Benatzky, among others. Slovene composers also began to de-
vote themselves more intensively to operetta after the First World War. As
well as three operettas by Viktor Parma, the Maribor Opera performed op-
erettas by Josip Jiranek, Pavel Rasberger, Danilo Bučar, Marjan Kozina and
Radovan Gobec in the period Between the Two World Wars. Operetta pre-
dominated in Maribor right up until the start of the Second World War,
when the theatre was forced to close its doors. A review of the activity of the
Maribor Opera Between the Two World Wars, which is the subject of the
3 Moritz Csáky, Ideologie der Operette und Wiener Moderne. Ein kulturhistorischer Es
say zur österreichischen Identität (Wien: Böhlau, 1996).
11
