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Some Remarks on the Study of the Repertoire of (not only) National Theatres
This essay focuses on the problems that emerge during the examination and evaluation of the repertoire of opera theatres. The idea was inspired by the publication of Philipp Ther‘s In der Mitte der Gesellschaft. Operntheater in Zentraleuropa 1815–1914 [In the Middle of Society. Opera Theatres in Central Europe 1815–1914], 2006. In an original way, Ther analyses selected Central-European theatres focusing on national repertoire, and a network of relations and parallels occurring in this cultural ambience. However, his description of opera production is influenced by older literature, from which he adopted several simplifications, something evident, for example, in the passages discussing the situation in Prague. In the course of his composing career, Smetana had evolved as a Czech national composer; nevertheless, it is nonsense to apply this image retrospectively and consider his first opera Braniboři v Čechách [The Brandenburgers in Bohemia] as a kind of an anti-Habsburg manifesto. Many of Ther’s stereotypes are based on 19th-century opera journalism, e.g. the vaguely comprehended term of “Wagnerism”, or the conception of 19th-century opera development from the traditional aria opera to the “progressive” musical drama. The image of the period‘s repertoire is distorted also by a lack of awareness of the period‘s theatrical practice (the confined milieu and unsatisfying acoustics, the line-up of the orchestra, cuts, improvisations of the performers in singspiels with spoken dialogues).