After the Golden Period: Opera of the Belgrade National Theatre (1971-2011)

Abstract

Ovaj rad nastoji da ukaže na mogućnost istraživanja kulturne politike u Srbiji na primeru rada Opere Narodnog pozorišta u Beogradu, kao i repertoarske politike Uprave opere u društveno-političkom i kulturološkom okviru u periodu od 1971. do 2011. godine. Razlog da se posveti istraživanje radu Opere u pomenutom vremenskom razdoblju jeste pitanje: šta se događalo sa Operom posle zlatnog perioda? Ono što će u tekstu biti razmatrano jesu promene koje su uticale na dalji razvoj rada pomenute kulturne institucije. Pored toga, saznanje da ne postoji nijedna studija u kojoj je prikupljena i sistematizovana građa o radu Opere Narodnog pozorišta u proteklih četrdeset godina, podstakla je da se istraže mogući razlozi za „sumrak“ institucije koja je, tokom „zlatnog perioda“ bila jedna od najjačih aduta jugoslovenske savremene kulture/kulturne politike. Da li je „zlatni period“ Opere bio jedan od aspekata „zlatnog doba“ SFRJ (P. Marković) i na koje je sve načine samoupravljanje, kao organizacioni model (kulturne politike) konstituisalo tu pojavu, samo je jedno od intrigantnih pitanja koja ovaj rad postavlja, primarno se fokusirajući na period koji je usledio nakon onog „zlatnog“.

This paper tries to point out the possibility of researching the cultural politics in Serbia on the example of Belgrade National Theatre Opera’s work as well as on the example of the repertoire politics of the Opera management in the social-political and the cultural limits between 1971 and 2011. The reason to be devoted to the research of the Opera’s work within the mentioned time period is the question: What has been happening with the Opera after the golden period? What is going to be discussed in the text are the changes that have influenced the further development of the mentioned cultural institution’s work. Besides that, knowing that there is no study in which the material of the National Theatre Opera work is collected and systematized in within the last forty years, has made the search for the possible reasons for the ‘dawn’ of the institution, which was one of the strongest assets of the Yugoslav contemporary culture/ cultural politics in the golden period. Was the ‘golden period’ of the Opera one of the aspects of the ‘golden era’ of Yugoslavia (P.Marković) and in what ways did self-management, as an organizational model (of cultural politics) constitute that phenomenon is just one of the intriguing questions that this paper poses, focusing primarily onto the period that followed the ‘golden’ one.