ПРВА ПОСЛЕРАТНА СЕЗОНА ОПЕРЕ НАРОДНОГ ПОЗОРИШТА У БЕОГРАДУ, 1944/45
THE FIRST POST-WAR OPERA SEASON OF THE NATIONAL THEATRE IN BELGRADE, 1944/45

Summary/Abstract: World War II left devastating traces on the Opera ensemble, the building, and the collections of sets and costumes of the National Theatre in Belgrade. Under extremely difficult working conditions, the first post-war opera season 1944/45 was opened with the premiere of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s opera Eugene Onegin on February 17, 1945. By July of the same year, another premiere was staged on the Stage by the Monument – Smetana’s comic opera The Bartered Bride – along with revivals of four operas performed between the two world wars and during the occupation: Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci and Puccini’s La Bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly. In February and March 1945, three opera artists from the Soviet Union – Anatoly Orfyonov, Jelena Kruglikova, and David Badridze – performed in Eugene Onegin, delighting Belgrade’s opera lovers. Before the end of this practically half-season, Evgenia Valyani, Olga Oljdek, and Josip Križaj, who had been permanent or occasional members of the Opera in the interwar period, as well as several young singers given the opportunity to demonstrate their musical and stage abilities and gain permanent engagement, also performed. Overall, despite numerous challenges, this season was successful and laid the foundations upon which the National Theatre Opera ensemble in Belgrade could create higher-quality productions and achieve significantly better artistic results in the following years.

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