Page 223 - 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. 223
oper ettas staged by the slovak national theatr e dur ing the years 1920–1938
The Slovak press received Móry’s operetta very differently. The Slovák
daily criticised the operetta for its weak libretto with its non-dynamic and
boring plot, but appreciated the beautiful melodies and the rich instrumen-
tation of the music.21 The most critical review of the operetta was written
by Alexander Moyzes in the Národný denník daily under the title What
All Wants to Get Away With Under the Label of “Being Slovak”? At the very
beginning of the article the author criticises labelling the work as Slovak,
points out the translation of the libretto, and evaluates the operetta as a
very poor work on the whole. He asks:
How dare Slovak composers hide everything that is distasteful and
impotent under the pretext of being Slovak? And how did it make it
to the stage of the Slovak National Theatre?22
This example also reveals that the problem of the national character of
the artistic productions of the Slovak National Theatre did not get solved
in the 1930s, either. Another musical-dramatic work by Móry staged by the
Slovak National Theatre was his operetta La Valliére, setting again a Ger-
man libretto, this time by Günther Bibo, and having been premiered in
Berlin. In Bratislava, it was performed on 5 April 1935 in Slovak translation
and, paradoxically, it figured in Drašar’s application for subvention for the
following season as a work of the world repertoire.23 On the whole, Móry’s
operettas made use of every detail very sensitively to depict the charac-
ters and differentiate them with the music, but, at the same time, he did
not abandon the typological schemes of Viennese operetta. In his inventive
and rich melodies, he followed the contemporary orientation towards Eu-
ropean entertainment music (especially dance songs) and did not shy away
from modern harmonic structures, while placing emphasis on monumen-
tal instrumentation.24
Drašar’s era was also the time of the beginning of the career of the
most famous Slovak composer of operettas, Gejza Dusík. Already during
his studies at the grammar school, Dusík composed several popular dance
songs. After four semesters of studying medicine, he left the university and
decided to devote himself fully to music. He began studying composition at
of the 20th Century], in Vybrané štúdie k hudobným dejinám Bratislavy, ed. Jana
Lengová (Bratislava: Veda, 2006), 121.
21 Ibid., 121–2.
22 Ibid., 122.
23 Ibid., 125.
24 Ibid., 133–4.
221
The Slovak press received Móry’s operetta very differently. The Slovák
daily criticised the operetta for its weak libretto with its non-dynamic and
boring plot, but appreciated the beautiful melodies and the rich instrumen-
tation of the music.21 The most critical review of the operetta was written
by Alexander Moyzes in the Národný denník daily under the title What
All Wants to Get Away With Under the Label of “Being Slovak”? At the very
beginning of the article the author criticises labelling the work as Slovak,
points out the translation of the libretto, and evaluates the operetta as a
very poor work on the whole. He asks:
How dare Slovak composers hide everything that is distasteful and
impotent under the pretext of being Slovak? And how did it make it
to the stage of the Slovak National Theatre?22
This example also reveals that the problem of the national character of
the artistic productions of the Slovak National Theatre did not get solved
in the 1930s, either. Another musical-dramatic work by Móry staged by the
Slovak National Theatre was his operetta La Valliére, setting again a Ger-
man libretto, this time by Günther Bibo, and having been premiered in
Berlin. In Bratislava, it was performed on 5 April 1935 in Slovak translation
and, paradoxically, it figured in Drašar’s application for subvention for the
following season as a work of the world repertoire.23 On the whole, Móry’s
operettas made use of every detail very sensitively to depict the charac-
ters and differentiate them with the music, but, at the same time, he did
not abandon the typological schemes of Viennese operetta. In his inventive
and rich melodies, he followed the contemporary orientation towards Eu-
ropean entertainment music (especially dance songs) and did not shy away
from modern harmonic structures, while placing emphasis on monumen-
tal instrumentation.24
Drašar’s era was also the time of the beginning of the career of the
most famous Slovak composer of operettas, Gejza Dusík. Already during
his studies at the grammar school, Dusík composed several popular dance
songs. After four semesters of studying medicine, he left the university and
decided to devote himself fully to music. He began studying composition at
of the 20th Century], in Vybrané štúdie k hudobným dejinám Bratislavy, ed. Jana
Lengová (Bratislava: Veda, 2006), 121.
21 Ibid., 121–2.
22 Ibid., 122.
23 Ibid., 125.
24 Ibid., 133–4.
221
