«Partiranno col vapore della Dalmatia»: Some Remarks on the Circulation of Opera and Operatic Companies in the Eastern Adriatic Theatres (1861-1918)

The archives of the Istrian and Dalmatian coast have recently revealed an immense wealth of documentary material related to the operatic activities of the coastal theatres spanning the 19th and 20th centuries. The theatres of Pula, Rijeka, Zadar, Šibenik, Split and Dubrovnik can be unified in a common discourse, since they were linked by shared practices, procedures and organisational habits - different from those of the inland theatres. Once an impresario had signed the contract for an opera season, and arrangements had been made with the hired artistic staff, the opera companies had to be transported to the theatres where they were to perform for a series of evenings. But how did the artists of an opera production get to their destination at the turn of the 20th century? What did it mean to cross the Adriatic? Alone, accompanied by the impresario or by other colleagues, the singers could undertake long journeys by more or less comfortable means to reach their landing places. The paper reconstructs the main routes to the theatres on the eastern Adriatic coast and the methods by which sceneries, costumes, stage props and scores were transferred to their respective destinations. How did the timing of these journeys affect the course of a season? How was the system of communication between the theatre management, the impresario and the artists structured once departures were decided? The steamship was an irreplaceable means once the singers or musicians arrived at one of the ports served by the Hungarian-Croatian, Ragusea or Austrian Loyd companies. Reflections on the changes in the repertoire due to political mutations over the six decades under consideration will enrich the picture, where materiality and mobility intertwine against the backdrop of renewed trans-Mediterranean cultural networks.