Page 391 - 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. 391
the european musical context of the oper as of slavko osterc
to the extended and impressive Dance of the Seven Veils and to Salome’s de-
mand for the head of Jokanaan. Unlike in the story of Salome as related by
Oscar Wilde and Richard Strauss, Osterc’s Herod is bored with Salome’s
dancing and calls for her to stop. Strauss’s famous Dance of the Seven Veils
is replaced, almost in cabaret fashion, by a rather tired waltz. The original
climax is replaced by a very negative anti-climax. The influence of numer-
ous popular operas of the period is very clear (see Table 7).
Table 7: Parody and popular-style operas.
1926 Křenek Jonny spielt auf Křenek
Bertolt Brecht
1927 Weill Mahagonny-Songspiel Iwan Goll [Yvan Goll]
Bertolt Brecht
1927 Weill Royal Palace Bertolt Brecht/Elisabeth Hauptmann
Klabund/Skrbinšek
1928 Weill Die Dreigroschenoper The Bible
Klabund/Zemlinsky
1929 Weill Happy End
1929 Osterc Krog s kredo
1930 Osterc Saloma
1931 Zemlinsky Der Kreidekreis
Medea was based on the gruesome play by the ancient Greek play-
wright, Euripides. In this story Medea punishes her husband, Jason, for his
infidelity and desertion by killing her two children, his intended new bride
and her father King Creon. In a brief span of time Osterc sets out the es-
sence of the plot and the trickery by which it was achieved. By compressing
the story so drastically it makes the events more horrendous.
Table 8: Operas using Classical Legends.
1905 Strauss Salome Oscar Wilde/Strauss
Elektra Sophocles/ Hofmannsthal
1908 Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos Hofmannsthal
L’Orestie d’Eschyle Henri Hoppenot
1912 Strauss
1913/1923 Milhaud
389
to the extended and impressive Dance of the Seven Veils and to Salome’s de-
mand for the head of Jokanaan. Unlike in the story of Salome as related by
Oscar Wilde and Richard Strauss, Osterc’s Herod is bored with Salome’s
dancing and calls for her to stop. Strauss’s famous Dance of the Seven Veils
is replaced, almost in cabaret fashion, by a rather tired waltz. The original
climax is replaced by a very negative anti-climax. The influence of numer-
ous popular operas of the period is very clear (see Table 7).
Table 7: Parody and popular-style operas.
1926 Křenek Jonny spielt auf Křenek
Bertolt Brecht
1927 Weill Mahagonny-Songspiel Iwan Goll [Yvan Goll]
Bertolt Brecht
1927 Weill Royal Palace Bertolt Brecht/Elisabeth Hauptmann
Klabund/Skrbinšek
1928 Weill Die Dreigroschenoper The Bible
Klabund/Zemlinsky
1929 Weill Happy End
1929 Osterc Krog s kredo
1930 Osterc Saloma
1931 Zemlinsky Der Kreidekreis
Medea was based on the gruesome play by the ancient Greek play-
wright, Euripides. In this story Medea punishes her husband, Jason, for his
infidelity and desertion by killing her two children, his intended new bride
and her father King Creon. In a brief span of time Osterc sets out the es-
sence of the plot and the trickery by which it was achieved. By compressing
the story so drastically it makes the events more horrendous.
Table 8: Operas using Classical Legends.
1905 Strauss Salome Oscar Wilde/Strauss
Elektra Sophocles/ Hofmannsthal
1908 Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos Hofmannsthal
L’Orestie d’Eschyle Henri Hoppenot
1912 Strauss
1913/1923 Milhaud
389
