Page 71 - 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. 71
operetta as safe space
ads, a conceit familiar to a young audience drawn from the Tinder/
selfie generation. They howl with delight […]. Any similarities to to
day’s Berlin hipsters is, of course, completely coincidental.43
Being able to relate to operetta stories is directly linked to the vari-
ous ‘safe space’ functions the genre had in the past when it was a ‘positive
space’ for sexual liberation and the breaking-up of gender norms, and for
a self-ironic look at one’s one position in society, whether it is as the user
of lonely hearts ads or as someone who refuses to let anyone interfere with
his or her personal freedom, like the Count de Morny. Such aspects are far
more up-to-date for many younger audience members than the post-WW2
concept of operetta-as-tranquillizer.
Operetta once triggered half the world with outrage and moral shock
tactics. And, arguably, the world’s best operettas come from that time, in-
cluding those by Franz von Suppé and Johann Strauss. So let’s play and ana-
lyze them once more as outrageously as they were originally written and in-
tended, which includes operettas from between World War I and II, pre and
post 1933, putting these shows into a broad socio-historical context. And
let’s enjoy them as ‘liberated’ as most societies today are not. Because that is
the true and lasting utopia of the genre.
Bibliography
Allen, Robert C. Horrible Prettiness: Burlesque and American Culture. Chapel
Hill-London: University of North Carolina Press, 1991.
Anon. “France.” The Daily News [London], January 30, 1867.
Anon. “Wiener Bilder. Der Prater.” Illustrirte Zeitung [Vienna], May 21, 1881.
Baily, Leslie. The Gilbert & Sullivan Book. London: Cassell & Company Ltd.,
1951.
Bovenschen, Silvia. Älter werden. Frankfurt a. M.: Fischer, 2013.
Bratby, Richard. “Operetta is serious business in Bad Ischl – and seri-
ously glorious.” The Spectator [spectatopr.co.uk], August 25, 2018.
ht t ps://w w w. spec t ator.com . au /2018/08/opere t t a-i s-ser iou s-bu si ne s s-
in-bad-ischl-and-seriously-glorious/.
43 Derek Scally, “A new Berlin audience embraces its lost theatre past,” Irish Times,
January 6, 2018, https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/a-new-berlin-au-
dience-embraces-its-lost-theatre-past-1.3346177.
69
ads, a conceit familiar to a young audience drawn from the Tinder/
selfie generation. They howl with delight […]. Any similarities to to
day’s Berlin hipsters is, of course, completely coincidental.43
Being able to relate to operetta stories is directly linked to the vari-
ous ‘safe space’ functions the genre had in the past when it was a ‘positive
space’ for sexual liberation and the breaking-up of gender norms, and for
a self-ironic look at one’s one position in society, whether it is as the user
of lonely hearts ads or as someone who refuses to let anyone interfere with
his or her personal freedom, like the Count de Morny. Such aspects are far
more up-to-date for many younger audience members than the post-WW2
concept of operetta-as-tranquillizer.
Operetta once triggered half the world with outrage and moral shock
tactics. And, arguably, the world’s best operettas come from that time, in-
cluding those by Franz von Suppé and Johann Strauss. So let’s play and ana-
lyze them once more as outrageously as they were originally written and in-
tended, which includes operettas from between World War I and II, pre and
post 1933, putting these shows into a broad socio-historical context. And
let’s enjoy them as ‘liberated’ as most societies today are not. Because that is
the true and lasting utopia of the genre.
Bibliography
Allen, Robert C. Horrible Prettiness: Burlesque and American Culture. Chapel
Hill-London: University of North Carolina Press, 1991.
Anon. “France.” The Daily News [London], January 30, 1867.
Anon. “Wiener Bilder. Der Prater.” Illustrirte Zeitung [Vienna], May 21, 1881.
Baily, Leslie. The Gilbert & Sullivan Book. London: Cassell & Company Ltd.,
1951.
Bovenschen, Silvia. Älter werden. Frankfurt a. M.: Fischer, 2013.
Bratby, Richard. “Operetta is serious business in Bad Ischl – and seri-
ously glorious.” The Spectator [spectatopr.co.uk], August 25, 2018.
ht t ps://w w w. spec t ator.com . au /2018/08/opere t t a-i s-ser iou s-bu si ne s s-
in-bad-ischl-and-seriously-glorious/.
43 Derek Scally, “A new Berlin audience embraces its lost theatre past,” Irish Times,
January 6, 2018, https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/europe/a-new-berlin-au-
dience-embraces-its-lost-theatre-past-1.3346177.
69
