Page 555 - 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
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summaries
Igor Grdina
The operetta experience
Operetta is a genre of paradoxes: although it belongs to history and is crea-
tively no longer alive, it is still successful in terms of its reception. The tra-
dition of operetta librettos also continues in the lyrics of musical comedies.
At the same time, however, it faces criticism not only at the level of indi-
vidual works, but also in general – as a self-referential theatrical genre – al-
though this is above all a consequence of its connection to once-current
events that over time have become part of a forgotten past. Historically, op-
eretta was very closely tied to other genres, not only through allusions to
various works, but also as a form of musical theatre capable of doing well
at the box office and filling a theatre’s empty coffers. In a period in which
French grand opera and the legacy of the New German School were stim-
ulating the rapid staging of new operas, this was an extremely important
consideration. In many places, particularly in smaller centres, it was oper-
etta that enabled the performance of works that are artistically representa-
tive of various cultures.
Opera dramaturgy is complex because of the need to simultaneously take
into account the logic of the story (the plot) and that of the music; the lat-
ter demands a succession of arias, ensembles, choruses and dance numbers
and has particular requirements in the opening and closing scenes. In cul-
tures which for a long time had lacked the infrastructure to establish a reg-
ularly functioning musical theatre, mastering the standards of the genre
was always a problem; this is also evident in today’s productions of works
that are chiefly performed for the sake of specific elements – in most cas-
es the music. The author of the paper, himself the creator of new librettos
for a series of Slovene operas/operettas for which the original texts have
not survived or which were written in a foreign language, offers his own
findings with regard to the operetta genre, with particular reference to two
works: Princesa Vrtoglavka by Josip Ipavec (1873–1921), a “comic opera in
the old numerical style” (i.e. consisting of a sequence of self-contained mu-
sical numbers linked by spoken dialogue), and Majda by Marjan Kozina
(1907–1966), the first Slovene radiophonic operetta.
Keywords: operetta, libretto, dramaturgy, musical theatre, radio
553
Igor Grdina
The operetta experience
Operetta is a genre of paradoxes: although it belongs to history and is crea-
tively no longer alive, it is still successful in terms of its reception. The tra-
dition of operetta librettos also continues in the lyrics of musical comedies.
At the same time, however, it faces criticism not only at the level of indi-
vidual works, but also in general – as a self-referential theatrical genre – al-
though this is above all a consequence of its connection to once-current
events that over time have become part of a forgotten past. Historically, op-
eretta was very closely tied to other genres, not only through allusions to
various works, but also as a form of musical theatre capable of doing well
at the box office and filling a theatre’s empty coffers. In a period in which
French grand opera and the legacy of the New German School were stim-
ulating the rapid staging of new operas, this was an extremely important
consideration. In many places, particularly in smaller centres, it was oper-
etta that enabled the performance of works that are artistically representa-
tive of various cultures.
Opera dramaturgy is complex because of the need to simultaneously take
into account the logic of the story (the plot) and that of the music; the lat-
ter demands a succession of arias, ensembles, choruses and dance numbers
and has particular requirements in the opening and closing scenes. In cul-
tures which for a long time had lacked the infrastructure to establish a reg-
ularly functioning musical theatre, mastering the standards of the genre
was always a problem; this is also evident in today’s productions of works
that are chiefly performed for the sake of specific elements – in most cas-
es the music. The author of the paper, himself the creator of new librettos
for a series of Slovene operas/operettas for which the original texts have
not survived or which were written in a foreign language, offers his own
findings with regard to the operetta genre, with particular reference to two
works: Princesa Vrtoglavka by Josip Ipavec (1873–1921), a “comic opera in
the old numerical style” (i.e. consisting of a sequence of self-contained mu-
sical numbers linked by spoken dialogue), and Majda by Marjan Kozina
(1907–1966), the first Slovene radiophonic operetta.
Keywords: operetta, libretto, dramaturgy, musical theatre, radio
553
