Page 377 - 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. 377
slovene oper etta at the crossroads: r adovan gobec’s planinsk a roža
light-hearted, relatively short and uncomplicated, and was often concerned
with up-to-date domestic situations, while historical subjects or those from
classic literature were often treated in a humorous or satirical fashion. Don
Quichotte et Sancho Panza of 1848 by Hervé is sometimes considered the
first operetta, though the word was not used until later. This form of the-
atrical musical entertainment became a distinct art-form under various
names and was then developed extensively by Jacques Offenbach. Some-
times he took a humoristically ironic tone in his opéras bouffes, especially
Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld), a scarcely disguised sat-
ire on the classical myth of Orfeo and La belle Hélène, a frivolous retelling
of the Trojan myth. These theatrical works by Offenbach and many other
composers whose names are all but forgotten became grouped under the
umbrella heading ‘operetta’.
In the later 19th century, operetta then spread across Europe from Par-
is to England with the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan, euphemistically
given the dignity of the title ‘Savoy operas’9. Operetta also spread to Austria
and neighbouring lands with works by so many composers that it is diffi-
cult to list them. Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus represents the genre at
its most famous. For years the performances dominated the repertories of
theatres, interrupted only by the onset of World War I.
The Operatic Scene in Slovenia until 1913
This pattern was apparent in Slovenia in the period up to the beginning of
the First World War with a huge number of operatic performances, most-
ly in Ljubljana. These consisted of a wide range of musical theatrical works
varying from grand opera to comic opera and operetta. Just as in the time
when Offenbach was dominating the operetta scene in Paris, the terminol-
ogy for these works was very ‘flexible’, as anything less serious than a com-
ic opera was included under the title of ‘operetta’. In the period from 1868
to 1913 works are freely described as grand opera, romantic opera, trag-
ic opera, lyric opera, comic opera, operetta, comic operetta, melodrama,
pantomime, spevoigre (melodrama or vaudeville) and numerous other ti-
tles. It is impossible because of the ambiguity of these terms to compile an
accurate inventory of the types of works listed in the statistics included in
9 Bruno Bower, “London and Gilbert and Sullivan,” in The Cambridge Companion to
Operetta, ed. Anastasia Belina and Derek B. Scott (Cambridge: Cambridge Universi-
ty Press, 2020), 47–60, gives a concise and up-to-date presentation of the Gilbert and
Sullivan collaborations.
375
light-hearted, relatively short and uncomplicated, and was often concerned
with up-to-date domestic situations, while historical subjects or those from
classic literature were often treated in a humorous or satirical fashion. Don
Quichotte et Sancho Panza of 1848 by Hervé is sometimes considered the
first operetta, though the word was not used until later. This form of the-
atrical musical entertainment became a distinct art-form under various
names and was then developed extensively by Jacques Offenbach. Some-
times he took a humoristically ironic tone in his opéras bouffes, especially
Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld), a scarcely disguised sat-
ire on the classical myth of Orfeo and La belle Hélène, a frivolous retelling
of the Trojan myth. These theatrical works by Offenbach and many other
composers whose names are all but forgotten became grouped under the
umbrella heading ‘operetta’.
In the later 19th century, operetta then spread across Europe from Par-
is to England with the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan, euphemistically
given the dignity of the title ‘Savoy operas’9. Operetta also spread to Austria
and neighbouring lands with works by so many composers that it is diffi-
cult to list them. Johann Strauss II’s Die Fledermaus represents the genre at
its most famous. For years the performances dominated the repertories of
theatres, interrupted only by the onset of World War I.
The Operatic Scene in Slovenia until 1913
This pattern was apparent in Slovenia in the period up to the beginning of
the First World War with a huge number of operatic performances, most-
ly in Ljubljana. These consisted of a wide range of musical theatrical works
varying from grand opera to comic opera and operetta. Just as in the time
when Offenbach was dominating the operetta scene in Paris, the terminol-
ogy for these works was very ‘flexible’, as anything less serious than a com-
ic opera was included under the title of ‘operetta’. In the period from 1868
to 1913 works are freely described as grand opera, romantic opera, trag-
ic opera, lyric opera, comic opera, operetta, comic operetta, melodrama,
pantomime, spevoigre (melodrama or vaudeville) and numerous other ti-
tles. It is impossible because of the ambiguity of these terms to compile an
accurate inventory of the types of works listed in the statistics included in
9 Bruno Bower, “London and Gilbert and Sullivan,” in The Cambridge Companion to
Operetta, ed. Anastasia Belina and Derek B. Scott (Cambridge: Cambridge Universi-
ty Press, 2020), 47–60, gives a concise and up-to-date presentation of the Gilbert and
Sullivan collaborations.
375
