Page 436 - 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. 436
vloga nacionalnih opernih gledališč v 20. in 21. stoletju
Matjaž Barbo
Emil Hochreiter‘s operatic “homeward journey”
Emil Hochreiter‘s opera Heimfahrt (“Homeward Journey”) represents an
interesting attempt by the composer to try his hand at composition for the
musical theatre. The work survives in the form of a piano reduction, from
which however it is possible to discern a series of telling characteristics of
Hochreiter‘s compositional style and his understanding of the musical-dra-
matic concept that position him close to other contemporary endeavours
in musical theatre. The work, which the composer labels a „music drama”,
is characterised by the use of leitmotifs, Sprechgesang, the development of
Wagnerian endless melodies, rich late-Romantic harmony, and so on. The
occasional orchestral indications also reveal a similar style. The individu-
al vocal parts are complex and demanding. Interestingly, some pages of the
German libretto are translated into Slovene, which perhaps indicates that
the author was looking at the possibility of a Slovene version. The author of
the libretto is Karl Huffnagl, who earned himself an inglorious place in his-
tory as the writer of critical and insulting pamphlets about Jews and Juda-
ism under the pseudonym Karl Paumgartten. It is interesting to note that
some of the characteristic elements later abused by National Socialist ide-
ology can already be traced in this libretto: the action is set among (Aryan)
Icelandic fishermen and the story takes place in the mystical Middle Ages,
marked by mythological elements such as divine punishment, which gives
the work a special character.
Keywords: Emil Hochreiter, Karl Huffnagl, Heimfahrt, music drama,
leitmotifs
Nada Bezić
The Zagreb Opera and the Ljubljana Opera
during the World War II – a comparison
Comparison of the activities of the Ljubljana and Zagreb Opera during the
WWII has shown that there were more similarities than differences. The
Opera houses in both cities helped the audience and artists to overcome the
difficult war times. The war in Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941 and soon
political circumstances in the two cities became very different: Ljubljana
was occupied by Italian and later German army, while Zagreb became the
capital of the new Quisling state, Nezavisna država Hrvatska (Independ-
ent State of Croatia). During five opera seasons (1940/41 – 1944/45) the di-
rectors were Vilko Ukmar in Ljubljana and Stanislav Stržnicki, Jakov Got-
434
Matjaž Barbo
Emil Hochreiter‘s operatic “homeward journey”
Emil Hochreiter‘s opera Heimfahrt (“Homeward Journey”) represents an
interesting attempt by the composer to try his hand at composition for the
musical theatre. The work survives in the form of a piano reduction, from
which however it is possible to discern a series of telling characteristics of
Hochreiter‘s compositional style and his understanding of the musical-dra-
matic concept that position him close to other contemporary endeavours
in musical theatre. The work, which the composer labels a „music drama”,
is characterised by the use of leitmotifs, Sprechgesang, the development of
Wagnerian endless melodies, rich late-Romantic harmony, and so on. The
occasional orchestral indications also reveal a similar style. The individu-
al vocal parts are complex and demanding. Interestingly, some pages of the
German libretto are translated into Slovene, which perhaps indicates that
the author was looking at the possibility of a Slovene version. The author of
the libretto is Karl Huffnagl, who earned himself an inglorious place in his-
tory as the writer of critical and insulting pamphlets about Jews and Juda-
ism under the pseudonym Karl Paumgartten. It is interesting to note that
some of the characteristic elements later abused by National Socialist ide-
ology can already be traced in this libretto: the action is set among (Aryan)
Icelandic fishermen and the story takes place in the mystical Middle Ages,
marked by mythological elements such as divine punishment, which gives
the work a special character.
Keywords: Emil Hochreiter, Karl Huffnagl, Heimfahrt, music drama,
leitmotifs
Nada Bezić
The Zagreb Opera and the Ljubljana Opera
during the World War II – a comparison
Comparison of the activities of the Ljubljana and Zagreb Opera during the
WWII has shown that there were more similarities than differences. The
Opera houses in both cities helped the audience and artists to overcome the
difficult war times. The war in Yugoslavia began on 6 April 1941 and soon
political circumstances in the two cities became very different: Ljubljana
was occupied by Italian and later German army, while Zagreb became the
capital of the new Quisling state, Nezavisna država Hrvatska (Independ-
ent State of Croatia). During five opera seasons (1940/41 – 1944/45) the di-
rectors were Vilko Ukmar in Ljubljana and Stanislav Stržnicki, Jakov Got-
434
