Page 258 - 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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opereta med obema svetovnima vojnama
Polish motifs appear in a dozen operetta works, spanning the period of
50 years, from Der Bettelstudent by Carl Millöcker (1882) up to Die schöne
Carlotti (1943) by Willy Czernik. What is striking about this abundant rep-
ertoire is first and foremost a tendency to treat Polish elements as carriers
of exoticism, with a distinct Polish culture adding an attractive tone, col-
our and atmosphere to the course of dramatic events.3 Still, it is necessary
to single out a group of a few operettas wherein social and cultural issues,
shown against the Polish background, come into prominence in a particu-
lar way. Their authors did not limit themselves to showing Polish people as
an exotic ethnic group, bringing in an appealing element of contrast to the
main plot of the work, but they made an attempt to present essential politi-
cal and cultural issues associated with this ethnic group in a more detailed
manner. One must not forget the historical context, namely the circum-
stances and times when these works were composed. It is the year 1918 that
seems to be an obvious turning point for the way in which Polish people
were presented, the year of regaining independence by Poland after more
than a hundred years of partitions and the absence of the country on the
map of Europe.4
Polnische Hochzeit, composed in 1937 by Joseph Beer to the lyrics of
Alfred Grünwald and Fritz Löhner-Beda, appears to be one of the most in-
teresting exponents of this kind of repertoire. Beer (1908–1987), a Polish
composer of Jewish descent, studied music first in his hometown of Lvov,
and next in Vienna. His first success as a composer of stage musical works
was the premiere of the operetta Der Prinz von Schiras, written together
with Löhner-Beda in 1934. The operetta Polnische Hochzeit, the premiere of
which took place in the Stadttheater in Zurich on 3 April 1937, was anoth-
und nationale Identitäten im (Musik-) Theater: Vorträge und Gespräche des Salz
burger Symposions 2001, vol. 2, ed. Peter Csobádi et al. (Anif-Salzburg: Verlag Muel-
ler-Speiser, 2003), 829–42. The title of the article was derived from the text Polenblut
(No. 7, Marschlied: Brüder, ich bin verliebt).
3 Interest in the subject of the fates and customs of various nations’ representatives
seems to be typical of and frequently encountered in operetta works written in the
first decades of the 20th century. Derek B. Scott defines German operetta of this time
as ‘a cosmopolitan genre’, drawing our attention both to diverse types of interests
and topics, changes in operetta styles, as well as affiliation of the genre composers
with the milieu of the Jewish Dispersion, which facilitated worldwide distribution
of this repertoire. Derek B. Scott, “Early Twentieth-Century Operetta from German
Stage: A Cosmopolitan Genre,” The Musical Quarterly 99, no. 2 (2016): 254–79.
4 Comprehensive information on Polish history during this period can be found in:
Norman Davies, God’s Playground. A History of Poland, Vol. II: 1795 to the Present
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981).
256
Polish motifs appear in a dozen operetta works, spanning the period of
50 years, from Der Bettelstudent by Carl Millöcker (1882) up to Die schöne
Carlotti (1943) by Willy Czernik. What is striking about this abundant rep-
ertoire is first and foremost a tendency to treat Polish elements as carriers
of exoticism, with a distinct Polish culture adding an attractive tone, col-
our and atmosphere to the course of dramatic events.3 Still, it is necessary
to single out a group of a few operettas wherein social and cultural issues,
shown against the Polish background, come into prominence in a particu-
lar way. Their authors did not limit themselves to showing Polish people as
an exotic ethnic group, bringing in an appealing element of contrast to the
main plot of the work, but they made an attempt to present essential politi-
cal and cultural issues associated with this ethnic group in a more detailed
manner. One must not forget the historical context, namely the circum-
stances and times when these works were composed. It is the year 1918 that
seems to be an obvious turning point for the way in which Polish people
were presented, the year of regaining independence by Poland after more
than a hundred years of partitions and the absence of the country on the
map of Europe.4
Polnische Hochzeit, composed in 1937 by Joseph Beer to the lyrics of
Alfred Grünwald and Fritz Löhner-Beda, appears to be one of the most in-
teresting exponents of this kind of repertoire. Beer (1908–1987), a Polish
composer of Jewish descent, studied music first in his hometown of Lvov,
and next in Vienna. His first success as a composer of stage musical works
was the premiere of the operetta Der Prinz von Schiras, written together
with Löhner-Beda in 1934. The operetta Polnische Hochzeit, the premiere of
which took place in the Stadttheater in Zurich on 3 April 1937, was anoth-
und nationale Identitäten im (Musik-) Theater: Vorträge und Gespräche des Salz
burger Symposions 2001, vol. 2, ed. Peter Csobádi et al. (Anif-Salzburg: Verlag Muel-
ler-Speiser, 2003), 829–42. The title of the article was derived from the text Polenblut
(No. 7, Marschlied: Brüder, ich bin verliebt).
3 Interest in the subject of the fates and customs of various nations’ representatives
seems to be typical of and frequently encountered in operetta works written in the
first decades of the 20th century. Derek B. Scott defines German operetta of this time
as ‘a cosmopolitan genre’, drawing our attention both to diverse types of interests
and topics, changes in operetta styles, as well as affiliation of the genre composers
with the milieu of the Jewish Dispersion, which facilitated worldwide distribution
of this repertoire. Derek B. Scott, “Early Twentieth-Century Operetta from German
Stage: A Cosmopolitan Genre,” The Musical Quarterly 99, no. 2 (2016): 254–79.
4 Comprehensive information on Polish history during this period can be found in:
Norman Davies, God’s Playground. A History of Poland, Vol. II: 1795 to the Present
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1981).
256
