engleski

Horizons of Intolerance in the Operas Adel and Mara by Josip Hatze and Adel's Song by Ivo Parać

The story of forbidden love between a young Muslim trader and a local Catholic girl in 16th century Split has inspired different epic, dramatic and operatic adaptations. The latter ones are two Croatian operas from the first half of the 20th century, Josip Hatze's Adel and Mara (1932) and Ivo Parać's Adel's Song (1941/1951). They are examined in a comparative analysis reminiscent of the one by Josip Andreis (1979), but taking into account matters of the socio-political and cultural context. This study outlines the processes of adaptation from the epic Unfortunate Mara (1861) by Luka Botić and the drama of the same title (1922) by Niko Bartulović, undertaken by the two composers and their librettists, laying emphasis on the political context of animosities between pro-Italian and pro-Slavic currents in Split of the period, as well as the movement Orjuna. The reception of the two operas shows that Hatze's had enjoyed a more positive appeal despite the fact that the work is strongly determined by the specific ideological context of the time of its creation, in contrast to Parać's less "politicised" opera. While Adel and Mara stresses the differences between the two ethnic and/or religious groups with the use of orientalisms and makes Adel's character undergo a kind of "musical assimilation", Adel's Song, especially in the revision of 1951, strives to attain more "universal" dimensions.

opera, Split, Luka Botić, Orjuna, ethnic and religious conflict, assimilation

Prijevod rada br. 724337 na engleski jezik.