MOZART'S OPERA STAGING IN SLOVAKIA AS DIALOGUE ON DIRECTORIAL THEATRE SHAPES

• Authors: Blahynka M.
• Languages of publication: SK

Abstracts

EN

In his contribution a prominent Slovak opera critic and theorist analyses the shapes of the directorial interpretations of Mozart's operas in the Slovak National Theatre Opera staging during the years 1920 - 2001. In the period between wars, the staging of 'Magic Flute' (1938) by director Viktor Sulc (Max Reinhard's student) can be used to demonstrate the connection of the Slovak theatre with post- expressionist development of the middle-European opera theatre. In the period after the end of World War II staging of the director Karl Jernek represent the effort to equal with the certain ideological and poetic compromises of realism established by the contemporary official aesthetics. The evidence is seen on two staging of 'Don Giovanni' (1956 and 1961). The first one is orientated to the contemporary understanding of realism, the second is a bit diverted, and the scenographic descriptiveness is substituted by an emphasis on the history. He also made a staging of 'Magic Flute' (1949). Jernek's peer, an outstanding director from Brno Milos Wasserbauer created two staging of Mozart's operas 'Le Nozze di Figaro' (1955) and 'Magic Flute' (1969) in Bratislava, which exceed the contemporary requirements towards realism and aim at seeking the ideal and psychological dimension of Mozart's musical - dramatic characters. While 70-ties and 80-ties are considered to be the years of declination (decadence, or stagnation) in the Slovak National Theatre Opera with regard to directorial interpretation of Mozart's operas, after 1989 new staging tendencies have been developing. Milan Sladek, a pantomime and director of the pantomime theatre, made a staging of 'Le Nozze di Figaro' (1991) in the form of a puppet theatre. Through puppets representing types of commedie dell'arte, in the opera staging of 'The Marriage of Figaro', he is revealing mainly the erotic situations, which were in the previous staging of 'The Marriage of Figaro' outlined with decency, and is using a type of skittishness, which could - when compared to puppets - hardly be achieved by the opera actors. Towards modern directorial theatre tendencies in opera during break through of 20th and 21th century have been approaching Mozart's staging of operas 'Cosi fan tutte' by director Pavol Smolik (1998), and 'Don Giovanni' by director Jozef Bednarik (2001). Both have the artistically valuable and problem sides. With Bednarik, who reached to opera from drama theatre, and from opera glanced off to the commercial musical projects, positioning an opera story into the surrounding of a call- house is not surprising, similarly like the concluding scene with picturing 'Don Giovanni' in a mental hospital getting the shots of a cold shower.

Keywords

EN

MOZART'S OPERAS; OPERA STAGING; SLOVAK NATIONAL THEATRE

Discipline

• ARTS_&_ARCHITECTURE: ARTS & ARCHITECTURE

• Publisher: Institute of Theatre and Arts, Slovak Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Slovenské divadlo (Slovak Theatre)
• Year: 2006
• Volume: 54
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 367-380
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Blahynka M.

• M. Blahynka, Kabinet divadla a filmu SAV, Klemensova 19, 913 64 Bratislava, Slovak Republic

Identifiers

CEJSH db identifier

07SKAAAA01954166