Dunayevsky, Czech Edition: On Soviet Operetta in Czechoslovakia, Its Cultural Significance, and Its Artistic Character
Abstract
The boom of Soviet operetta repertoire in 1950s Czechoslovakia happened due to political reasons and was accompanied by many culturally significant phenomena. More than 15 different Soviet operettas were staged at Czech-language professional theatres in the era of communism. Some of them, especially operettas by Isaac Dunayevsky and Yuri Milyutin, were presumably popular enough to be staged both in the 1950s, in the 1970s, and 1980s (after the Warsaw pact invasion to Czechoslovakia). This state reflects to a certain extent the state of operetta programming in the Soviet Union.
The article focuses on Czech-language productions of Isaac Dunayevsky's White Acacia (1955). Dunayevsky is traditionally considered a pioneer of Soviet popular song and operetta. The article focuses on the diversity of Soviet operetta repertoire in Czechoslovakia, in context of which the White Acacia (as well as other operettas by Dunayevsky) had a major role and was staged many times.
Soviet operetta was not a genre as unified and homogeneous as it might seem from the desired or stereotypical image of such genre in the Soviet context. Dunayevsky's last operetta White Acacia brings in some questions about the actual character of Soviet operetta and its links to European 20th century operetta tradition. Soviet jazz musician Leonid Utyosov defended White Acacia in his review of the Moscow production in Sovetskaya Muzyka. He rejects the accusations of exoticism and artificialism of some numbers in operetta claiming that socialist realism is supposed to be based on artist's dreams and ideals instead of on "a photography-like" technique of mimesis. Utyosov, incidentally perhaps, alludes to the overall problem of Soviet operetta as a genre which strives to maintain characteristics of the operetta genre while satisfying the needs of Soviet power.
These negotiations of power are transferred to the Czechoslovak context, in which Soviet operettas had to become a role-model, and at the same time, it was desirable for operetta theatres to preserve the traditional receptional attractiveness of their repertoire. It is clear that Soviet operettas could not replace the popularity of older Czech, Viennese, German and French shows, or American musicals in Czechoslovakia. The enthusiastic tone of then-Czechoslovak press, however, claims the opposite and creates a certain ideal image of Soviet operetta serving as a role-model.
This discourse, however, has to be confronted with the reality of productions. After having analysed the Czech productions, I came to a conclusion that they seem to be reinterpreting the original in a highly symptomatic way. The jazzness of the original Soviet production is pushed aside. The specific cultural reception of once-cosmopolitan city of Odessa in Soviet Union seems to be replaced by a stereotypical "Russian" interpretation in the Czech context, i.e. from the outside. Briefly said, the system of cultural signs functioning in the original is changed and becomes a new system which works in a different way. My aim is to capture these differences and transfers, and by describing its mechanisms, to understand the role of Soviet operetta in communist Czechoslovakia. For this purpose, the article will also include a repertoire overview of professional Czech-language music theatres over the years of the Czechoslovak communism (1948-1989). Thus, understanding the cultural and political role of Soviet operettas will become more comprehensive while seen in the context of overall reality of Czechoslovak music theatre.