Page 227 - Weiss, Jernej, ur./ed. 2021. Opereta med obema svetovnima vojnama ▪︎ Operetta between the Two World Wars. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 5
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oi: https://doi.org/10.26493/978-961-293-055-4.225-240

Operetta in Sarajevo
Between the Two World Wars

Fatima Hadžić
Univerza v Sarajevu
University of Sarajevo

Introduction
The National Theatre in Sarajevo1 was established in 1919.2 However, it took
two years for the theatre ensemble to perform before a Sarajevo audience, i.e.
to resolve problems with the theatre building and management,3 and thus
the ensemble spent the first season on tour (Tuzla, Brčko, Dubrovnik).4 On
the occasion of the opening ceremony organised from 22 to 24 October 1921,
the doors of the National Theatre officially opened for Sarajevo audiences.

The National Theatre was a centre of Sarajevo theatre and cultural life,
the first (and only) professional institution of culture and arts in the period

1 The National Theatre in Sarajevo was established as the “National Theatre for the
Western Regions in Sarajevo”. In the text, the abbreviated name National Theatre is
used.

2 Pursuant to the Decision by the Ministerial Council of the Kingdom of 1 September
1919, the following three categories of national theatres were defined: state (nation-
al) in Belgrade, Zagreb and Ljubljana, regional subsidised in Skopje, Novi Sad, Sara-
jevo, Split, and Osijek, and municipal (travelling) theatres in Niš, Kragujevac, Varaž-
din and Maribor. In line with this, on 1 October 1919 Government of the Kingdom
of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes made the decision on the formation of the theatre; this
was the basis for the decree of 17 November 1919, on the establishment of the Nation-
al Theatre for Western Regions in Sarajevo. Josip Lešić, Sarajevsko pozorište između
dva rata (1918–1929), vol. 1 (Sarajevo: Svjetlost, 1976), 66.

3 Ibid., 66–9.
4 The National Theatre ensemble made its first performance in Tuzla, on 27 November

1920, in the theatre hall of hotel “Bristol”. They performed in Tuzla until 10 January
1921. Ibid., 76.

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