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A REFASHIONED IMAGE OF REVOLUTION AS MUSICAL THEATRE
the operetta features a large cast and offers excellent opportunities for actors
of smaller roles as well, even if not all of them have songs. In terms of music,
its “ancientness” was an ideological advantage, since the implicit objective of
the first nationalized season was to be inspired by “the age of Offenbach and
Johann Strauss” and to create something new from and by them. The return
to “the Golden Age of operetta” was motivated by the aversion to the era of
Emmerich Kalman and Franz Lehar, when “capitalist society” made operetta
a “salable product” and launched its “mass production”.® Critics appreciated
the divergence from musical comedies of the first half of the 20" century” and
projected an image reserved for Soviet operettas on Students of Vienna.‘ They
also praised the “modern retouch” of Aladar Majorossy, who put together the
operetta’s musical material from the works of Johann Strauss Jr. and music of
his time"! by "remaining in style but doing his best for the sake of orchestral
brilliance and shining colors”. With the help of Blanka Péchy, then cultural
attaché of the Hungarian Embassy in Vienna, Margit Gaspar acquired “from
the Vienna Archives Strauss’s lesser-known, Hungarian-related songs, born
around 1848”, which were also included.‘ While waltz recurred in the music
from time to time and even Kaiser-Walzer (Emperor Waltz) was inserted as a
ballet at the beginning of the second act, those passages became highlights that
were made structurally and rhythmically similar to popular marches and mass
songs of the late 1940s. E.g. No. 2., with its alternating passages of solo and
chorus (Gabor and the students’ vocals) and lyrics from Sandor Petéfi’s poem
Italy, the first finale with a similar structure (“Now swing the flag”), the second
finale with the contrast of Radetzky March and Rákóczi March as the “duel”
between Strauss Sr. and Strauss Jr. and the finale ultimo with a grandioso
chorus of the crowd that overran the castle park (“Great times are coming”).
later replaced by Erzsike. No. 9. appears as “(Aniko’s) song” in the score published at Mihaly
Preszler’s printing works in 1949, but the name Aniko is placed in parentheses and Erzsike
is written above it.
Gáspár: A könnyű műfaj kérdései, 8.
Ibid., 7. — Margit Gáspár had to insert a premiere between Students of Vienna and The Grand
Duchess of Gerolstein since Péter Szász did not rework Offenbachs operetta on time and the
task had to be delegated to István Békeffy and Dezső Kellér. Ironically, it was The Violet of
Montmartre by Emmerich Kálmán, refreshed by Iván Szenes. "We produced it by necessity
and a bit concealed.” Semsei, in Az operett kérdéseiről, 4.
Cf. “The performance is a huge step forward from a musical point of view as well.
The exalting, purifying wind blew away the lewd melodies of the jazz-rubbish and its
flamboyant, penetrant tones. It was definitely a breakthrough." Dénes Tóth: Kapunyitás az
Állami Operettszínházban, Színház és mozi, Vol. 3, No. 39, 294 September, 1949, 7.
Cf. Strauss’s music “sounded the pure, serene and unbiased joy of life, [and offered] a way out
of the squalor of bleak, cynical and distorting Broadway spirituality.” Ibid.
For example, Fiakerlied, composed by Gustav Pick in 1885, and an essence of Wienerlied in
itself, became Tobias, the fiacre carriage driver’s song (No. 10) and offered Tivadar Bilicsi a
hit he had a penchant for, singing it for the rest of his life.
Toth: Kapunyitas, 7.
Venczel: Virágkor, Part 1, 17.
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