Page 333 - 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. 333
er etta between the two wor ld wars at the oper a of the national theatr e in mar ibor
“Jutra”, Radivoj Rehar, “the audience was exceedingly entertained, as by
few other works, whether foreign or domestic.”17 The theatre was once again
completely sold out and the management was apparently even compelled
to turn some people away. With this operetta, Jiranek achieved a success
the likes of which no Slovene operetta composer before him had achieved.
Further testament to the success of the operetta is the fact that a year lat-
er it was also enthusiastically received in Ljubljana, where it enjoyed 11 re-
peat performances.
It is also worth highlighting at least two other composers besides Par-
ma who made contributions of the utmost importance to the development of
Slovene operetta in the Maribor milieu. Marjan Kozina actually composed
his only operetta, Majda, in Maribor. The success and enthusiastic reception
enjoyed by this work, also demonstrated by the relatively large number of re-
peat performances (ten), are apparent from contemporary reviews. Mean-
while, Radovan Gobec was the Slovene composer who devoted himself most
prolifically to operetta in the interwar period. His constant contact with vo-
cal music and the various ensembles he founded awakened in Gobec a strong
impulse for musical theatre. It is therefore no surprise to find among his ear-
ly compositions, from the decade between 1928 and 1938, numerous “light”
musical-dramatic works such as V bratskem objemu, Pomladne cvetke, Beg iz
harema, Hmeljska princesa, Planinska roža, Habakuk and Pastirček, among
others. At this point the question arises as to the genre that these works ac-
tually belong to.18 Some of them (e. g. Beg iz harema, Hmeljska princesa, Pla
ninska roža and Habakuk) are undoubtedly operettas, while others might
best be compared to Lortzing’s genre of Spieloper. Examples of the latter in-
clude Tremerski dukat, Kri v plamenih and Trije muzikanti, which the com-
poser himself labelled as operas. Another remarkable curiosity is the fact
that Gobec composed his four most frequently performed operettas in the
period before he began his formal training at the Academy of Music in Lju-
bljana. It should, however, be added that, like Slavko Osterc, he had never-
theless obtained the basis of a good musical education at the Teacher Train-
ing College in Maribor under Emerik Beran and Hinko Druzovič.19
17 Radivoj Rehar, “Krst operete »Vse za šalo«,” Mariborski večernik »Jutra« 12, no. 293
(28 December 1938): 4, http://www.dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:DOC-CI4C8XNB.
18 Gregor Pompe, “Operete Radovana Gobca,” in Skice za zgodovino slovenske glasbe
20. stoletja (Ljubljana: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, 2019), 73–4, https://
doi.org/10.4312/9789610601623.
19 Jernej Weiss, Emerik Beran (1868–1940) samotni svetovljan (Maribor: Litera, 2008),
50–1.
331
“Jutra”, Radivoj Rehar, “the audience was exceedingly entertained, as by
few other works, whether foreign or domestic.”17 The theatre was once again
completely sold out and the management was apparently even compelled
to turn some people away. With this operetta, Jiranek achieved a success
the likes of which no Slovene operetta composer before him had achieved.
Further testament to the success of the operetta is the fact that a year lat-
er it was also enthusiastically received in Ljubljana, where it enjoyed 11 re-
peat performances.
It is also worth highlighting at least two other composers besides Par-
ma who made contributions of the utmost importance to the development of
Slovene operetta in the Maribor milieu. Marjan Kozina actually composed
his only operetta, Majda, in Maribor. The success and enthusiastic reception
enjoyed by this work, also demonstrated by the relatively large number of re-
peat performances (ten), are apparent from contemporary reviews. Mean-
while, Radovan Gobec was the Slovene composer who devoted himself most
prolifically to operetta in the interwar period. His constant contact with vo-
cal music and the various ensembles he founded awakened in Gobec a strong
impulse for musical theatre. It is therefore no surprise to find among his ear-
ly compositions, from the decade between 1928 and 1938, numerous “light”
musical-dramatic works such as V bratskem objemu, Pomladne cvetke, Beg iz
harema, Hmeljska princesa, Planinska roža, Habakuk and Pastirček, among
others. At this point the question arises as to the genre that these works ac-
tually belong to.18 Some of them (e. g. Beg iz harema, Hmeljska princesa, Pla
ninska roža and Habakuk) are undoubtedly operettas, while others might
best be compared to Lortzing’s genre of Spieloper. Examples of the latter in-
clude Tremerski dukat, Kri v plamenih and Trije muzikanti, which the com-
poser himself labelled as operas. Another remarkable curiosity is the fact
that Gobec composed his four most frequently performed operettas in the
period before he began his formal training at the Academy of Music in Lju-
bljana. It should, however, be added that, like Slavko Osterc, he had never-
theless obtained the basis of a good musical education at the Teacher Train-
ing College in Maribor under Emerik Beran and Hinko Druzovič.19
17 Radivoj Rehar, “Krst operete »Vse za šalo«,” Mariborski večernik »Jutra« 12, no. 293
(28 December 1938): 4, http://www.dlib.si/?URN=URN:NBN:SI:DOC-CI4C8XNB.
18 Gregor Pompe, “Operete Radovana Gobca,” in Skice za zgodovino slovenske glasbe
20. stoletja (Ljubljana: Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, 2019), 73–4, https://
doi.org/10.4312/9789610601623.
19 Jernej Weiss, Emerik Beran (1868–1940) samotni svetovljan (Maribor: Litera, 2008),
50–1.
331
