Page 120 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2019. Vloga nacionalnih opernih gledališč v 20. in 21. stoletju - The Role of National Opera Houses in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 3
P. 120
vloga nacionalnih opernih gledališč v 20. in 21. stoletju
Picture 1: The façade of the Latvian National Opera and Ballet adorned in the honour
of the centenary celebrated in 2018/2019 season. Photographer: Monta Tīģere. Publicity
picture credited by LNOB.
and stable opera traditions such as in, for instance, Italy. The 19th centu-
ry marks the development of national cultures and, subsequently, nation-
al operas in terms of composers from Central and Eastern Europe trying
to express themselves in this complicated genre. The operatic tradition in
Latvia is rooted in the crossroads of the German and Russian cultures in
the 19th century, and in Riga as multicultural city. Yet, at the dawn of the
national culture, the dramatic theatre and opera were the art forms that
articulated the idea of Latvian national identity through different rep-
resentations on stage, from props and visual effects and linguistic aspects
culminating in the ambition to create a Latvian operatic repertoire. The
idea of a national opera (based on nationally or regionally specific stories)
was accomplished only by the 1920s since the first green shoots of a nascent
opera tradition were cut by WW1. None of the Latvian operas have entered
the so-called classical opera repertoire like, for instance, the Czech “Rusal-
ka” by A. Dvořák, nor they are a popular object of interest of the Latvian
118
Picture 1: The façade of the Latvian National Opera and Ballet adorned in the honour
of the centenary celebrated in 2018/2019 season. Photographer: Monta Tīģere. Publicity
picture credited by LNOB.
and stable opera traditions such as in, for instance, Italy. The 19th centu-
ry marks the development of national cultures and, subsequently, nation-
al operas in terms of composers from Central and Eastern Europe trying
to express themselves in this complicated genre. The operatic tradition in
Latvia is rooted in the crossroads of the German and Russian cultures in
the 19th century, and in Riga as multicultural city. Yet, at the dawn of the
national culture, the dramatic theatre and opera were the art forms that
articulated the idea of Latvian national identity through different rep-
resentations on stage, from props and visual effects and linguistic aspects
culminating in the ambition to create a Latvian operatic repertoire. The
idea of a national opera (based on nationally or regionally specific stories)
was accomplished only by the 1920s since the first green shoots of a nascent
opera tradition were cut by WW1. None of the Latvian operas have entered
the so-called classical opera repertoire like, for instance, the Czech “Rusal-
ka” by A. Dvořák, nor they are a popular object of interest of the Latvian
118
