Conference Agenda

Since the 1980s, cultural transfer has been an important research subject in the Humanities, focusing not only on one-sided reception but on the deliberate transfer and circulation of (inter)national knowledge (Espagne/Werner 1985ff.). In the field of operetta studies (a relatively young, but very active one), cultural transfer has gained more attention in recent years (e.g., Gänzl 2011; Senelick 2017; Scott 2019). However, much is still to be carried out as scholars have only recently started shifting their focus from the analysis of well-known centers of operetta production, such as Paris or Vienna, to more “peripheral” geographical market areas.

As an essentially comedic genre, which was highly commercial and very much influenced by contemporary trends, media, and market dynamics, operetta was subject to a wide range of transfer practices. Because of their liminal status between art and entertainment, operettas (their music, libretti, casting, and other features) were often changed, adapted, and appropriated without much protest or concern (e.g., Sorba, 2006; De Lucca, 2019).

This study session focuses on three case studies illustrating various degrees and practices of operetta transfer. They all pay special attention to the role diverse cultural actors and agents played in the transfer process and the means they used to make the genre a success in their specific contexts. Through these case studies, we also want to promote research on urban contexts which, despite their impact on global phenomena, are easily overlooked by the scientific discourse on operetta. Amsterdam, Stockholm, and Milan each knew a vibrant, but very different operetta culture, and insights into these cultural landscapes can teach us about the many ways the cultural transfer of popular music theater functioned in nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Europe. Finally, our papers also emphasize the tight, yet not always evident connections between various European cities, influencing local developments in the “periphery” and also revealing strategic reactions of individuals to their surroundings.

In the second half of the nineteenth century, Amsterdam theater-goers could marvel at spectacular performances of various operettas night after night. Even though the Netherlands never knew its own national operetta tradition, operettas by foreign composers such as Jacques Offenbach and Charles Lecocq were all the rage. However, since any theater could produce any operetta, theatre directors and other historical actors strategically applied different techniques to entice people to choose their productions over others. In this paper, I will analyze these strategies of transfer, providing insight into the Amsterdam theatrical landscape and the ways in which foreign operettas, written in a different cultural context, were adapted to fit a new and specific urban context.

Even though operetta transfer has gained more attention in the academic debate in recent years, the Dutch case was never considered. However, as the Netherlands cannot be categorized as a context of operetta production, but only as a context of operetta reception and adaptation, the case is a very compelling one. In Amsterdam especially, audiences could experience a wide array of operetta performances, adapted specifically to suit their tastes.

Using a variety of sources, including libretti, translations, memoires and journal and newspaper articles, I will analyze the transfer strategies used in three different theatres in Amsterdam: the Grand Théâtre, the Salon des Variétés and Theater Frascati. Important aspects include language, style and commerciality. Linking my findings to quantitative data regarding the popularity of operettas in Amsterdam and scholarship about the specific social, political and cultural characteristics of and societal debates in The Netherlands in general, will enable me to demonstrate how foreign ideas about norms, values and social relations were molded to fit a specific Dutch context, and by whom.

In 1935, the operetta star Max Hansen celebrated a triumphal success with his staging of Värdshuset vita hästen in Stockholm, a Swedish translation of the German popular music theater piece Im weißen Rössl (world premiere: 1930 in Berlin).

Hansen had made himself a striking career in Germany in the 1920s as a cabaret artist, singer, and operetta performer. Being of Jewish descent, he moved to safer places in Europe after Hitler came to power, finally arriving in Stockholm and continuing to perform his repertoire there. By working with operettas he already knew from his years in Germany, Hansen could continue his success in Sweden. But he didn’t only help operetta to another heyday in Stockholm: With his stagings, he also functioned as a beacon of hope for persecuted operetta artists. As letters to Hansen show, German and Austrian artists begged him to get an engagement in Hansen’s stagings and hence find a way to escape from the National Socialists.

In this paper, I will examine the impact of Max Hansen on the operetta transfers from Berlin to Stockholm in the 1930s, with a special focus on the musical theater work Im weißen Rössl. Even though Stockholm had a thriving operetta scene for over 100 years (Paavolainen, 2020), there has been little research on this subject. The 1930s are an interesting decade to look at, with its fateful developments in Europe and especially Germany causing the mobility of many operetta artists. Therefore, this paper wants to shed light on the impact of people like Max Hansen and their role in the transfer of popular music theater at a time of persecution.

Since its foundation in Milan in 1874, the Casa Sonzogno focused rather programmatically on the expansion of the operatic experience on a national and international/transnational scale. For both ideological and commercial reasons (the latter, dictated by the suffocating music-publishing market in the Lombard capital) Edoardo Sonzogno (1836-1920) and his nephews Riccardo (1871-1915) and Lorenzo (1877-1920) systematically expanded both the repertoire and the system for the production and dissemination of music theatre. In doing so, they continuously experimented with networks, media, formats, adaptations and audiences, also showing an extraordinary agency in and receptivity towards a rapidly changing market. It is within this process of expansion that we can frame many policies implemented by the Casa Sonzogno, for instance the importation of French and (later) Austro-German operettas and other pieces of “lighter” musical theatre, the concorsi (competitions) established to stimulate the local production of new works and genres, and the numerous operations of transfer, translation and adaptation of musical material across media, venues and audiences.

Using a varied array of sources and outputs, as well as a detailed reconstruction of the commercial and ideological context of late-nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century Italy, this paper will explore relevant case studies within the experience of the Casa Sonzogno, from its first importations and adaptations of French works in the 1870s to the impresariato and concorsi of the 1890s, until the operetta films produced by Lorenzo Sonzongo’s “Musical Films'' company in the 1910s. This exploration will hopefully not only reveal a plethora of forgotten musical experiences, but also cast new light on the impact of a frequently undermined agent within a changing and complex cultural landscape and market.