DRAMA (dramatic tale in five acts)
NUMBER OF PERSONS: 28 (6f 22m) and "pages, soldiers, financiers, Arabs, Moors, eunuchs, odalisques, bourgeoisie."
PLACE AND TIME OF EVENT: The Ninth Land and its Notranjska province during the time of Emperor John V and King Brdavs.
As in Levstik's proposal, the story takes place in the Austrian monarchy during the Turkish invasions, except that Govekar emphasized the fairy-tale nature of the events, thereby partially avoiding potential accusations of anachronisms (some events, historical facts, and the author's instructions belong to the historical 16th century, others to the 17th, and still others to the 18th century). After all, we are dealing with fiction and imagination has no limits.
In the archives of the Dramatic Society, which are kept at the Slovenian Theatre Institute, a copy of the book edition of Govekar's Martin Krpan and several individual manuscript volumes are stored under the reference number DD 567.
For the presentation of the text in electronic form, we have chosen the most beautifully preserved copy with ref. 367 (two are set as individual volumes from the Slavonic Library collection, and the third is bound with five other dramatic texts that were published in the same collection).
The play Martin Krpan was published in Gorizia in 1905 (published by Goriška tiskarna, which was owned by the editor, publisher and publicist Andrej Gabršček). The book edition was directly connected to the Ljubljana production, as the list of actors who appeared in the premiere is also printed with the surnames of the actors who appeared in the premiere. The same page also lists the date of the premiere. The booklet was published as volumes 147-149 in the collection Slavonic Library. It was the fifth work by Govekar published by Andrej Gabršček. Their collaboration began with a collection of short stories Oh, these women!, which was published in 1897 in the Salon Library collection. It was followed by four plays: Wrestlers (1899), Tenth brother (1901), Legionnaires (1904) and finally Martin Krpan.
The premiere of the first performance was on January 6, 1905, and was directed by Adolf Dobrovolný, who also played Emperor John.
Anton Verovšek became famous in the role of the national hero, Martin Krpan of Vrh pri Sveta Trojici, and his chosen one was played by the young Czech Otilija Spurná. Avgusta Danilova as the empress and Anton Cerar Danilo as minister Gregor settled at the court, where Krpan's unsuspecting bride, Princess Jerica, stood out in the large crowd of court officials, played by another young and attractive Czech actress, Ružena Nosková.
On March 28, 1910, Martin Krpan experienced a new stage production directed by Hinko Nučič.
In a copy of the booklet preserved in the Dramatic Society archives, the director added a new cast in pencil next to the original, printed one ("Persons" on page 3).
Anton Verovšek performed as Martin Krpan in Trieste shortly after the Ljubljana premiere. Govekar's play was directed by Avgusta Danilova. The premiere took place on April 17, 1910.
Writer, editor and translator Fran Govekar (1871 – 1949) worked as a publicist and later as a magistral clerk after completing his studies in Vienna. He also lived to see his retirement from the City Hall in 1931 as a senior magistral councilor. Throughout all periods of his writing and professional career, he was also intensely devoted to the theatre: he wrote plays, translated drama texts, was the secretary of the Dramatic Society and the Ljubljana Theatre, intendant and theatre director. After the First World War, he was a co-founder and member of the board of directors of the Slovenian Theatre Consortium.
Govekar began publishing short stories during his student years, influenced by naturalistic literary models. The pinnacle of his prose work is the novel In the blood (1896). At the same time, his plays were also being created, which he initially designed with more traditional approaches; in his mature period, the "educational" spectacles with singing were succeeded by more ambitious writing, closer to his prose (dramas Cramp and Twilight).
Phrase Krpan's mare was first used by Ivan Cankar as the title of his satire, with which he tackled the current Ljubljana theatrical events after the premiere of Martin Krpan – thus, for more than a hundred years, he has been indicating the ever-current theatrical dilemma: a high artistic level and consideration of artistic criteria at all levels of theatrical production, or adaptation to the audience and commercialization of theatrical activity. Krpan's mare is said to represent an absolute victory for the advocates of collection.
Govekar, who as the intendant of the Ljubljana theatre himself set up plays or imposed his chosen ones on the editorial staff of the Slovenski narodow, who wrote theatre reviews or newspaper reports according to his taste, also had his own "own" magazine, in which he himself reported on the events in the theatre he managed; he also published his "criticism" of his own play Martin Krpan. As the editor of Slovan and an advocate of the "people-educational" drama movement, in his review of theatre events in the 1905/06 season, he reflects on the staging of Kristanova Ljubislav, also attacked Cankar. Govekar, who as intendant prevented the staging of Cankar's plays, indirectly boasted in the article about the sold-out halls filled by his Martin Krpan:
"A man would weep or rage if his heart were not so full of shame and contempt! What an ovation our insincere and condescending audience gave to the pioneers of our literary drama, e.g. Vošnjak, Funtek, Gangl! At the premieres of their plays they were showered with wreaths, they were stormily called to the stage, – but at the first rerun there was no one left in the theatre! And what happened to Cankar! ˈHey, Cankar is our great intellectual, the wittiest, the finest, the most literary…!ˈ At the premiere of his play Jacob Ruda and King of Betajnova, the Slovenian theatre trembled with excitement, amazement and admiration; the critics searched for superlatives in all dictionaries and – all other playwrights were spared the shame of absolute nothingness… But the rerun – empty, in pubs and cafes mockery, ridicule and tearing! And they said: this is not for the theatre! This is boring! Write us something national for the masses, which will fill the theatre thirty times from floor to ceiling, so that it will be performed in our last village and fill our widest audience with enthusiasm. We want national plays for our people, who are not aristocrats, but farmers, workers, craftsmen! – We believed these voices and filled the theatre sixty times from floor to ceiling for them; we filled their coffers and brought into the house crowds that had never been in the theatre before. But the snobs showed us their tongues and rushed us: “This is a craft, a scoundrel, a literary scandal!” Give us literature!
