Page 327 - 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. 327
er etta between the two wor ld wars at the oper a of the national theatr e in mar ibor
since the latter still does not have a fixed and permanent audience,
but has significantly deepened the importance of this sole nation
al cultural institution vis-à-vis a new German cultural influence.
For if these German talking pictures may anywhere be said to rep
resent a national peril, that place is undoubtedly Maribor, which
is already acutely aware of the proximity of burgeoning German
culture. [...] Operetta and light comedy are therefore here to fill the
theatre’s empty coffers and thus have in Maribor every right to ex
ist, although we must be careful that the weed does not outgrow the
crop.8
Andro Mitrović was of a similar opinion, writing in the newspaper
Slovenec:
Today’s operetta is degenerate, a necessary evil – its fist falls heavily
on a pile of notes. The theatre is a temple of art, a place whose mis
sion is to educate, not to entertain. Modern operetta is largely to
blame for the fact that people no longer have a feeling for true art,
that they do not come to see serious productions. Operetta inflames
people’s lowest passions and these destroy their sense of beauty. Ul
timately, even the most boisterous operetta no longer attracts, since
even for operetta there are certain limits beyond which it cannot
go, yet people’s greedy passion always wants more, and since new
thrills are no longer to be found at the theatre, it seeks them in cin
emas and in bars.9
Attention was also drawn to the situation at the Maribor theatre by
one of the city’s most penetrating critics, Radivoj Rehar, who noted in his
review of a performance of Ralph Benatzky’s operetta Pri belem konjičku
(Im weißen Rößl):
Anyone desiring to see a Spectacle of a kind never before experi
enced in Maribor, should therefore not miss this ‘White Horse’! [...]
It is hard to see ideals wither, to see how the general level falls, yet
the love of theatre still yields a harvest: may these ‘White Horses’
triumph at the box office and thus permit at least something to be
8 Anon., “Mariborsko gledališče v novi sezoni,” Mariborski večernik »Jutra« 11, no.
203 (6 September 1930): 3, http://www.dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:doc-QTTD-
F4UT.
9 Mitrović, “Andro Mitrović, ravnatelj opere v Mariboru,” 3.
325
since the latter still does not have a fixed and permanent audience,
but has significantly deepened the importance of this sole nation
al cultural institution vis-à-vis a new German cultural influence.
For if these German talking pictures may anywhere be said to rep
resent a national peril, that place is undoubtedly Maribor, which
is already acutely aware of the proximity of burgeoning German
culture. [...] Operetta and light comedy are therefore here to fill the
theatre’s empty coffers and thus have in Maribor every right to ex
ist, although we must be careful that the weed does not outgrow the
crop.8
Andro Mitrović was of a similar opinion, writing in the newspaper
Slovenec:
Today’s operetta is degenerate, a necessary evil – its fist falls heavily
on a pile of notes. The theatre is a temple of art, a place whose mis
sion is to educate, not to entertain. Modern operetta is largely to
blame for the fact that people no longer have a feeling for true art,
that they do not come to see serious productions. Operetta inflames
people’s lowest passions and these destroy their sense of beauty. Ul
timately, even the most boisterous operetta no longer attracts, since
even for operetta there are certain limits beyond which it cannot
go, yet people’s greedy passion always wants more, and since new
thrills are no longer to be found at the theatre, it seeks them in cin
emas and in bars.9
Attention was also drawn to the situation at the Maribor theatre by
one of the city’s most penetrating critics, Radivoj Rehar, who noted in his
review of a performance of Ralph Benatzky’s operetta Pri belem konjičku
(Im weißen Rößl):
Anyone desiring to see a Spectacle of a kind never before experi
enced in Maribor, should therefore not miss this ‘White Horse’! [...]
It is hard to see ideals wither, to see how the general level falls, yet
the love of theatre still yields a harvest: may these ‘White Horses’
triumph at the box office and thus permit at least something to be
8 Anon., “Mariborsko gledališče v novi sezoni,” Mariborski večernik »Jutra« 11, no.
203 (6 September 1930): 3, http://www.dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:doc-QTTD-
F4UT.
9 Mitrović, “Andro Mitrović, ravnatelj opere v Mariboru,” 3.
325
