Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-mkpzs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-24T17:08:45.101Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

5 - Operetta in the Czech National Revival: The Provisional Theatre Years

from Part I - Early Centres of Operetta

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 November 2019

Anastasia Belina
Affiliation:
University of Leeds
Derek B. Scott
Affiliation:
University of Leeds
Get access

Summary

Studies of opera during the Czech national revival of the 1860s and 1870s have understandably focused on the signal works of the burgeoning repertoire by the likes of Smetana, Dvořák and Fibich. But the stage of the Prague Provisional Theatre, the first establishment to perform plays and opera exclusively in Czech, was home to a much more omnivorous spread of works in which operetta played a highly significant role. With the arrival of Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underworld in 1863, operetta rapidly grew to become a major part of the repertoire. Indeed, by the early 1870s performances of works by Offenbach outstripped those of any other composer. This chapter looks at the development of operetta in the Provisional Theatre, the polyglot nature of the repertoire, including its heavy emphasis on dance and a range other spectacles, and Czech composers’ somewhat ambivalent relationship with the genre; while comic opera certainly flourished among the Czechs, no native tradition of operetta managed to become established in these pioneering years.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Recommended Reading

František, Bartoš, ed. Bedřich Smetana: Letters and Reminiscences. Trans. Daphne Rusbridge. Prague: Artia, 1955.Google Scholar
Czerný, František, and Klosová, Ljuba, eds. Dějiny Českého divadla. Vol. 3. / The history of Czech theatre. Prague: Academia nakladatelství Československé akademie věd, 1977.Google Scholar
Smaczny, Jan. Daily Repertoire of the Provisional Theatre in Prague, Chronological List. Prague: Miscellanea Muscologica, 1994.Google Scholar
Smaczny, Jan. ‘Grand Opera among the Czechs’. In Charlton, David, ed., The Cambridge Companion to Grand Opera. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.Google Scholar
Tyrrell, John. Czech Opera. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×