A drama in five acts
A notebook with a manuscript of Kristan's text (24 x 19.5 cm, 190 pages) is preserved in the archive of the Drama Society:
Ljubislavo was published by the publisher Lavoslav Schwentner, who also printed Kristan's play a few years later Self-ownership. In the same format, with similar Art Nouveau equipment and characteristic typography, Cankar's plays and all other literature, including the second edition, were also published by Schwentner Erotica (1902). Kristan and Cankar, nine years younger, maintained friendly relations until the Tivoli Declaration or Kristan's departure to the USA. Their life paths were connected in many areas. Both were artists who also actively intervened in social life. In general, we can conclude that Kristan was more successful as a politician, and Cankar as a writer. In 1897, they both wrote their first play, and in the period leading up to the First World War, despite all the obstacles, their texts were often performed in the Provincial Theater in Ljubljana. In the elections to the National Assembly (1907) they both ran on the ticket of the Social Democratic Party.
The writer, journalist and politician Etbin Kristan (1867 – 1953) was strongly connected with Slovenian theatre. He was a translator of dramatic texts, a theater critic, an actor and director, a member of the Drama Society, a lecturer at a drama school, an author of articles on drama and theater, and above all a playwright. His first plays Loyalty (1897) are still following The will (1902), Ljubislav (1906), Kato Vrankovic (1909), Reigning and Self-ownership (1910), Factory (1912), First meeting (1912), one-act plays Success, Who's crazy? and Club resignation, also published under the common title From Pavlih's legacy (1912). He also wrote plays in the USA Bomb in the factory (1915), Revenge (1926), Master (1937), At the last hour (1937/38), Mutual freedom and A rekindled memory (1938), Silk stockings (1939), On the birth chest (1942) and For a new world (1949).
As a socialist-oriented polemicist, he published an article in a special issue of the magazine Naši zapiski, dedicated to Prešeren and the Zajčev monument (1905). Baptism near Savica, in which he characterized Prešeren's poetry as a contradictory, artistically weak and intellectually unconvincing literary work:
His answer to Baptism near Savica he was not only essayistic. In the same period, he also wrote a dramatic text, which - like Prešeren - shows the period of Christianization of our ancestors and presents a mental contrast A coffin.
Ljubislavo Kristan, who also wrote songs, wrote in verses. The content of the drama, foreign and Slovenian examples of historical tragedies probably played a role in his decision for a verse form (he translated Schiller's Virgin of Orleans) and Prešernov Baptism near Savica.
The drama begins in an idyllic community that worships the gods according to the example of its ancestors and enjoys freedom and independence in accordance with the tradition and wisdom of its elders. It soon turns out that the Slovenians are under threat: Germans are gathering at the borders, and missionaries are already wandering around the country. Starost's daughter Ljubislava converts and becomes a Christian, while her chosen one Milorad remains faithful to the faith of his fathers even in a hopeless fight with the Germans. His heart burns for a more suitable companion, Vidimira, loyal to home and traditional gods. When Ljubislava is stabbed by her enraged Germanic admirer, the Slovenians heroically go into battle with stronger enemies.
The premiere Ljubislav it was performed in Ljubljana's Provincial Theater on March 8, 1906, and the only rerun was two days later. Kristan's drama was directed by Lev Dragutinović:
Christian's Ljubislavo were also staged in 1961 at the Primorska Drama Theater in Nova Gorica.
Fran Govekar, as the editor of Slovan and a defender of the "people's education" dramatic trend, reviews the theatrical events in the 1905/06 season - in thinking about the staging Ljubislav – attacked Cankar and his drama. In the following, he also pardoned Etbin Kristan, who, in his opinion, fell prey to snobs as a playwright, and his drama about the violent Christianization of the Slavs was only repeated once (Slovan IV. 1905/06, no. 5, pp. 158-159). Ljubislav or Govekar's uncritical self-praise are the reason for the famous controversy and the creation of the term Krpan's mare.
Na Govekar's article is in the magazine Our notes first Etbin Kristan reacted, and then Cankar came forward with texts in the same magazine Krpan's mare and Govekar and Govekars. Both records were also published in a book edition a year later (Krpan's mare, Ljubljana, 1907).
Ljubislavo therefore, we classify it as one of the literary works inspired by Prešeren's famous verse text. Marko Juvan, writer of the most extensive analysis A coffin as a national myth and literary responses to it (The Imaginary of Baptism in Slovenian Literature, Ljubljana, 1990), thirty years ago he listed more than fifty elaborations of Prešeren's proposal (M. Juvan: Literary "myth", slovenliness and serious parody. Q: See newspaper PDG Nova Gorica 1993/94, no. 4, p. 8-15).
Theater proposals inspired by Prešernov Baptism, can be divided into dramatizations and original dramatic works; there is no strict dividing line between the two groups. The oldest dramatization is by Penn or Levstikov. It was published in the first booklet of the Slovenska Talija collection (J. Nolly: A handy book for the viewing dilettante, Ljubljana, 1868):
At the end of the nineteenth century, a dramatization by Engelbert Gangle (1899) was staged at the State Theater in Ljubljana, and in recent times, Prešeren's epic has been dramatized and directed by Tone Peršak (PDG Nova Gorica, 1973), Alenka Pirjevec (GLEJ and LG Ljubljana, 2008), Andreja Kovač (LB Maribor, 2010) and Katja Pegan (Koper Theatre, as part of the National Day celebrations, Portorož Auditorium, 2021).
Among the dramatic works whose content is only related to the subject of Baptism in Savica, the first is by Jurčičev and Levstikov Tugometer (1876).
More inclined to conversion to Christianity than Kristan v Ljubislav are Zorko Simčič (Baptism near Savica, 1953) and Metod Turnšek (Baptism of Carantan princes, 1968). Smoletov was the most appreciated, the best evaluated and the most performed Baptism near Savica (1969), which, with its nihilism and skepticism, came closer to Kristan, even though in all respects they are completely different dramas, which, in addition to everything else, are also separated by a great temporal or cultural distance.
Finally, let's mention one more the retro-guard event Krst pod Triglav (Cankarjev dom in Ljubljana, 1986) Theaters of the Scipion Nasica sisters, who had a far-reaching influence on the Slovenian theater scene.