FULL The Cobbler and the Devil (Tomislav Uhlik) Zagreb 2024 Josip Galić, Lovre Gujinović, Petra Cik
Information on the Performance
- Work Title: The cobbler and the devil or Postolar i vrag
- Composer: Uhlik Tomislav
- Libretto: based on The Shoemaker and the Devil by August Šenoa Libretto Text, Libretto Index
- Venue & Opera Company: Muzička Akademija, Zagreb, Croatia
- Recorded: February 17, 2024
- Type: Staged Opera Live
- Singers: Josip Galić, Lovre Gujinović, Petra Cik, Hana Ilčić, Marija Žalac, Valentina Đuka, Vinka Siladi, Nada Tomica Klišanin, Danijel Vukelja
- Conductor: Ivan Josip Skender
- Orchestra:
- Stage Director: Mario Kovač
- Stage Designer: Leo Vukelić
- Costume Designer: Iva-Marija Bitanga
- Lighting Designer: Alen Marin
Information about the Recording
- Published by: Muzička Akademija
- Date Published: 2024
- Format: Streaming
- Quality Video: 4 Audio:4
- Subtitles: nosubs
- Video Recording from: YouTube FULL VIDEO
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON THIS PERFORMANCE
Composer, conductor and music pedagogue, in his rich career he led the Lado Ensemble, worked as an accompanist and conductor at the Komedija theater, and from 2002 until his recent retirement taught the courses Preparation for Ensembles and Playing Scores at the Academy of Music in Zagreb. I myself was lucky enough to be a student of professor Uhlik, so I gladly accepted the opportunity to talk with him a few days before the preview of his first chamber opera for children and young peopleThe cobbler and the devil, in productionMusic academiesUniversity of Zagreb.
How did you come up with the idea to compose an opera based on Šeno’s story?
The Shoemaker and the Devil is my first opera. I worked in the theater for fifteen years, mostly in the Komedija theater. I started as an accompanist, and after graduating in conducting, I got a job as a conductor. We are talking about the war years, the nineties. I was actually an operetta conductor, and I also conducted musicals. At the time when I was starting out, one critic called me the “operetta Šutej”. At that time, a sort of comeback of operetta took place in Zagreb.
At the time when I was starting out, a critic called me the “operetta Šutej”
These operettas were performed thirty years before that (50s and 60s), and considering that at that time I was the only conductor in Komedija, I liked conducting them. Therefore, from this perspective, it is strange that I have not thought about a musical-stage work before. Even my wife often used to ask me when I would write an opera. But even what I have written now is not enough for her because it is a short opera.
As for the libretto, that is, the literary template, I first dealt with Šeno’s Stone Wedding , but soon stopped. The stone svats are rocks on the western slope of Medvednica, and since I used to hike regularly every Sunday, mostly to Sljeme, I went to them several times with my company. There is a stone at the foot of those rocks on which verses from the history are engraved, so I promised myself that I would write something on that topic one day, but so far I haven’t. Perhaps I could use the story of Stone Weddings better as a ballet or a cantata.
Flipping through Šeno’s novels, I came across The Shoemaker and the Devil , and I concluded that this text would be more suitable for an opera, and a children’s one – there aren’t many of them.
Scrolling further through Šeno’s novels, I came across The Shoemaker and the Devil , and I concluded that this text would be more suitable for an opera, and a children’s opera at that – there aren’t many of those. Perhaps, more out of caution, I decided that it would not be an extensive opera; in the end, there is not much text, so it will last about half an hour. Very modest resources were invested, which outline the chamber character of the composition, which makes it possible to prepare and perform the opera more easily, and perhaps that is why more often. It is interesting that Ivan Josip Skender, who is currently conducting my opera ten or more years ago, also wrote the children’s opera Šuma Striborova.
Quoted from https://glazba.hr/citaj/intervju/tomislav-uhlik/