Page 325 - 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. 325
er etta between the two wor ld wars at the oper a of the national theatr e in mar ibor
his life, Parma was thus given the opportunity to conduct his own works
at the Maribor theatre. The next few years saw the successful performance
of all his operas and three of his operettas – Caričine amazonke, Nečak and
Venerin hram. It should be mentioned in passing that the composer was
compelled by the censors to amend the title of the last of these for its Mari
bor premiere on 20 November 1924, so Venerin hram [“The Temple of Ve-
nus”] became Apolonov hram [“The Temple of Apollo”]. In other words, all
of Parma’s operettas with the exception of Zaročenca v škripcih were per-
formed in Maribor.
The first on the programme, with its premiere on 30 November 1920,
was the operetta Caričine Amazonke, which enjoyed 12 repeat performances
in its first season. This operetta is, in fact, the most frequently performed
Slovene operetta both in Slovenia and abroad – with performances in Tri-
este, Prague, Zagreb, Osijek, Pilsen and Brno, among other cities. Review-
ing the operetta in the Marburger Zeitung, the critic Richard Sonnes wrote
that Parma “proved himself to be an excellent conductor, while the direction
and performers in the individual roles [were] also good.”4 Only the chorus
was below par, with entrances that in the critic’s opinion were “rarely on
time.”5 It should be mentioned that, faced with a shortage of high-quality
performers, both singers and instrumentalists, in the 1920/21 season, Nučič
managed to engage the conductor Max Schönherr the elder, the leader of
the Südbahn-Werkstättenkapelle (the band of the workers of the Southern
Railway) in the city’s Studenci district, which enabled him to strengthen
the ranks of the instrumentalists.
Generally speaking, professional performers were the biggest deficien-
cy of the Maribor theatre in the period between the wars (although their
number did include such notable performers as the tenor Belizar Sancin).
At the end of the 1920/21 season, the director and actor Valo Bratina took
over as manager of the National Theatre in Maribor, before being replaced
after just a few months by Radovan Brenčič, an astute impresario. The latter
then remained as manager right up until the start of the Second World War.
By balancing the dramatic and musical repertoire, he succeeded in attract-
ing an audience, while a prudent recruitment policy and a well thought out
system of remuneration enabled him to form a more or less permanent ar-
tistic collective.
4 Richard Sonnes, “Theater und Kunst,” Marburger Zeitung 62, no. 120 (27 May 1922):
3, http://www.dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:doc-4LTFFWHP.
5 Ibid.
323
his life, Parma was thus given the opportunity to conduct his own works
at the Maribor theatre. The next few years saw the successful performance
of all his operas and three of his operettas – Caričine amazonke, Nečak and
Venerin hram. It should be mentioned in passing that the composer was
compelled by the censors to amend the title of the last of these for its Mari
bor premiere on 20 November 1924, so Venerin hram [“The Temple of Ve-
nus”] became Apolonov hram [“The Temple of Apollo”]. In other words, all
of Parma’s operettas with the exception of Zaročenca v škripcih were per-
formed in Maribor.
The first on the programme, with its premiere on 30 November 1920,
was the operetta Caričine Amazonke, which enjoyed 12 repeat performances
in its first season. This operetta is, in fact, the most frequently performed
Slovene operetta both in Slovenia and abroad – with performances in Tri-
este, Prague, Zagreb, Osijek, Pilsen and Brno, among other cities. Review-
ing the operetta in the Marburger Zeitung, the critic Richard Sonnes wrote
that Parma “proved himself to be an excellent conductor, while the direction
and performers in the individual roles [were] also good.”4 Only the chorus
was below par, with entrances that in the critic’s opinion were “rarely on
time.”5 It should be mentioned that, faced with a shortage of high-quality
performers, both singers and instrumentalists, in the 1920/21 season, Nučič
managed to engage the conductor Max Schönherr the elder, the leader of
the Südbahn-Werkstättenkapelle (the band of the workers of the Southern
Railway) in the city’s Studenci district, which enabled him to strengthen
the ranks of the instrumentalists.
Generally speaking, professional performers were the biggest deficien-
cy of the Maribor theatre in the period between the wars (although their
number did include such notable performers as the tenor Belizar Sancin).
At the end of the 1920/21 season, the director and actor Valo Bratina took
over as manager of the National Theatre in Maribor, before being replaced
after just a few months by Radovan Brenčič, an astute impresario. The latter
then remained as manager right up until the start of the Second World War.
By balancing the dramatic and musical repertoire, he succeeded in attract-
ing an audience, while a prudent recruitment policy and a well thought out
system of remuneration enabled him to form a more or less permanent ar-
tistic collective.
4 Richard Sonnes, “Theater und Kunst,” Marburger Zeitung 62, no. 120 (27 May 1922):
3, http://www.dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:doc-4LTFFWHP.
5 Ibid.
323
