Inscenácie Mozartových opier na Slovensku ako dialóg o podobách režijného divadla
Mozart´s Opera Stagings in Slovakia as Dialogue on Directorial Theatre Shapes

Summary/Abstract: In his contribution a prominent Slovak opera critic and theorist analyses the shapes of directorial interpretations of Mozart´s operas in the Slovak National Theatre Opera stagings during years 1920 — 2001. Out of panorama of contemporary conventional, and with regard to its theatrical staging not very inventionally produced Mozart´s operas, some outstanding aesthetic actions have been emerging. In the period between wars, the staging of Magic Flute (1938) by director Viktor ŠULC (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 stagings of the director Karl JERNEK represent the effort to equal with certain ideological and poetic compromises of realism established by the contemporary official aesthetics. The evidence is seen on two stagings 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 historionic work, and the effort to update the historionic leading towards the psychological miniature, towards tracking of the internal intention of the character, and towards picturing certain existentialistic dimension of acting persons. He also made a staging of Magic Flute (1949). JERNEK´s peer, an outstanding director from Brno Miloš WASSERBAUER created two stagings of Mozart´s operas The Marriage of Figaro (1955) and Magic Flute T(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 SLÁDEK, a pantomime and director of the pantomime theatre, made a staging of The Marriage of 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 erotic situations, which were in the previous stagings 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 opera actors. Towards modern directorial theatre tendencies in opera during break through of 20th and 21th century have been approaching Mozart´s stagings of operas Cosi fan tutte by director Pavol SMOLÍK (1998), and Don Giovanni by director Jozef BEDNÁRIK (2001). Both have artistically valuable and problem sides.

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