Page 324 - 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. 324
opereta med obema svetovnima vojnama
two years after their premiere performances. The rapid arrival of operettas
was even more characteristic of the period following the turn of the cen-
tury, since impresarios, eager to make money quickly, in most cases pro-
grammed them within a few months or, at the most, a year and a half, of
their theatrical premiere.
Among the most popular operettas in Maribor before the start of the
First World War was Hervé’s Mam’zelle Nitouche, which first graced the
Maribor stage in 1908. Not only was this operetta well received by the Ger-
man-speaking bourgeoisie, but it also triumphed in Maribor again just a few
years later among Slovene operetta enthusiasts. In 1910 Mam’zelle Nitouche
was in fact staged with great success by the Dramatic Society, founded a
year earlier, which in addition to dramatic productions also staged theatri-
cal productions with music. Over the course of five seasons, the Dramatic
Society played an important role in the national and cultural consolidation
of Slovene consciousness in Maribor, and after the First World War evolved
into the country’s second Slovene national theatre: the National Theatre in
Maribor.
First years of the Opera of the National Theatre in Maribor:
a dearth of professional performers
It is thus no surprise that the theatre’s first manager, Hinko Nučič, included
Hervé’s popular operetta in the programme of the very first season (1919/20).
On 1 May 1920 it became the first musical-dramatic work to be performed
at the National Theatre. Nučič had, in fact, highlighted the regular perfor-
mance of musical-dramatic works as one of the institution’s principal goals
shortly after the theatre commenced activity on 27 September 1919. In this
regard, he succeeded in engaging not only professional singers and dramat-
ic actors working in Slovenia, but also the Drava Division Band, which for
the most part was made up of amateur musicians. As well as Hervé’s oper-
etta, which was received with enthusiasm and apparently “filled the thea
tre to the last corner”3, the first season included three concerts and a dance
evening. Thus the foundations were laid of a Slovene professional theatre in
the city on the Drava.
Nučič also invited the composer Viktor Parma to Maribor during the
theatre’s inaugural season and installed the grey-haired maestro as honor-
ary conductor of the National Theatre in Maribor. Now in the autumn of
3 Radivoj Rehar, “Kultura in umetnost,” Mariborski delavec 3, no. 97 (3 May 1920): 2,
http://www.dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:doc-M5AZLDRU.
322
two years after their premiere performances. The rapid arrival of operettas
was even more characteristic of the period following the turn of the cen-
tury, since impresarios, eager to make money quickly, in most cases pro-
grammed them within a few months or, at the most, a year and a half, of
their theatrical premiere.
Among the most popular operettas in Maribor before the start of the
First World War was Hervé’s Mam’zelle Nitouche, which first graced the
Maribor stage in 1908. Not only was this operetta well received by the Ger-
man-speaking bourgeoisie, but it also triumphed in Maribor again just a few
years later among Slovene operetta enthusiasts. In 1910 Mam’zelle Nitouche
was in fact staged with great success by the Dramatic Society, founded a
year earlier, which in addition to dramatic productions also staged theatri-
cal productions with music. Over the course of five seasons, the Dramatic
Society played an important role in the national and cultural consolidation
of Slovene consciousness in Maribor, and after the First World War evolved
into the country’s second Slovene national theatre: the National Theatre in
Maribor.
First years of the Opera of the National Theatre in Maribor:
a dearth of professional performers
It is thus no surprise that the theatre’s first manager, Hinko Nučič, included
Hervé’s popular operetta in the programme of the very first season (1919/20).
On 1 May 1920 it became the first musical-dramatic work to be performed
at the National Theatre. Nučič had, in fact, highlighted the regular perfor-
mance of musical-dramatic works as one of the institution’s principal goals
shortly after the theatre commenced activity on 27 September 1919. In this
regard, he succeeded in engaging not only professional singers and dramat-
ic actors working in Slovenia, but also the Drava Division Band, which for
the most part was made up of amateur musicians. As well as Hervé’s oper-
etta, which was received with enthusiasm and apparently “filled the thea
tre to the last corner”3, the first season included three concerts and a dance
evening. Thus the foundations were laid of a Slovene professional theatre in
the city on the Drava.
Nučič also invited the composer Viktor Parma to Maribor during the
theatre’s inaugural season and installed the grey-haired maestro as honor-
ary conductor of the National Theatre in Maribor. Now in the autumn of
3 Radivoj Rehar, “Kultura in umetnost,” Mariborski delavec 3, no. 97 (3 May 1920): 2,
http://www.dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:doc-M5AZLDRU.
322
