Page 568 - 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. 568
opereta med obema svetovnima vojnama
Borut Smrekar
Marjan Kozina: Majda
In the period of the flowering of original Slovene operetta between the
two world wars, Marjan Kozina’s operetta Majda is a work that particular-
ly stands out in terms of quality. Kozina originally only intended to com-
pose a few musical numbers for Josip Fran Knaflič’s comedy Kmečki teater
(“Rustic Theatre”), but over time this grew into an operetta. A radio op-
eretta was created in parallel and broadcast three times by a Ljubljana ra-
dio station in 1935. The first theatrical performance of Majda took place in
Maribor the same year. Despite its success, however, it failed to make the
transition to other theatres, largely because of its weak libretto.
Majda was revived in 2001 for a concert performance. This successful per-
formance, for which Igor Grdina wrote a new libretto, proved that Kozina’s
music was still fresh and attractive. Kozina drew without prejudice on the
popular music of his day and grafted it onto the melody of central Europe-
an operetta, although there was no breakthrough hit among the musical
numbers to particularly characterise the work.
Majda was Kozina’s first major work and also represented the end of his
silence as a composer following his completion of composition studies in
1932. Although Kozina later established himself as one of the leading Slo-
vene composers, he once said of Majda: “Between you and me, I am still
pleased with it today, even though I have since taken a completely different
direction.”
Keywords: Marjan Kozina, Ferdo Delak, operetta, jazz, Maribor
Michal Ščepán
Operettas Staged by the Slovak National Theatre
During the Years 1920–1938
The first mention pf an operetta in Bratislava dates back to the 1860s. Nu-
merous stagings performed in the municipal theatre building by foreign
theatre companies then became a popular form of entertainment for the
local German-Hungarian population. The turning point came after the
First World War, when Czechoslovakia was established after the disinte-
gration of Austria-Hungary. Bratislava became the administrative and cul-
tural centre of Slovakia, where in 1920 the Slovak National Theatre began
to operate. However, it was not a state institution but was managed by pri-
vate persons on the basis of a concession. Since the founding of the thea-
tre, and under the first director Bedřich Jeřábek, operetta had had its own
566
Borut Smrekar
Marjan Kozina: Majda
In the period of the flowering of original Slovene operetta between the
two world wars, Marjan Kozina’s operetta Majda is a work that particular-
ly stands out in terms of quality. Kozina originally only intended to com-
pose a few musical numbers for Josip Fran Knaflič’s comedy Kmečki teater
(“Rustic Theatre”), but over time this grew into an operetta. A radio op-
eretta was created in parallel and broadcast three times by a Ljubljana ra-
dio station in 1935. The first theatrical performance of Majda took place in
Maribor the same year. Despite its success, however, it failed to make the
transition to other theatres, largely because of its weak libretto.
Majda was revived in 2001 for a concert performance. This successful per-
formance, for which Igor Grdina wrote a new libretto, proved that Kozina’s
music was still fresh and attractive. Kozina drew without prejudice on the
popular music of his day and grafted it onto the melody of central Europe-
an operetta, although there was no breakthrough hit among the musical
numbers to particularly characterise the work.
Majda was Kozina’s first major work and also represented the end of his
silence as a composer following his completion of composition studies in
1932. Although Kozina later established himself as one of the leading Slo-
vene composers, he once said of Majda: “Between you and me, I am still
pleased with it today, even though I have since taken a completely different
direction.”
Keywords: Marjan Kozina, Ferdo Delak, operetta, jazz, Maribor
Michal Ščepán
Operettas Staged by the Slovak National Theatre
During the Years 1920–1938
The first mention pf an operetta in Bratislava dates back to the 1860s. Nu-
merous stagings performed in the municipal theatre building by foreign
theatre companies then became a popular form of entertainment for the
local German-Hungarian population. The turning point came after the
First World War, when Czechoslovakia was established after the disinte-
gration of Austria-Hungary. Bratislava became the administrative and cul-
tural centre of Slovakia, where in 1920 the Slovak National Theatre began
to operate. However, it was not a state institution but was managed by pri-
vate persons on the basis of a concession. Since the founding of the thea-
tre, and under the first director Bedřich Jeřábek, operetta had had its own
566
