Arti musices, Vol. 50 No. 1-2, 2019.
Preliminary communication
https://doi.org/10.21857/m8vqrtzkg9
Towards the Foundation of the Zagreb National Opera Department: Performances of Operettas by Franz von Suppé and Their Reception
Vjera Katalinić
orcid.org/0000-0001-7230-7990
; Odsjek za povijest hrvatske glazbe HAZU, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
The text analyses the presence of music, primarily operettas, by the Dalmatian composer Franz von Suppé (1819-1895) in Zagreb theatre on the eve of the foundation of the permanent National Opera Department in 1870. Suppé’s operettas – along with acclaimed works for the light musical stage by Jacques Offenbach and Ivan Zajc – belonged to the widely accepted pieces during the preparatory phase of the 1860s that preceded the founding of the opera. However, information has been found on their earlier performances within the repertoire of the visiting German and Italian theatre companies. The operettas in the Croatian language started to be performed in 1863, mostly involving actors who were competent singers, and only a few professional singers (who would later join the opera ensemble). A small orchestra who joined the national theatre company already in 1861 in order to perform stage music with dramatic performances later also participated in its operetta productions. Suppé’s works performed in Zagreb between 1866 and 1870 included four operettas: Flotte Bursche, Dichter und Bauer, Zehn Mädchen und kein Mann and Die schöne Galathée. The audience received all of them quite well and they usually filled the theatre thus contributing significantly to its income. However, critics have often declared the operetta as an »unavoidable evil« whose merit was only to fill the house. However, a wellperformed operetta also required good and professional performers which – especially in the early stages of the Zagreb national theatre – only had to be developed. Considering the potentials of performing Suppé operettas and their reception at the Zagreb National Theatre, some conclusions can be drawn regarding not only the fate of Suppé’s works, but also the fundamental problems of musical theatre in Zagreb and its organization at that time.
Keywords
Franz von Suppé; Zagreb; Croatian National Theatre; operetta; Flotte Bursche; Dichter und Bauer; Zehn Mädchen und kein Mann; Die schöne Galathée
Hrčak ID:
234077
URI
Publication date:
6.12.2019.
Visits: 1.774 *