Cultural Studies paper by Heltai, Gyöngyi
The Contested Identity of Hungarian Operetta
Type of Abstract (select):Abstract (max. 250 words):
In 2013 “Hungarian operetta” achieved the status of Hungaricum which is a collective term indicating a “typically Hungarian attribute, uniqueness, specialty and quality.” The goal of the paper is to show the contradictions hidden in this interpretation by highlighting some cultural and political debates related to the national or “foreign” identity of this musical entertainment genre that enjoyed widespread popularity in Hungary.
Due to the presence of its stars and melodies in Hungarian cultural memory, operetta became a popular research topic in Cultural Studies, in Cultural and Social History. Furthermore, its products provided the most significant Hungarian presence in transnational show business in the first half of 20th century. As Richard Traubner stated, „The principal operetta cities have always been Paris, Vienna, London, Berlin, Budapest and New York, as there are the places were operetta activity was greatest, and where operettas with international circulation were created and where they still are performed.” By analyzing some home and foreign interpretations of the presumed identity of the Budapest centered operetta branch, my goal is to verify the correlations between the transforming definitions and the changing political and cultural contexts. In order to understand the dynamics behind these reinterpretations, the paper highlights three sociocultural contexts: the identity formation of Hungarian operetta in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, in the interwar period (1918-1939) and in the one-party system.
Brief Professional Bio (max. 100 words):
Gyöngyi HELTAI (PhD) is a theatre historian and currently a Hungarian Visiting Professor at the Department of History & Classics of the University of Alberta. Heltai graduated from Eötvös Loránd University (Budapest) where she studied Hungarian and Russian Literature and Cultural Anthropology. Heltai defended her PhD thesis in 2006 at Laval University (Québec, Canada). Between 2006 and 2017 she been teaching at the Atelier Department of European Social Sciences and Historiography of the Eötvös Loránd University. Her primary teaching and research areas are: Hungarian Theatre History, History of Hungarian Popular Culture (operetta), Culture of the Socialist Era and Intangible Cultural Heritage.