Page 248 - 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. 248
opereta med obema svetovnima vojnama
Petar Konjović expressed his attitude towards operetta on the basis
of his experience as a composer (at the centre of his creative work are six
operas), music pedagogue (as a music teacher in Zemun in Belgrade before
World War I, and later professor of composition and rector of the Music
Academy in Belgrade), theatre director (Serbian National Theatre in Novi
Sad, 1921; the Opera of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, 1921–1926,
and drama director of the theatre, 1933–1935; the Croatian National Theatre
in Osijek and the Osijek-Novi Sad Theatre, 1927–1933), organiser, adminis-
trator (inspector of the Ministry of Education in Belgrade, 1919; founder of
the Musicological Institute at the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in
Belgrade), and music writer (as the author of books of essays, music critic in
numerous Serbian, Croatian, and a few Slovenian periodicals). Moreover,
he was one of the music writers who established a paradigm of discourse
on operetta, as explicated in his critical view of the repertoire of the Serbi-
an National Theatre in Novi Sad. In accordance with the task of developing
a national (music) theatre, Konjović criticised the presence of stage works
which he claimed had neither educational nor artistic quality – Viennese
and Paris operettas. The national theatre must not be at the level of “tavern
orchestras” (kafanski orkestri), as he concluded.12
With awareness that the low professional level of the theatre ensemble
would be an obstacle for a repertoire at a “European level”, Konjović recom-
mended avoiding too demanding stage works and a focus on those which
would be accessible to the theatre’s players. These komadi s pevanjem (the-
atre play with music numbers) and operas should have replaced the pop-
ular operettas, such as Walzertraum by Oscar Strauss (translated as Čar
valcera, 1907), Dollarprinzessin by Leopold Fall (Dolarska princeza, 1907),
Mam’zelle Nitousche by Louis Ronger (Mamzel Nituš, 1883). It was a usual
practice that actresses and actors without music education performed the
roles in operettas and even operas. Additionally, the theatre’s incomplete
orchestra was not suitable for opera performances, such as staging Wag-
ner, among others. For that reason, Konjović suggested komad s pevanjem
– arranged and nationalised French, German or Hungarian theatre plays,
as well as national theatre plays with topics related to history or contempo-
rary village life, often with folk melodies. These stage works should be then
followed by operas, first of all by Slavic and national composers. As a matter
of fact, Konjović’s credo of so-called music realism had an impact on this
12 Petar Konjović, “Zašto je potrebno povesti reč o našem Narodnom pozorištu?”
Pokret 5 (1910): 8.
246
Petar Konjović expressed his attitude towards operetta on the basis
of his experience as a composer (at the centre of his creative work are six
operas), music pedagogue (as a music teacher in Zemun in Belgrade before
World War I, and later professor of composition and rector of the Music
Academy in Belgrade), theatre director (Serbian National Theatre in Novi
Sad, 1921; the Opera of the Croatian National Theatre in Zagreb, 1921–1926,
and drama director of the theatre, 1933–1935; the Croatian National Theatre
in Osijek and the Osijek-Novi Sad Theatre, 1927–1933), organiser, adminis-
trator (inspector of the Ministry of Education in Belgrade, 1919; founder of
the Musicological Institute at the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts in
Belgrade), and music writer (as the author of books of essays, music critic in
numerous Serbian, Croatian, and a few Slovenian periodicals). Moreover,
he was one of the music writers who established a paradigm of discourse
on operetta, as explicated in his critical view of the repertoire of the Serbi-
an National Theatre in Novi Sad. In accordance with the task of developing
a national (music) theatre, Konjović criticised the presence of stage works
which he claimed had neither educational nor artistic quality – Viennese
and Paris operettas. The national theatre must not be at the level of “tavern
orchestras” (kafanski orkestri), as he concluded.12
With awareness that the low professional level of the theatre ensemble
would be an obstacle for a repertoire at a “European level”, Konjović recom-
mended avoiding too demanding stage works and a focus on those which
would be accessible to the theatre’s players. These komadi s pevanjem (the-
atre play with music numbers) and operas should have replaced the pop-
ular operettas, such as Walzertraum by Oscar Strauss (translated as Čar
valcera, 1907), Dollarprinzessin by Leopold Fall (Dolarska princeza, 1907),
Mam’zelle Nitousche by Louis Ronger (Mamzel Nituš, 1883). It was a usual
practice that actresses and actors without music education performed the
roles in operettas and even operas. Additionally, the theatre’s incomplete
orchestra was not suitable for opera performances, such as staging Wag-
ner, among others. For that reason, Konjović suggested komad s pevanjem
– arranged and nationalised French, German or Hungarian theatre plays,
as well as national theatre plays with topics related to history or contempo-
rary village life, often with folk melodies. These stage works should be then
followed by operas, first of all by Slavic and national composers. As a matter
of fact, Konjović’s credo of so-called music realism had an impact on this
12 Petar Konjović, “Zašto je potrebno povesti reč o našem Narodnom pozorištu?”
Pokret 5 (1910): 8.
246