Govekar then went on to pardon Etbin Kristan, who, in his opinion, as a playwright had fallen prey to snobs, and his drama Ljubislav however, it was a failure at its premiere (Slovan IV. 1905/06, no. 5, pp. 158-159).
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).
In his satires, he harshly dealt with Govekar:
"For example, Govekar walks around Ljubljana looking for something to dramatize. Anyone who saw him would think: 'This is a well-built man who is getting fat and doesn't think about anything.' No, Govekar is crying. He is crying that he is more popular in the suburbs of St. Peter's than Shakespeare and Ibsen. I have never experienced such selflessness, crying bitterly in front of his numerous audience: 'Oh, people of God, how you pity me, that you can't afford anything better!' And he kept selling.
It is criminal that I name Govekar. He dramatizes with a bleeding heart, not because he has no ideas of his own, but because he is a typus. There are legions of Govekars; it is true that not all of them dramatize, but there are Govekars nonetheless. They do not graze in only one field; they are scattered all over the country, and most of them go into politics to graze. They are all heroes of a double conviction. With tears in their eyes, the Govekars complain to me: ˈA beautiful thing is a conviction, a beautiful thing is an ideal – but people are uneducated, they demand stupidity on stage, in books and at meetings, and I have a family!ˈ An ordinary Govekar, like countless others who walk our streets, sits with me in a tavern, meets me on the road and wrinkles his face in sorrowful lines: ˈIt is true, you are right: we live in a manure pit!ˈ And what does an honest man do the next morning when he has slept through his ideals? ˈNo, you are wrong! "Not we, patriots, we are not the guides of the audience; the audience is our guide, and because the audience is stupid, we are stupid too!"...
Cankar's arguments were so convincing that they caused an avalanche of reactions to the intendant's controversial procedures. Govekar was forced to resign in November 1906; he was succeeded by Friderik Juvančič.
Govekar, who outlived Cankar by more than thirty years, thirty years after the affair still defended a similar position as during the time of Krpan's mare, only in more conciliatory tones:
...after 29 years I wholeheartedly agree with his demands regarding the theatre repertoire and in theory I agreed with him in everything already in 1905. But in practice at that time I was not allowed to live up to the ideal, lest I ruin the existence of the theatre. After all, I was just trembling with fear of being charged at every performance and destroying my nerves with the eternal fear that we would have to close the theatre due to the deficit! Because the deficit and with it the end of the theatre hung over me night and day like the sword of Damocles (Ljubljanski zvon, LV. 1935, p. 121).
The first act takes place at the court of Emperor John in the Ninth Land. The setting is crammed with luxury and significant objects that remind us that the land is at war with the Turks - "confiscated flags of defeated nations, Turkish tails, crescents." The court is dressed in black: the Turks have killed the emperor's only son, and King Brdavs also demands his daughter Jerica. Prince Andrew, who is in love with her, decides to confront Brdavs. Out of gratitude, the emperor releases Andrew's friend Vladimir from prison, who remembers his meeting with Martin Krpan. As a joke, he moved his horse, thus demonstrating incredible physical strength to the emperor and his entourage. The desperate courtiers send for Krpan to Vrh pri Sveta Trojici.
In the second act, we move to the modest Krpan hut, where the emperor's envoys arrive. We meet the locals, Martin's mother and fiancée, who are full of love, kindness, and pride. The sky is shining and the "Hail Mary" rings out in the distance. The emperor's envoys and the Krpan family set off for Vienna together.
The imperial family then receives Martin and the two women in the castle garden. Martin heads to Brdavs' camp, where eunuchs, harem slaves, and Brdavs' military commanders appear before the duel. At the end of the fourth act, Martin defeats his enemy backstage, returns to the audience with Brdavs' bloodied head in his hands, rides the mare Luca, and, singing the verses "We are we, who are of Carniolan blood, which never fails," rides off stage to the accompaniment of horns, drums, and bells.
In the fifth act we return to the imperial hall from the first act. Martin Krpan receives all the honors he renounces in exchange for the emperor's letter: this will enable him to trade legally. In a solemn atmosphere, the emperor's and Krpan's families bid each other a friendly farewell among the gathered courtiers: Martin has renounced the promised empress, who will take her chosen one, and he himself will marry the "handyman" Nežika. With his mother and bride in the guise of courtiers, who cheer him and wave their hats, caps and handkerchiefs, he leaves the stage.