Page 443 - 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. 443
summaries
Darja Koter
Ciril Debevec – the first professional opera director
in Slovenia
In its earliest institutional incarnation, and in accordance with the practice
of the time, the Slovene theatre in Ljubljana staged a variety of musical-dra-
matic works that often demanded both acting and singing abilities from the
individual performer. It was not until after 1925, when Mirko Polič took up
the position of manager of the Ljubljana Opera, that the company began to
develop more consistently as an opera and/or operetta company. In accord-
ance with established practice and the training system characteristic of the
period, musical productions were directed by theatrical directors, who as a
rule were employed by the dramatic company but who were also expected
to head occasional musical-dramatic productions. In the decade following
the end of the First World War, the individual most frequently engaged to
direct operatic productions was Osip Šest, a theatrical director with a Eu-
ropean outlook who gradually introduced more modern directorial tech-
niques. After 1930 these tasks were occasionally performed by his younger
colleagues Ciril Debevec, Bratko Kreft and Bojan Stupica. The individual
most responsible for the professionalisation of operatic directing in Slove-
nia was Ciril Debevec (1903–1973), a graduate of the Deutsche Akademie für
Musik und darstellende Kunst in Prague who also studied philosophy and
music and was an enthusiastic advocate of Expressionist ideas. The 1928/29
season marked the start of his successful career as a director at Ljubljana‘s
Drama Theatre, where he won admiration for his original interpretations
of the latest literary works, the depth of his dialogues, his emphasis on the
psychological and his avoidance of vapidly appealing staging. By the mid-
1930s his pre-eminent position at the Drama Theatre was under increasing
threat from younger colleagues and in 1939 he decided to dedicate himself
professionally to operatic directing. As the first operatic „chief director“ in
Slovenia, he introduced significant innovations and modern approaches to
staging, placing an emphasis on the power of words and acting ability and
significantly raising the level of acting in opera, in part through his work
as an acting coach for opera singers at the State Conservatory in Ljubljana
and then at the Academy of Music. By emphasising the spiritual and musi-
cal content of the work, and through his insistence on distinctly enunciat-
ed and convincingly sung words and a clearly expressed character for each
role, he ensured that the singer was the most important element of an op-
eratic production. His Operni zapiski [„Opera Jottings“], a regular feature
441
Darja Koter
Ciril Debevec – the first professional opera director
in Slovenia
In its earliest institutional incarnation, and in accordance with the practice
of the time, the Slovene theatre in Ljubljana staged a variety of musical-dra-
matic works that often demanded both acting and singing abilities from the
individual performer. It was not until after 1925, when Mirko Polič took up
the position of manager of the Ljubljana Opera, that the company began to
develop more consistently as an opera and/or operetta company. In accord-
ance with established practice and the training system characteristic of the
period, musical productions were directed by theatrical directors, who as a
rule were employed by the dramatic company but who were also expected
to head occasional musical-dramatic productions. In the decade following
the end of the First World War, the individual most frequently engaged to
direct operatic productions was Osip Šest, a theatrical director with a Eu-
ropean outlook who gradually introduced more modern directorial tech-
niques. After 1930 these tasks were occasionally performed by his younger
colleagues Ciril Debevec, Bratko Kreft and Bojan Stupica. The individual
most responsible for the professionalisation of operatic directing in Slove-
nia was Ciril Debevec (1903–1973), a graduate of the Deutsche Akademie für
Musik und darstellende Kunst in Prague who also studied philosophy and
music and was an enthusiastic advocate of Expressionist ideas. The 1928/29
season marked the start of his successful career as a director at Ljubljana‘s
Drama Theatre, where he won admiration for his original interpretations
of the latest literary works, the depth of his dialogues, his emphasis on the
psychological and his avoidance of vapidly appealing staging. By the mid-
1930s his pre-eminent position at the Drama Theatre was under increasing
threat from younger colleagues and in 1939 he decided to dedicate himself
professionally to operatic directing. As the first operatic „chief director“ in
Slovenia, he introduced significant innovations and modern approaches to
staging, placing an emphasis on the power of words and acting ability and
significantly raising the level of acting in opera, in part through his work
as an acting coach for opera singers at the State Conservatory in Ljubljana
and then at the Academy of Music. By emphasising the spiritual and musi-
cal content of the work, and through his insistence on distinctly enunciat-
ed and convincingly sung words and a clearly expressed character for each
role, he ensured that the singer was the most important element of an op-
eratic production. His Operni zapiski [„Opera Jottings“], a regular feature
441
