Page 450 - 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. 450
vloga nacionalnih opernih gledališč v 20. in 21. stoletju
era branch in the Theatre. In this context I illuminate the historical circum-
stances as well as peculiarities in the field of Serbian music. I place attention
on frequent changes of the management staff whose representatives, being
active in both the political and cultural fields, showed inconsistency be-
tween their ideological and artistic intentions. Contesting programme pol-
icies and struggles for power inside the Theatre determined discontinui-
ty of musical practice, actually the two short periods of opera production
(1906–1909; 1913–1914) before the Great War.
Keywords: National Theatre in Belgrade, opera, programme policy, theatre
administration, musical elite
Niall O‘Loughlin
The European Musical Context of the operas of Slavko
Osterc
The Slovene composer Slavko Osterc (1895-1941) composed all his operas
between 1921 and 1930 in a period in which there was considerable develop-
ment of opera all over Europe. Romantic opera had fallen out of favour and
financial pressures after the First World War meant that expenditure was
necessarily on a smaller scale, with extravagant sets and large orchestras
no longer being required for successful operas. Although Osterc composed
a romantic opera on a traditional Slovene legend (Krst pri Savica) in 1921,
his main contribution consists of five operas in the years 1927 to 1930 after
his return from studies with Alois Hába and others in Prague. The first is a
one-act opera of medium length (Iz komične opere), the next a full-length
work on a traditional romantic subject (Krog s kredo) and finally three very
short operas, often with parodistic or satirical character (Saloma, Medea,
Dandin v vicah). They all have their precedents in European opera of the
time and show the composer working with the different approaches. The
question that this study addresses is what effect the musical and other de-
velopments in Europe, in particular Austria, Germany, France and Italy,
had on the nature, character and techniques of Osterc’s operas, and what is
simply a reflection of the musical spirit of the age.
Keywords: Slavko Osterc, operas, European opera, 20th-century opera,
minute opera
448
era branch in the Theatre. In this context I illuminate the historical circum-
stances as well as peculiarities in the field of Serbian music. I place attention
on frequent changes of the management staff whose representatives, being
active in both the political and cultural fields, showed inconsistency be-
tween their ideological and artistic intentions. Contesting programme pol-
icies and struggles for power inside the Theatre determined discontinui-
ty of musical practice, actually the two short periods of opera production
(1906–1909; 1913–1914) before the Great War.
Keywords: National Theatre in Belgrade, opera, programme policy, theatre
administration, musical elite
Niall O‘Loughlin
The European Musical Context of the operas of Slavko
Osterc
The Slovene composer Slavko Osterc (1895-1941) composed all his operas
between 1921 and 1930 in a period in which there was considerable develop-
ment of opera all over Europe. Romantic opera had fallen out of favour and
financial pressures after the First World War meant that expenditure was
necessarily on a smaller scale, with extravagant sets and large orchestras
no longer being required for successful operas. Although Osterc composed
a romantic opera on a traditional Slovene legend (Krst pri Savica) in 1921,
his main contribution consists of five operas in the years 1927 to 1930 after
his return from studies with Alois Hába and others in Prague. The first is a
one-act opera of medium length (Iz komične opere), the next a full-length
work on a traditional romantic subject (Krog s kredo) and finally three very
short operas, often with parodistic or satirical character (Saloma, Medea,
Dandin v vicah). They all have their precedents in European opera of the
time and show the composer working with the different approaches. The
question that this study addresses is what effect the musical and other de-
velopments in Europe, in particular Austria, Germany, France and Italy,
had on the nature, character and techniques of Osterc’s operas, and what is
simply a reflection of the musical spirit of the age.
Keywords: Slavko Osterc, operas, European opera, 20th-century opera,
minute opera
448
