Page 168 - 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
P. 168
opereta med obema svetovnima vojnama
lieu de memoire. Considering the context of the operetta at the time of its
premiere as well as its entire history of effect, I focus on the elements of the-
atrical practice in order to transcend the historical analysis of memory pol-
itics, and attain the operetta genre’s own method of processing national
trauma after the First World War.
The world of the operetta is obscured in a curious mist of remem-
brance. Whoever steps into this mist is frozen in time, lost in space, with
all their explanatory context melting off them: this is the world of the
impossible. The hegemonic political memory did not adopt the operetta
into Hungarian cultural history, and this markedly banal medium is part
of a history lost to embarrassment. The operetta’s burlesque bumbling and
grandiose pronouncements, its silly, parodic aristocrats and dashing ideal-
ised nobility do not belong to the history of the nation. Nevertheless, com-
munal memory recalls the world of interwar musical theatre, a world re-
vealed through operetta, as its own past.
We know that Austro-Hungarian operetta habitually avoided the
events of historical reality, choosing instead, for example, to sing about the
wedding of a Romanian nightclub singer to a Hungarian duke in 1916 Vien-
na, in the middle of the First World War. While this particular example is
brilliant, the many imitations and copycats that were created offer few with
enough melody or merit to still be recalled by the theatrical memory-ma-
chine. However, a single song from a completely forgotten musical exposes
a pathway of remembrance, lifting this phenomenon from the discourse on
musical and theatre history, and shifting it towards the sociology of nation-
al identity and the process of its development.
What is this operetta?
The Hamburg Bride premiered in 1922, co-authored by Zsigmond Vincze,
the conductor of one of Budapest’s leading musical theatres (Király The
atre) and Ernő Kulinyi, theatre critic. The operetta builds on strong musi-
cal foundations, in the post-WW1 rejuvenation of the theatre scene where
dozens of entertainers promoted well-crafted if derivative imitations of
Kálmán and Lehár, with The Hamburg Bride being one of these.
The libretto follows well-known tropes from the silver age of Aus-
tro-Hungarian operetta: Count Bálint Choltay of Cholta, the Don Juan of
the Baden-Baden spa, having conquered all available women, decides to en-
snare a girl named Lotti Werner. Lotti is apparently a shopkeeper’s daugh-
ter, with especially lovely ankles, and the countesses on holiday also find
166
lieu de memoire. Considering the context of the operetta at the time of its
premiere as well as its entire history of effect, I focus on the elements of the-
atrical practice in order to transcend the historical analysis of memory pol-
itics, and attain the operetta genre’s own method of processing national
trauma after the First World War.
The world of the operetta is obscured in a curious mist of remem-
brance. Whoever steps into this mist is frozen in time, lost in space, with
all their explanatory context melting off them: this is the world of the
impossible. The hegemonic political memory did not adopt the operetta
into Hungarian cultural history, and this markedly banal medium is part
of a history lost to embarrassment. The operetta’s burlesque bumbling and
grandiose pronouncements, its silly, parodic aristocrats and dashing ideal-
ised nobility do not belong to the history of the nation. Nevertheless, com-
munal memory recalls the world of interwar musical theatre, a world re-
vealed through operetta, as its own past.
We know that Austro-Hungarian operetta habitually avoided the
events of historical reality, choosing instead, for example, to sing about the
wedding of a Romanian nightclub singer to a Hungarian duke in 1916 Vien-
na, in the middle of the First World War. While this particular example is
brilliant, the many imitations and copycats that were created offer few with
enough melody or merit to still be recalled by the theatrical memory-ma-
chine. However, a single song from a completely forgotten musical exposes
a pathway of remembrance, lifting this phenomenon from the discourse on
musical and theatre history, and shifting it towards the sociology of nation-
al identity and the process of its development.
What is this operetta?
The Hamburg Bride premiered in 1922, co-authored by Zsigmond Vincze,
the conductor of one of Budapest’s leading musical theatres (Király The
atre) and Ernő Kulinyi, theatre critic. The operetta builds on strong musi-
cal foundations, in the post-WW1 rejuvenation of the theatre scene where
dozens of entertainers promoted well-crafted if derivative imitations of
Kálmán and Lehár, with The Hamburg Bride being one of these.
The libretto follows well-known tropes from the silver age of Aus-
tro-Hungarian operetta: Count Bálint Choltay of Cholta, the Don Juan of
the Baden-Baden spa, having conquered all available women, decides to en-
snare a girl named Lotti Werner. Lotti is apparently a shopkeeper’s daugh-
ter, with especially lovely ankles, and the countesses on holiday also find
166
