The Girl from the Mining Settlement: Emancipation through Sentimentality in the First Miners' Operetta
2023
Abstract
The 1942 operetta Děvčátko z kolonie (The Girl from the Mining Settlement) by the prominent Czech composer Rudolf Kubín, allegedly the first operetta from the mining milieu, achieved significant success notably in the industrial regions of thenCzechoslovakia. In seeking "the right musical language of miners", Kubín employed a pastiche of various genres from different sources and with different connotations.
However, the overall character of the piece can be described as sentimental. The paper explores the emancipatory role of the operetta in shaping the "authentic" popular style of mining regions.