Page 244 - 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. 244
opereta med obema svetovnima vojnama
Novi Sad, a south Hungarian town with a Serbian majority (Serbian Na-
tional Theatre [Srpsko narodno pozorište]), 1868 in Belgrade (National The-
atre [Narodno pozorište]), among others. Although these theatres promoted
the Serbian culture and language, their strategies were not identical, which
is related to their attitudes to operetta, among other factors.
The most popular nineteenth-century stage music forms of spoken
theatre with musical numbers, performed prior to and parallel with opera,
were known under the various names, such as theatre play with music, op-
eretta, vaudeville, varieté, or singspiel. They contributed to the foundation
of a Serbian national (music) theatre repertoire through translations and
adaptations, that is, nationalisations (posrbe) of French, German, or Hun-
garian models (plays by Jean-François Marmontel, August von Kotzebue,
Eduard Ede Szigligeti), transferred from Vienna and Pest since the end of
the eighteenth century. The communicativeness of such works was provid-
ed by the vernacular language, topic, and folk(-like) or urban popular mu-
sic, as well as recognisable iconography (national costumes).
This tradition was enriched until the end of the long nineteenth centu-
ry, and was continued in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, i.e. the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia 1918–1941. In contrast not only to the Yugoslav re-
gions which were former Habsburg provinces (Slovenia, Croatia, Vojvodi-
na), but also to certain former provinces of the Ottoman Empire (Bulga
ria, Greece), where operettas were a regular part of performance practice,
they only entered the repertoire of the National Theatre in Belgrade in 1882,
when the first national operetta was staged – Davorin Jenko’s Baba Hrka or
Vračara (The Sorceress, based on a text by Moïse Millaud). It is noteworthy
that the first Serbian operetta in Vojvodina, Veseli mornari (Merry Sailors)
by the Czech composer Robert Tollinger was also performed in 1882 in Ve-
lika Kikinda (Hung. Nagykikinda, Germ. Großkikinda). This repertoire –
spoken theatre with musical numbers under different names – was popular
among Serbs divided between the Principality/later Kingdom of Serbia and
Vojvodina in Transleithania. It was performed in the theatre department of
one of the earliest national choral societies, the Serbian Church Choral So-
ciety in Pančevo (Pančevačko srpsko crkveno pevačko društvo), and also at
the Princely Serbian Theatre (Knjaževsko serbski teatar), where it was the
main part of the repertoire.2
2 Members of the theatre department in the framework of the Serbian Church Choral
Society in Pančevo even performed operas as spoken dialogues with arias due to the
lack of professional vocal ensemble in the period of Nikola Đurković (1812–1876).
242
Novi Sad, a south Hungarian town with a Serbian majority (Serbian Na-
tional Theatre [Srpsko narodno pozorište]), 1868 in Belgrade (National The-
atre [Narodno pozorište]), among others. Although these theatres promoted
the Serbian culture and language, their strategies were not identical, which
is related to their attitudes to operetta, among other factors.
The most popular nineteenth-century stage music forms of spoken
theatre with musical numbers, performed prior to and parallel with opera,
were known under the various names, such as theatre play with music, op-
eretta, vaudeville, varieté, or singspiel. They contributed to the foundation
of a Serbian national (music) theatre repertoire through translations and
adaptations, that is, nationalisations (posrbe) of French, German, or Hun-
garian models (plays by Jean-François Marmontel, August von Kotzebue,
Eduard Ede Szigligeti), transferred from Vienna and Pest since the end of
the eighteenth century. The communicativeness of such works was provid-
ed by the vernacular language, topic, and folk(-like) or urban popular mu-
sic, as well as recognisable iconography (national costumes).
This tradition was enriched until the end of the long nineteenth centu-
ry, and was continued in the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, i.e. the
Kingdom of Yugoslavia 1918–1941. In contrast not only to the Yugoslav re-
gions which were former Habsburg provinces (Slovenia, Croatia, Vojvodi-
na), but also to certain former provinces of the Ottoman Empire (Bulga
ria, Greece), where operettas were a regular part of performance practice,
they only entered the repertoire of the National Theatre in Belgrade in 1882,
when the first national operetta was staged – Davorin Jenko’s Baba Hrka or
Vračara (The Sorceress, based on a text by Moïse Millaud). It is noteworthy
that the first Serbian operetta in Vojvodina, Veseli mornari (Merry Sailors)
by the Czech composer Robert Tollinger was also performed in 1882 in Ve-
lika Kikinda (Hung. Nagykikinda, Germ. Großkikinda). This repertoire –
spoken theatre with musical numbers under different names – was popular
among Serbs divided between the Principality/later Kingdom of Serbia and
Vojvodina in Transleithania. It was performed in the theatre department of
one of the earliest national choral societies, the Serbian Church Choral So-
ciety in Pančevo (Pančevačko srpsko crkveno pevačko društvo), and also at
the Princely Serbian Theatre (Knjaževsko serbski teatar), where it was the
main part of the repertoire.2
2 Members of the theatre department in the framework of the Serbian Church Choral
Society in Pančevo even performed operas as spoken dialogues with arias due to the
lack of professional vocal ensemble in the period of Nikola Đurković (1812–1876).
242
