Page 340 - 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. 340
vloga nacionalnih opernih gledališč v 20. in 21. stoletju
tions were marked as excellent performances, as he recognized and empha-
sized the most cogent scenes.
The purpose of this paper is to present selected operatic directions
of Ciril Debevec, especially earlier ones, which are also the most noticea-
ble and has better-documented sources. As it was said, he first tried with
Bravničar’s opera Pohujšanje v dolini šentflorjanski / Scandal in the St. Flo-
rian Valley, premiering on May 11th, 1930. At that time, only twenty-seven
years old, Debevec wrote his views on musical work and directing opera
performances in the gazette Gledališki list which was released before the
premiere. In the article “Five Remarks on the direction of the opera Scan-
dal in the St. Florian Valley,” he wrote that he took the task explicitly at the
request of the composer because he himself did not feel sufficiently trained
for this work. The text of Ivan Cankar, considered one of the greatest writ-
ers of the Slovenian nation, is a literary farce about the relationship of Slo-
vene society to art and freedom of expression and is among the most re-
markable dramatic texts in which modernism predicts. We conclude that
the message of the libretto was ideally close to Debevec. In 1907, the dra-
matic performance, a time when it still was in the year of its creation, re-
ceived a stormy reception from both admirers and opponents of the fabu-
la. Composer Matija Bravničar was already introduced to Cankar’s works
from his student years when he lived with a circle of free-minded students
of Gymnasium in Gorizia who thought critically about social distress and
were interested in socialist thinking. Cankar’s works took him to the point
that he wrote both his operas after his dramas (the second, Hlapec Jernej in
njegova pravica / The Bailiff Yerney and His Rights, was performed in Janu-
ary 1941). As he told it, director Milan Skrbinšek, proposed the idea for the
libretto to him.18 The latter was, as a professional actor, a graduate of the Vi-
enna Otto School and from 1922 to 1945 an influential actor at Drama Lju-
bljana and in the 1928/29 season directed Cankar’s Scandal.19 As Debev-
ec says, the shape of the opera had not been so close to him so far that he
would want to tackle the stage layout. His concerns were stopped at the li-
bretto as an essential article of the opera, which he characterized as a de-
manding and delicate work, and wrote: “For opera music in the ‘old meaning
18 Darja Koter, »Matija (Frane) Bravničar – prispevek k biografiji« / “Matija (Frane)
Bravničar - contribution to biography”, Matija Bravničar (1897–1977), Tematska pub-
likacija Glasbenopedagoškega zbornika Akademije za glasbo v Ljubljani / publica-
tion by Academy of Music Ljubljana, edited by D. Koter (Ljubljana: Akademija za glas-
bo, 2008), 7–24.
19 Gledališki list / Theatrical Gazette, 1928/29, No. 1, 3.
338
tions were marked as excellent performances, as he recognized and empha-
sized the most cogent scenes.
The purpose of this paper is to present selected operatic directions
of Ciril Debevec, especially earlier ones, which are also the most noticea-
ble and has better-documented sources. As it was said, he first tried with
Bravničar’s opera Pohujšanje v dolini šentflorjanski / Scandal in the St. Flo-
rian Valley, premiering on May 11th, 1930. At that time, only twenty-seven
years old, Debevec wrote his views on musical work and directing opera
performances in the gazette Gledališki list which was released before the
premiere. In the article “Five Remarks on the direction of the opera Scan-
dal in the St. Florian Valley,” he wrote that he took the task explicitly at the
request of the composer because he himself did not feel sufficiently trained
for this work. The text of Ivan Cankar, considered one of the greatest writ-
ers of the Slovenian nation, is a literary farce about the relationship of Slo-
vene society to art and freedom of expression and is among the most re-
markable dramatic texts in which modernism predicts. We conclude that
the message of the libretto was ideally close to Debevec. In 1907, the dra-
matic performance, a time when it still was in the year of its creation, re-
ceived a stormy reception from both admirers and opponents of the fabu-
la. Composer Matija Bravničar was already introduced to Cankar’s works
from his student years when he lived with a circle of free-minded students
of Gymnasium in Gorizia who thought critically about social distress and
were interested in socialist thinking. Cankar’s works took him to the point
that he wrote both his operas after his dramas (the second, Hlapec Jernej in
njegova pravica / The Bailiff Yerney and His Rights, was performed in Janu-
ary 1941). As he told it, director Milan Skrbinšek, proposed the idea for the
libretto to him.18 The latter was, as a professional actor, a graduate of the Vi-
enna Otto School and from 1922 to 1945 an influential actor at Drama Lju-
bljana and in the 1928/29 season directed Cankar’s Scandal.19 As Debev-
ec says, the shape of the opera had not been so close to him so far that he
would want to tackle the stage layout. His concerns were stopped at the li-
bretto as an essential article of the opera, which he characterized as a de-
manding and delicate work, and wrote: “For opera music in the ‘old meaning
18 Darja Koter, »Matija (Frane) Bravničar – prispevek k biografiji« / “Matija (Frane)
Bravničar - contribution to biography”, Matija Bravničar (1897–1977), Tematska pub-
likacija Glasbenopedagoškega zbornika Akademije za glasbo v Ljubljani / publica-
tion by Academy of Music Ljubljana, edited by D. Koter (Ljubljana: Akademija za glas-
bo, 2008), 7–24.
19 Gledališki list / Theatrical Gazette, 1928/29, No. 1, 3.
338
