Search

During the first several years after the World War II, guest performances of Yugoslav opera houses in Pula were, so to say, a matter of the Government's interest. The objective was to show the inhabitants of the biggest city on the Istrian peninsula - who had had a chance to see Italian opera stars during the period of Fascism (1930-1940) - that Yugoslavian theatres also had a competent performing force. The political leadership wanted to make opera and ballet music more popular; the aim was to bring it nearer to all layers of the population, especially to the working class. Opera ensembles from Zagreb, Belgrade, Ljubljana and Rijeka were regular guest performers in the city of Pula during the four-year period between 1949 and 1952. Even if one doubtfully accepts newspaper reports writing about 16 000 people attending particular performances in the Arena, it should be added that not even half that number has been reached in subsequent times, right up until the present. The large number of visitors is especially significant considering the fact that the structure of the population there changed. Population coming from the interior of Istria and from other parts of Yugoslavia settled in Pula by the end of the 1940s, when opera seasons were renewed after a ten years break. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the first several years after the World War II, guest performances of Yugoslav opera houses in Pula were, so to say, a matter of the Government's interest. The objective was to show the inhabitants of the biggest city on the Istrian peninsula - who had had a chance to see Italian opera stars during the period of Fascism (1930-1940) - that Yugoslavian theatres also had a competent performing force. The political leadership wanted to make opera and ballet music more popular; the aim was to bring it nearer to all layers of the population, especially to the working class. Opera ensembles from Zagreb, Belgrade, Ljubljana and Rijeka were regular guest performers in the city of Pula during the four-year period between 1949 and 1952. Even if one doubtfully accepts newspaper reports writing about 16 000 people attending particular performances in the Arena, it should be added that not even half that number has been reached in subsequent times, right up until the present. The large number of visitors is especially significant considering the fact that the structure of the population there changed. Population coming from the interior of Istria and from other parts of Yugoslavia settled in Pula by the end of the 1940s, when opera seasons were renewed after a ten years break. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]