ABSTRACT
Within the opulent repertoire of German operetta, particularly at the beginning of the twentieth century, works whose plot involves references to Polish themes, or those in which Polish characters appear, hold an important position. Polish motifs appear in a dozen operettas during the 50 year period between Der Bettelstudent by Carl Millöcker (1882) and Willy Czernik's Die schöne Carlotti (1943). This period was also marked by some crucial events in the history of Poland, including regaining independence in 1918 following World War I, and this political change yielded various social and cultural consequences.
The aim of this chapter is to explore how these shifts affected the manner in which Poland-related issues were shown in German operettas through the examination of three operettas: one composed before WWI (Polnische Wirtschaft, Jean Gilbert,1909), one from the time of change (Der letzte Walzer, Oscar Straus, 1920), and one from two decades later (Polnische Hochzeit, Joseph Beer, 1937). In each work, social and cultural issues connected with the Polish background come to the fore in different ways, often politically motivated. Examining these issues enables a more profound analysis of the ways in which Poles and their neighbours were depicted in the operettas. Such analysis can help to measure the temperature of mutual relations between the coexisting nations. Reconstructing the German insight into Polish culture (titles, characters, themes, problems) and researching the scope and function of musical categories associated with Polish characteristics allow us to evaluate the range of credibility (or widespread clichés) in these operettas.
