Branislav Kriška and his Contribution to the Discourse on Opera Theory Cover Image

Branislav Kriška a jeho prínos do operno-teoretického diskurzu
Branislav Kriška and his Contribution to the Discourse on Opera Theory

Author(s): Klára Madunická
Subject(s): Theatre, Dance, Performing Arts, Recent History (1900 till today), Theory of Literature
Published by: Ústav divadelnej a filmovej vedy SAV
Keywords: Branislav Kriška; Walter Felsenstein; opera; opera direction; theatrology; music theatre

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with theoretical discourse in the field of opera in Slovakia. It focuses on the director Branislav Kriška, whom musicologists and theatrologist consider to be the most significant and, from the aspect of the aesthetic formation of the musical theatrical art, the most influential Slovak opera director of the latter half of the twentieth century. His theoretical articles published in specialized journals and programme booklets and his monograph on Giacomo Puccini, operas in the verismo style, and their staging practices, are not only valuable materials for understanding the director’s staging signature but, in the context of twentieth-century Slovak opera theatre, they represent a unique theoretical activity of a practicing theatremaker. Kriška drew on Walter Felsenstein’s concept of stage performance and his understanding of musical theatre as a musical-dramatic scenic art, in which the staging and the vocal performance elements are complementary and equal.

  • Issue Year: 71/2023
  • Issue No: 02
  • Page Range: 134 - 147
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: Slovak