Page 443 - Weiss, Jernej, ur. 2017. Glasbene migracije: stičišče evropske glasbene raznolikosti - Musical Migrations: Crossroads of European Musical Diversity. Koper/Ljubljana: Založba Univerze na Primorskem in Festival Ljubljana. Studia musicologica Labacensia, 1
P. 443
summaries
ry in 1919 by the Glasbena Matica musical society, there was a shortage of
adequately trained personnel. Economic migration was thus a necessary
consequence of sociopolitical and cultural conditions in the then Kingdom
of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and across Europe in general. Figures suit-
able for various musical and theatrical roles were sought in Czechoslova-
kia, Poland, among the Croats and Serbs, and so on, resulting in migration
of considerable intensity. Fascism prompted the emigration of ethnic Slo-
venes from Trieste, while the October Revolution and the events follow-
ing it caused the emigration of Russian artists. The first general manager
and artistic director of the Ljubljana Opera after the war was the Croa-
tian conductor Friderik Rukavina, who already had an international ca-
reer behind him. The majority of productions during his tenure in Ljublja-
na (1918–1925) featured nationally diverse casts. Leading roles were assigned
to guests. Czech, Polish and Russian performers predominated, and pro-
ductions with entirely Slovene casts were extremely rare and for the most
part comic in nature. At the start of every season Rukavina struggled to fill
the gaps in his company and was forced to seek suitable soloists and oth-
er figures. In most cases these were Slavs. Although conditions favoured
and encouraged migration, some of the new arrivals, particularly singers,
proved to be beginners and not up to the requirements of the roles assigned
to them. This was one of the main accusations levelled at Rukavina and the
reason he was forced out of his post as general manager. On the other hand
a number of outstanding individuals – singers, ballet dancers and others –
arrived in Ljubljana only to realise almost immediately that such a small
theatre, starved of personnel and insufficiently ambitious, offered few op-
portunities for artistic growth. In most cases, they soon departed for more
congenial pastures. The destiny of the Ljubljana Opera after 1925, when its
management was taken over by Mirko Polič, did not differ much from the
Rukavina period. Personnel problems, which had a significant impact on
the institution’s repertoire, continued until the end of the 1920s. It was not
until after 1930 that the first fruits of the systematic training of singers, ac-
tors and dancers at the Ljubljana Conservatory began to be apparent, while
a further contribution to raising the level of performance and interpreta-
tion was made by those leading figures of Slovene origin who had honed
their sills abroad and now returned, either permanently or as guest artists,
to the stage of the Ljubljana Opera.
Keywords: National Theatre in Ljubljana, Opera, Friderik Rukavina, migra-
tion, opera company
441
ry in 1919 by the Glasbena Matica musical society, there was a shortage of
adequately trained personnel. Economic migration was thus a necessary
consequence of sociopolitical and cultural conditions in the then Kingdom
of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and across Europe in general. Figures suit-
able for various musical and theatrical roles were sought in Czechoslova-
kia, Poland, among the Croats and Serbs, and so on, resulting in migration
of considerable intensity. Fascism prompted the emigration of ethnic Slo-
venes from Trieste, while the October Revolution and the events follow-
ing it caused the emigration of Russian artists. The first general manager
and artistic director of the Ljubljana Opera after the war was the Croa-
tian conductor Friderik Rukavina, who already had an international ca-
reer behind him. The majority of productions during his tenure in Ljublja-
na (1918–1925) featured nationally diverse casts. Leading roles were assigned
to guests. Czech, Polish and Russian performers predominated, and pro-
ductions with entirely Slovene casts were extremely rare and for the most
part comic in nature. At the start of every season Rukavina struggled to fill
the gaps in his company and was forced to seek suitable soloists and oth-
er figures. In most cases these were Slavs. Although conditions favoured
and encouraged migration, some of the new arrivals, particularly singers,
proved to be beginners and not up to the requirements of the roles assigned
to them. This was one of the main accusations levelled at Rukavina and the
reason he was forced out of his post as general manager. On the other hand
a number of outstanding individuals – singers, ballet dancers and others –
arrived in Ljubljana only to realise almost immediately that such a small
theatre, starved of personnel and insufficiently ambitious, offered few op-
portunities for artistic growth. In most cases, they soon departed for more
congenial pastures. The destiny of the Ljubljana Opera after 1925, when its
management was taken over by Mirko Polič, did not differ much from the
Rukavina period. Personnel problems, which had a significant impact on
the institution’s repertoire, continued until the end of the 1920s. It was not
until after 1930 that the first fruits of the systematic training of singers, ac-
tors and dancers at the Ljubljana Conservatory began to be apparent, while
a further contribution to raising the level of performance and interpreta-
tion was made by those leading figures of Slovene origin who had honed
their sills abroad and now returned, either permanently or as guest artists,
to the stage of the Ljubljana Opera.
Keywords: National Theatre in Ljubljana, Opera, Friderik Rukavina, migra-
tion, opera company
441
