OPERA PRODUCTION IN NEDJELJKO FABRIO'S CHRONICLES THE MAESTRO AND HIS APPRENTICE

Abstract

The paper focuses on the theatrological aspects of Nedjeljko Fabrio’s texts on opera productions in his musical chronicles Maestro i njegov šegrt (The Maestro and his Apprentice) written for the Republika (The Republic) magazine from 1986 to 1994, afterwards published in a book titled Orfejeva djeca (The Children of Orpheus) (2008) and subtitled complement to the history of reception in Croatia. Continuing the line of Croatian penmen who considered and evaluated both the music and theatre art and asserting the durability of multiple and diverse interconnections between the Croatian music and literature, Fabrio studied literary and musical component of operas as well as musical and stage features of their theatre productions. Considering individual opera productions in each of his chronicle Fabrio analysed the libretto, the genesis of the artwork, and the reception of its previous productions within the history of Croatian opera theatre, but he also took into consideration the current context of the production and reception and critically appraised it. Consequently, The Children of Orpheus is seen as a book which must not be overlooked in any future theatrological research of Croatian opera theatre.