Page 328 - 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. 328
opereta med obema svetovnima vojnama
done for poor art, for that remaining fragment of it that still shines
like a jewel in the mud!10
The predominance of operetta meant that opera was always relegat-
ed to second place at the Maribor theatre, and this was another reason why
operetta was the subject of numerous negative judgements, both from crit-
ics and from other professional musicians, in the period between the wars.
In as early as 1922, one of the most important Czech musicians working
in Slovenia, Josip Michl, wrote that Maribor should abandon all efforts in
the sphere of operetta since the latter was nothing more than “an unfortu
nate, artistically unaccomplished combination [musical form] that has done
far more damage to the education of the populace than it has afforded pleas
ure […].”11
At this point it should be mentioned that this kind of criticism of oper-
etta on the part of the musically most accomplished individuals was by no
means uncommon. The latter accused the management of the Maribor the-
atre of being primarily concerned with making a fast profit at the expense
of quality and artistic mission, with performances of apparently less de-
manding operettas, while in the same breath they resignedly admitted that
this was nevertheless vitally necessary for the very survival of the theatre. It
is worth pointing out that in most cases the almost universally superficial
reviews that can be found in the Maribor press were not backed up by ade-
quate arguments. Critics were generally content merely to provide a super-
ficial description or appraisal of an individual performance. Attempts at a
stylistic analysis of the work itself or more detailed consideration of specif-
ic aspects of interpretation are therefore rare. It should be emphasised that
these and similar criticisms in the interwar period were not, in most cas-
es, aesthetically justified positions against operetta like the critiques of op-
eretta by Adorno and other like-minded critics, who considered it to be an
aesthetically unwarranted musical genre.12 Rather, they are a consequence
of what was, for the most part, the low quality of operetta performance in
Slovenia.
10 Radivoj Rehar, “Pri belem konjičku. Opereta v treh dejanjih,” Mariborski večernik
»Jutra« 13, no. 293 (27 December 1932): 2, http://www.dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:-
DOC-QD8LUVG8.
11 Josip Michl, “K novi ureditvi slovenske Narodne opere,” Ljubljanski zvon 42, no. 5
(1922): 318, http://www.dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:DOC-NUAA1P74.
12 Theodor W. Adorno, “Leichte Musik,” in Dissonanzen. Einleitung in die Musiksozio
logie (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1973), 202.
326
done for poor art, for that remaining fragment of it that still shines
like a jewel in the mud!10
The predominance of operetta meant that opera was always relegat-
ed to second place at the Maribor theatre, and this was another reason why
operetta was the subject of numerous negative judgements, both from crit-
ics and from other professional musicians, in the period between the wars.
In as early as 1922, one of the most important Czech musicians working
in Slovenia, Josip Michl, wrote that Maribor should abandon all efforts in
the sphere of operetta since the latter was nothing more than “an unfortu
nate, artistically unaccomplished combination [musical form] that has done
far more damage to the education of the populace than it has afforded pleas
ure […].”11
At this point it should be mentioned that this kind of criticism of oper-
etta on the part of the musically most accomplished individuals was by no
means uncommon. The latter accused the management of the Maribor the-
atre of being primarily concerned with making a fast profit at the expense
of quality and artistic mission, with performances of apparently less de-
manding operettas, while in the same breath they resignedly admitted that
this was nevertheless vitally necessary for the very survival of the theatre. It
is worth pointing out that in most cases the almost universally superficial
reviews that can be found in the Maribor press were not backed up by ade-
quate arguments. Critics were generally content merely to provide a super-
ficial description or appraisal of an individual performance. Attempts at a
stylistic analysis of the work itself or more detailed consideration of specif-
ic aspects of interpretation are therefore rare. It should be emphasised that
these and similar criticisms in the interwar period were not, in most cas-
es, aesthetically justified positions against operetta like the critiques of op-
eretta by Adorno and other like-minded critics, who considered it to be an
aesthetically unwarranted musical genre.12 Rather, they are a consequence
of what was, for the most part, the low quality of operetta performance in
Slovenia.
10 Radivoj Rehar, “Pri belem konjičku. Opereta v treh dejanjih,” Mariborski večernik
»Jutra« 13, no. 293 (27 December 1932): 2, http://www.dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:-
DOC-QD8LUVG8.
11 Josip Michl, “K novi ureditvi slovenske Narodne opere,” Ljubljanski zvon 42, no. 5
(1922): 318, http://www.dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:DOC-NUAA1P74.
12 Theodor W. Adorno, “Leichte Musik,” in Dissonanzen. Einleitung in die Musiksozio
logie (Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1973), 202.
326
