Page 252 - 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
P. 252
opereta med obema svetovnima vojnama
Operetta music is thus, in other words, an empty entertainment “typ
ical for idlers and social parasites.”20 This (leftist) point of view was aimed
against the “enemy” in the upper classes.
Another leftist, Vojislav Vučković (1910–1942), wrote a similar review
of a concert broadcast on Radio Belgrade including numbers from popu-
lar operettas, held in October 1936. Among them were works by Emmer-
ich Kálmán, Émile Waldteufel alias Charles Émile Lévy, Richard Eilen-
berg, and Jules August Demersseman, along with those of other composers.
Vučković claimed that such a program was disastrous:
It is a profane ‘light music’. Instead to educate, trains and nurtures
through enjoyment in the spirit of social ethics – it confounds (za-
glupljuje), debauches, and demoralises. As an enemy of progress
and culture […] it has to be condemned.21
The works by the mentioned composers were thus “attack on art” be-
cause of their amateur harmonies, almost “pornographic” melodic lines,
simplest forms and “farcical dynamics”, resulting in pure sensual enter-
tainment.22 Vučković concluded his review with several pieces of advice to
Radio Belgrade, such as to leave the light music (laka muzika) to the bars
and cabarets and omit it from their own program.
All the mentioned composers and critics agreed that operetta must not
be performed in the main national theatre house, and instead they recom-
mended Slavic, including national, operas, or those by Wagner and Mas-
senet. Due to such a persistent, intense, and uncompromising campaign
against operetta, led by leading intellectuals of the time, the repertoire of
the National Theatre in Belgrade almost completely lacked such works.
Certain composers, like Petar Krstić or Stevan Hristić, even suggested im-
posing state control over the repertoire of the state and private institutions,
20 “šuplja blebetanja jedne degenerisane gomile iz viših krugova, bezbrižne pijanke besne
habzburške aristokratije okupljene oko jednog razmaženog i blaziranog princa koga
bi pre trebalo strpati u zavod za umno nedovoljno razvijenu mladež, nego napravi
ti od njega tipićnog predstavnika kulturne sredine jedne epohe [...]. Muzika plitka po
sadržajnosti, u stereotipnom obliku i sa monotonim ritmovima (3/4 i 2/4 dominira
ju i prosto dave slušaoce) – sve je to sračunato za kafanu i besposlen svet koji, uz šol
ju kafe, prevrće ilustrovane žurnale ii domine, koji niti u muzici niti ma u kojoj umet
nosti traži dobra duhovna doživljavanja, nego samo razonodu. To je tipična muzika
za dokoličare i socijalne parasite.” Milenko Živković, “Premijera operete ‘Slepi miš’,”
Muzički glasnik 10 (1933): 283–4.
21 Vojislav Vučković, “Profana i umetnička ‘laka muzika’,” Politika, October 12, 1936.
22 Ibid.
250
Operetta music is thus, in other words, an empty entertainment “typ
ical for idlers and social parasites.”20 This (leftist) point of view was aimed
against the “enemy” in the upper classes.
Another leftist, Vojislav Vučković (1910–1942), wrote a similar review
of a concert broadcast on Radio Belgrade including numbers from popu-
lar operettas, held in October 1936. Among them were works by Emmer-
ich Kálmán, Émile Waldteufel alias Charles Émile Lévy, Richard Eilen-
berg, and Jules August Demersseman, along with those of other composers.
Vučković claimed that such a program was disastrous:
It is a profane ‘light music’. Instead to educate, trains and nurtures
through enjoyment in the spirit of social ethics – it confounds (za-
glupljuje), debauches, and demoralises. As an enemy of progress
and culture […] it has to be condemned.21
The works by the mentioned composers were thus “attack on art” be-
cause of their amateur harmonies, almost “pornographic” melodic lines,
simplest forms and “farcical dynamics”, resulting in pure sensual enter-
tainment.22 Vučković concluded his review with several pieces of advice to
Radio Belgrade, such as to leave the light music (laka muzika) to the bars
and cabarets and omit it from their own program.
All the mentioned composers and critics agreed that operetta must not
be performed in the main national theatre house, and instead they recom-
mended Slavic, including national, operas, or those by Wagner and Mas-
senet. Due to such a persistent, intense, and uncompromising campaign
against operetta, led by leading intellectuals of the time, the repertoire of
the National Theatre in Belgrade almost completely lacked such works.
Certain composers, like Petar Krstić or Stevan Hristić, even suggested im-
posing state control over the repertoire of the state and private institutions,
20 “šuplja blebetanja jedne degenerisane gomile iz viših krugova, bezbrižne pijanke besne
habzburške aristokratije okupljene oko jednog razmaženog i blaziranog princa koga
bi pre trebalo strpati u zavod za umno nedovoljno razvijenu mladež, nego napravi
ti od njega tipićnog predstavnika kulturne sredine jedne epohe [...]. Muzika plitka po
sadržajnosti, u stereotipnom obliku i sa monotonim ritmovima (3/4 i 2/4 dominira
ju i prosto dave slušaoce) – sve je to sračunato za kafanu i besposlen svet koji, uz šol
ju kafe, prevrće ilustrovane žurnale ii domine, koji niti u muzici niti ma u kojoj umet
nosti traži dobra duhovna doživljavanja, nego samo razonodu. To je tipična muzika
za dokoličare i socijalne parasite.” Milenko Živković, “Premijera operete ‘Slepi miš’,”
Muzički glasnik 10 (1933): 283–4.
21 Vojislav Vučković, “Profana i umetnička ‘laka muzika’,” Politika, October 12, 1936.
22 Ibid.
250
