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

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.