Page 142 - 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. 142
vloga nacionalnih opernih gledališč v 20. in 21. stoletju
Communist woman,” willing to lay down her life in order to foil the “crim-
inal, anti-patriotic plans of the bourgeois, land-owning authorities.”43
In 1962, Cosma saluted the opera, particularly in terms of its subject
matter: “the opera’s idea is that of the heroic struggle of the people, of the
communists, for freedom and happiness, against the fascist yoke, the un-
lawful anti-Soviet war, and the Nazi invaders.”44 At the same time, he noted
the development, throughout the opera’s four acts, of several “strong char-
acters,” particularly the “main heroine,” “characterized through a melod-
ic song, which constitutes her portrait and leitmotif.” He also admired the
composer’s employment of “classical forms, such as arias, ariosos, and du-
ets in order to render the experiences of his heroes.”45
In 2017, however, Cosma describes an entirely different reception of the
same opera:
the opera-loving public attended the show – which was much tout-
ed in the media – but seldom returned to it, because the subject
matter fell outside lyrical norms, and its activist character, em-
phatic expression and externalizing subject matter were not par-
ticularly attractive. Moreover, the music and libretto did not focus
on the essentials of opera as a work of art, on the inner lives of char-
acters; it foregrounded events, instead of people. The latter became
unimportant pawns, which mirrored the lack of interest in their in-
ner lives…46
These two reactions – so different in nature – to the same reality en-
gender the question: how did Cosma in the 2000s relate to his earlier writ-
ings? In the three ample volumes of The Chronicle (802 pp., 930 pp., 965 pp.)
there are no references to The Romanian Opera of 1962, a work that was par-
ticularly honored in the period. Likewise, there are no references to other
studies and articles he published in the 1950s: Date noi despre legăturile mu-
zicale româno-ruse [New Aspects of the Romanian-Russian Musical Bonds]
(Studii Muzicologice [Musicological Studies], Bucharest, no. 1, 1956) or In-
terpreți români în Rusia [Romanian Performers in Russia] (in Probleme de
43 Gheorghe Dumitrescu, quoted in Cosma, Hronicul Operei Române [The Chronicle of
Romanian Opera], vol. 3, 305.
44 Cosma, Opera românească [Romanian Opera], vol. 2, 255.
45 Ibid., 256.
46 Cosma, Hronicul Operei Române [The Chronicle of Romanian Opera], vol. 3, 310.
140
Communist woman,” willing to lay down her life in order to foil the “crim-
inal, anti-patriotic plans of the bourgeois, land-owning authorities.”43
In 1962, Cosma saluted the opera, particularly in terms of its subject
matter: “the opera’s idea is that of the heroic struggle of the people, of the
communists, for freedom and happiness, against the fascist yoke, the un-
lawful anti-Soviet war, and the Nazi invaders.”44 At the same time, he noted
the development, throughout the opera’s four acts, of several “strong char-
acters,” particularly the “main heroine,” “characterized through a melod-
ic song, which constitutes her portrait and leitmotif.” He also admired the
composer’s employment of “classical forms, such as arias, ariosos, and du-
ets in order to render the experiences of his heroes.”45
In 2017, however, Cosma describes an entirely different reception of the
same opera:
the opera-loving public attended the show – which was much tout-
ed in the media – but seldom returned to it, because the subject
matter fell outside lyrical norms, and its activist character, em-
phatic expression and externalizing subject matter were not par-
ticularly attractive. Moreover, the music and libretto did not focus
on the essentials of opera as a work of art, on the inner lives of char-
acters; it foregrounded events, instead of people. The latter became
unimportant pawns, which mirrored the lack of interest in their in-
ner lives…46
These two reactions – so different in nature – to the same reality en-
gender the question: how did Cosma in the 2000s relate to his earlier writ-
ings? In the three ample volumes of The Chronicle (802 pp., 930 pp., 965 pp.)
there are no references to The Romanian Opera of 1962, a work that was par-
ticularly honored in the period. Likewise, there are no references to other
studies and articles he published in the 1950s: Date noi despre legăturile mu-
zicale româno-ruse [New Aspects of the Romanian-Russian Musical Bonds]
(Studii Muzicologice [Musicological Studies], Bucharest, no. 1, 1956) or In-
terpreți români în Rusia [Romanian Performers in Russia] (in Probleme de
43 Gheorghe Dumitrescu, quoted in Cosma, Hronicul Operei Române [The Chronicle of
Romanian Opera], vol. 3, 305.
44 Cosma, Opera românească [Romanian Opera], vol. 2, 255.
45 Ibid., 256.
46 Cosma, Hronicul Operei Române [The Chronicle of Romanian Opera], vol. 3, 310.
140
