Page 177 - 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. 177
ntity-machines: the nationalism of hungar ian oper etta between the two wor ld wars
ular work. In the late 1920s, we already see small signs in the press point-
ing to the reinterpretation of a single song in the operetta, the finale short-
ened as Lovely Hungary. It was sung in amateur choirs and at trade union
events,24 and quietly became a sorrowful dirge for the Trianon Treaty, a
proud anthem for the secret hope of border revision. As we have seen, the
song serves to mentally identify the landscape with the nation, and its
simple melody and straightforward meaning makes it easy to learn and
sing. At first the chorus of the song was censored by Romanian author-
ities in Transylvania (replacing Hungary with Wonderland or Fairyland,
substitutions which scan reasonably well).25 Then when the Second World
War border revisions returned Kolozsvár/Cluj Napoca to Hungarian rule,
the Hungarian State Opera House paid a visit there, (“the artists of the Bu-
dapest Opera House are preparing to leave for Kolozsvár with reverent an-
ticipation”)26 and they took Lovely Hungary with them as their standard.
The expected and much-discussed ban27 by Romania only succeeded in
lifting the song into the category of national symbols deserving of protec-
tion. As such one of the clear effects of Governor Miklós Horthy’s foreign
policy (that is, partial border revision) furthered the transformation of a
clichéd love song into an irredentist anthem, and the dual character of the
song’s history of effect is still recognisable.
After the Second World War, the peace treaties and the Soviet occupa-
tion-liberation irrevocably confirmed that Hungary was retreating behind
the borders set by the Trianon Treaty. The Hamburg Bride, the central mo-
tif of which was transformed into an anthem for border revision, was never
performed again. But the story of the song itself did not end there, because
it was not simply tied to irredentism, and became part of a Hungarian iden-
tity composed of complex remembrances. It suffered the fate of songs that
are only considered beautiful because of the nostalgia they evoke, and the
mode of their performance becomes a symbolic gesture that colours the po-
litical communication of the community.
24 Anon., “Budai Iparos- és Kereskedőifjak Városmajor utcai kultúraegyesülete,” Fővá-
rosi Hírlap 18, no. 44 (1929): 13.
25 József Kötő, “A színházi intézményrendszer Erdélyben a két világháború között,”
Korunk 13, no. 4 (2002): 55–64.
26 Ellenzék, 61, no. 253 (1940): 6.
27 Ellenzék, 61, no. 252 (1940): 6.
175
ular work. In the late 1920s, we already see small signs in the press point-
ing to the reinterpretation of a single song in the operetta, the finale short-
ened as Lovely Hungary. It was sung in amateur choirs and at trade union
events,24 and quietly became a sorrowful dirge for the Trianon Treaty, a
proud anthem for the secret hope of border revision. As we have seen, the
song serves to mentally identify the landscape with the nation, and its
simple melody and straightforward meaning makes it easy to learn and
sing. At first the chorus of the song was censored by Romanian author-
ities in Transylvania (replacing Hungary with Wonderland or Fairyland,
substitutions which scan reasonably well).25 Then when the Second World
War border revisions returned Kolozsvár/Cluj Napoca to Hungarian rule,
the Hungarian State Opera House paid a visit there, (“the artists of the Bu-
dapest Opera House are preparing to leave for Kolozsvár with reverent an-
ticipation”)26 and they took Lovely Hungary with them as their standard.
The expected and much-discussed ban27 by Romania only succeeded in
lifting the song into the category of national symbols deserving of protec-
tion. As such one of the clear effects of Governor Miklós Horthy’s foreign
policy (that is, partial border revision) furthered the transformation of a
clichéd love song into an irredentist anthem, and the dual character of the
song’s history of effect is still recognisable.
After the Second World War, the peace treaties and the Soviet occupa-
tion-liberation irrevocably confirmed that Hungary was retreating behind
the borders set by the Trianon Treaty. The Hamburg Bride, the central mo-
tif of which was transformed into an anthem for border revision, was never
performed again. But the story of the song itself did not end there, because
it was not simply tied to irredentism, and became part of a Hungarian iden-
tity composed of complex remembrances. It suffered the fate of songs that
are only considered beautiful because of the nostalgia they evoke, and the
mode of their performance becomes a symbolic gesture that colours the po-
litical communication of the community.
24 Anon., “Budai Iparos- és Kereskedőifjak Városmajor utcai kultúraegyesülete,” Fővá-
rosi Hírlap 18, no. 44 (1929): 13.
25 József Kötő, “A színházi intézményrendszer Erdélyben a két világháború között,”
Korunk 13, no. 4 (2002): 55–64.
26 Ellenzék, 61, no. 253 (1940): 6.
27 Ellenzék, 61, no. 252 (1940): 6.
175
