page_title: National Theatre in Belgrade
section_title: Opera
hierarchical_section_title: National Theatre in Belgrade / Drama, opera, ballet / Opera
caption_attribution_description: Lobby at the National Theatre in Belgrade, Serbia/Plafond du Théâtre national de Belgrade (salle principale), Serbie
context_page_description: The National Theatre is a theatre located in Belgrade, Serbia.
  Founded in the later half of the 19th century, it is located on the Republic Square, at the corner of Vasina and Francuska Street. With the raising of this building as well as with the implementation of the Regulations Plan of Town in Trench by Josimović from 1867, the conditions were made for the formation of today's main Republic Square in Belgrade. Built back in 1868, the National Theatre, following the fate of its own people and the country, went through different phases of the architectural and artistic development, surviving as a symbol of Serbian culture, tradition and spirituality. Today, under its roof, there are three artistic ensembles: opera, ballet, and drama.
  The National Theatre was declared a Monument of Culture of Great Importance in 1983, and it is protected by the Republic of Serbia.
context_section_description: The music ensemble of the National Theatre in Belgrade worked towards being a professional opera ensemble from 1882. The present chief conductor is Dejan Savić, and the principal concertmaster is Edit Makedonska.
  As an independent ensemble, the Opera of the National Theatre began its work in 1919. On 11 February 1919, under the leadership of the first music director of the Opera Section of the National Theatre, Stanislav Binički, a conductor, the opera Madam Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini, was performed. The first opera performances were received very favourably, most of them were operas by Italian composers (Gioacchino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi), while Serbian music was represented by the works of Stevan Hristić (The Sunset), and Petar Konjović (Prince of Zeta).
  In the ten years 1924 to 1933 Stevan Hristić was the director of the Belgrade Opera. This period marked an expansion of the repertoire and the first tour abroad. Conductors such as Lovro Matačić, Ivan Brezovšek, directors Branko Gavella and Josip Kulundžić were notable in the period between the two wars. Russian singers prevailed in the ensemble, but there were also Serbian singers such as Zdenka Zikova, Melanija Bugarinović and Nikola Cvejić; as well as Bosnian singers such as Bahrija Nuri Hadžić.
  After the Second World War, conductor Oskar Danon quickly renewed the activities of the Opera as its general manager. Special attention was dedicated to the domestic opera composers.
  The golden period of the Belgrade Opera saw significant development and international affirmation of the Serbian operatic art. Starting in 1954 with a very successful performance of Boris Godunov by Modest Mussorgsky in Switzerland as a part of a concert cycle "Clubhouse", and gramophone recordings of seven major Russian operas for Decca. The Decca series was supported by Gerald Severn, an émigré White Russian. The venue found in the then Yugoslav capital for the first batch of recordings was the cinema in the Dom Kulture ("House of culture") complex, but which could only be used after the last film of the day (around 11 p.m.) so sessions took place at night. Prince Igor and Khovanschina were recorded in February 1955, with Eugene Onegin, Life for the Tsar, Snow Maiden and Queen of Spades in September and October that year, all among the early Decca stereo records. The company's recording of Boris Godunov took place in Zagreb between the other sets of sessions.
  The culmination of this "golden period" was an outstanding production of Mazeppa by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky on the stage of the Theater des Westens in West Berlin. The most eminent foreign critics pointed out the wholeness of the performance, good teamwork and the beauty of the performing, outstanding soloist creations, acoustic superiority, the homogeneity of the choir and the professional playing of the orchestra of the National Theatre from Belgrade. The opera has attracted talented musicians, including Sándor Szabó and others.
caption: Lobby at the National Theatre
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "IM000116.JPG", "Image Make": "Hewlett-Packard", "Image Model": "Photosmart M307", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "1.11_N", "Image DateTime": "2005:10:02 04:27:31", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "Copyright 2003-2004", "Image ExifOffset": "266", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "4294967295/4294934527", "Thumbnail YResolution": "1", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "18418", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6768", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/45", "EXIF FNumber": "291/100", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2005:10:02 04:27:31", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2005:10:02 04:27:31", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "648035/196608", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "5499/1000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "1541/500", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "1541/500", "EXIF SubjectDistance": "30", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Average", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "25/4", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2048", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1536", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF GainControl": "331", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Soft", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "3", "EXIF Tag 0xA421": "5", "EXIF Tag 0xA422": "[512, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0]", "EXIF Tag 0xA423": "", "EXIF Tag 0xA424": "e", "EXIF Tag 0xA425": "[400, 1712, 1090, 199, 886, 794, 79, 0, 2, 1, 4, 37]", "EXIF Tag 0xA426": "[79, 0, 2, 1, 4, 37, 192, 255, 5, 84, 2, 0, 0, 9999, 84, 2, 2, 0, 2, 23, ... ]", "EXIF Tag 0xA427": "[]", "EXIF Tag 0xA428": "[]", "EXIF Tag 0xA429": "[84, 76, 0, 0, 23728, 2538, 52480, 91]", "EXIF Tag 0xA42A": "1", "EXIF Tag 0xA42B": "0", "EXIF Tag 0xA42C": "512", "EXIF Tag 0xA42D": "0", "EXIF Tag 0xA42E": "[]", "EXIF Tag 0xA42F": "2", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "4600"}