Page 342 - 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
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vloga nacionalnih opernih gledališč v 20. in 21. stoletju
Ocvirk was otherwise, as a literary historian and the founder of compara-
tive literature, very strict and openly dissatisfied with the productions. The
question arises, however, whether he was musically educated sufficiently
enough to evaluate Bravničar’s work, which surprised everybody with its
loose tonality and twelve-tone systematics, competently.
In the following years, Debevec collaborated often with the Opera, in
1932 in the performance of Jules Massenet’s Manon (1932)25, the following
year with the work Halka by Stanislav Moniuszko26 and two operas by Leoš
Janáček Jenufa27 and Katja Kabanova28, during the 1934/35 season he di-
rected Khovanshchina by Modest Musorgsky29 and Robert Stolz’s The Lost
Waltz30, The Favourite or The Last Days of the Great Lord Fabiano by Ru-
dolf Wagner-Régeny31 the next year, and Richard Strauss’s The Knight of the
Rose32. He did not write about his directorial approaches in these operas, as
we have noted, and he explained them only occasionally when he departed
from his, or generally expected, orientations and considered that the expla-
nations were necessary. Similarly, he acted in theatre performances.33 The
opera Manon, performed during the all-around crisis years and the rise
of the cinema, was well received by the audience and one of the rare per-
formances at that time which was content-relevant and convincingly pre-
pared. In his critique, Vilko Ukmar specifically emphasized the role of De-
bevec and wrote that he managed to clarify the content of the work and
led singers to a convincing drama play34. Ukmar also praised Debevec’s di-
recting of a work by Rudolf Wagner-Régeny, a young German composer,
written in 1932, which, due to stylistic non-uniformity, was considered po-
lemical and wrote that the director convincingly understood the essential
values of the fabula, expressing them with a great deal of fantasy and styli-
25 Gledališki list / Theatre Gazette, 1932/33, l. 12, No. 5.
26 Gledališki list / Theatre Gazette,, 1933/34, l. 13, No. 3.
27 Gledališki list / Theatre Gazette,, 1933/34, l. 13, No. 9.
28 Gledališki list / Theatre Gazette,, 1933/34, l. 13, No. 17.
29 Gledališki list / Theatre Gazette,, 1934/35, l. 14, No. 2.
30 Gledališki list / Theatre Gazette,, 1934/35, l. 14, No. 5.
31 Gledališki list / Theatre Gazette,, 1935/36, l. 15, No. 5.
32 Gledališki list / Theatre Gazette,, 1935/36, l. 15, No. 10.
33 Dušan Moravec, Slovenski režiserski kvartet (z gostom) / Slovenian directing quartet
(with guest), 112.
34 Vilko Ukmar, »Uprizoritev Massenetove opere Manon« / “The staging of the Masse-
nets opera Manon”, Slovenec, l. LX, No. 270, 2.
340
Ocvirk was otherwise, as a literary historian and the founder of compara-
tive literature, very strict and openly dissatisfied with the productions. The
question arises, however, whether he was musically educated sufficiently
enough to evaluate Bravničar’s work, which surprised everybody with its
loose tonality and twelve-tone systematics, competently.
In the following years, Debevec collaborated often with the Opera, in
1932 in the performance of Jules Massenet’s Manon (1932)25, the following
year with the work Halka by Stanislav Moniuszko26 and two operas by Leoš
Janáček Jenufa27 and Katja Kabanova28, during the 1934/35 season he di-
rected Khovanshchina by Modest Musorgsky29 and Robert Stolz’s The Lost
Waltz30, The Favourite or The Last Days of the Great Lord Fabiano by Ru-
dolf Wagner-Régeny31 the next year, and Richard Strauss’s The Knight of the
Rose32. He did not write about his directorial approaches in these operas, as
we have noted, and he explained them only occasionally when he departed
from his, or generally expected, orientations and considered that the expla-
nations were necessary. Similarly, he acted in theatre performances.33 The
opera Manon, performed during the all-around crisis years and the rise
of the cinema, was well received by the audience and one of the rare per-
formances at that time which was content-relevant and convincingly pre-
pared. In his critique, Vilko Ukmar specifically emphasized the role of De-
bevec and wrote that he managed to clarify the content of the work and
led singers to a convincing drama play34. Ukmar also praised Debevec’s di-
recting of a work by Rudolf Wagner-Régeny, a young German composer,
written in 1932, which, due to stylistic non-uniformity, was considered po-
lemical and wrote that the director convincingly understood the essential
values of the fabula, expressing them with a great deal of fantasy and styli-
25 Gledališki list / Theatre Gazette, 1932/33, l. 12, No. 5.
26 Gledališki list / Theatre Gazette,, 1933/34, l. 13, No. 3.
27 Gledališki list / Theatre Gazette,, 1933/34, l. 13, No. 9.
28 Gledališki list / Theatre Gazette,, 1933/34, l. 13, No. 17.
29 Gledališki list / Theatre Gazette,, 1934/35, l. 14, No. 2.
30 Gledališki list / Theatre Gazette,, 1934/35, l. 14, No. 5.
31 Gledališki list / Theatre Gazette,, 1935/36, l. 15, No. 5.
32 Gledališki list / Theatre Gazette,, 1935/36, l. 15, No. 10.
33 Dušan Moravec, Slovenski režiserski kvartet (z gostom) / Slovenian directing quartet
(with guest), 112.
34 Vilko Ukmar, »Uprizoritev Massenetove opere Manon« / “The staging of the Masse-
nets opera Manon”, Slovenec, l. LX, No. 270, 2.
340
