Operetta

Operetta is a genre of light opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter. It is closely related both to opera and also to other forms of lighter musical theatre, and in many cases, it is difficult to assign a musical theatre work to a particular genre.

Overview

Normally, in an operetta, some of the libretto is spoken rather than sung. Instead of moving from one musical number (literally so indicated in the scores) to another, the singers intersperse the musical segments with periods of dialogue, minus any singing or musical accompaniment (though sometimes musical themes are played quietly under the dialogue)—and short passages of recitative are by no means unknown in operetta, especially as an introduction to a song.

Operettas are often considered less "serious" than operas, although this has more to do with the often comic (or even farcical) plots than with the caliber of the music. Topical satire is a feature common to many operettas, although this is also true of some "serious" operas as well. Formerly, opera expressed politics in code in some countries, such as France; for example, the circumstances of the title character in the opera Robert le diable was a code for the parental conflict and resolution of king of France at its first performance.

Operetta is a precursor of the modern musical comedy. At the same time, it has continued to exist alongside the newer form—with each influencing the other. There is a fundamental but subtle distinction between the two forms—and this distinction is quite useful, provided one recognizes that nothing about the definition is clear, simple, or unambiguous.

Most operettas can be described as light operas with acting, whereas most musicals are closer to being plays with singing. This can best be seen in the performers chosen in the two forms. An operetta's cast will normally be classically trained opera singers; indeed, there is essentially no difference between the scores for an opera and an operetta, except for the operetta's lightness. A musical uses actors who sing, but usually not in an operatic style. Like most "differential definitions" that could be drawn between the two forms, however, this distinction is quite often blurred. W.S. Gilbert, for example, said that he preferred to use actors who could sing for his productions, while Ezio Pinza, a great Don Giovanni, appeared on Broadway in South Pacific, and there are features of operetta vocal style in Kern's Show Boat (1927), Bernstein's Candide, and Walt Disney's animated Snow White (1937) among others.

History

Operetta grew out of the French opéra comique around the middle of the nineteenth century, to satisfy a need for short, light works in contrast to the full-length entertainment of the increasingly serious opéra comique. By this time the "comique" part of the genre name had become misleading: Carmen (1875) is an example of an opéra comique with a tragic plot. Opéra comique had dominated the French operatic stage since the decline of tragédie lyrique.

Though Jacques Offenbach is usually credited with having written the first operettas, such as his La belle Hélène (1864), Ernest Newman remarked that the credit should really go to one Hervé, a singer, composer, librettist, conductor, and scene painter, whose real name was Florimond Ronger (1825-1892). "But it was Offenbach who took up the genre and gave it its enormous vogue during the Second Empire and afterwards." Robert Planquette, André Messager, and others carried on this tradition.

The most significant composer of operetta in the German language was the Austrian Johann Strauss, Jr. (1825-1899). His first work in this genre was Indigo und die vierzig Räuber (1871). It was his third operetta, Die Fledermaus (1874), which became the most performed operetta in the world and remained his most popular stage work. Its libretto was based on a comedy written by Offenbach's librettists. In fact, Strauss may have been convinced to write the operetta by Offenbach himself although it is now suggested that it may have been his first wife, Henrietta Treffz who repeatedly encouraged Strauss to try his hand at writing for the theater. In all, he wrote 16 operettas and one opera in his lifetime, mostly with great success when first premiered although they are now largely forgotten, since his later librettists were not very talented and he worked for some of the time independent of the plot. His operettas, waltzes, polkas, and marches often have a strongly Viennese style and his great popularity has caused many to think of him as the national composer of Austria. In fact, when his stage works were first performed, the Theater an der Wien never failed to draw huge crowds, and after many of the numbers the audience would noisily call for encores.

Franz von Suppé, a contemporary of Strauss, closely modeled his operettas after Offenbach. The Viennese tradition was carried on by Franz Lehár, Oscar Straus, Carl Zeller, Karl Millöcker, Leo Fall, Richard Heuberger, Edmund Eysler, Ralph Benatzky, Robert Stolz, Emmerich Kálmán, Nico Dostal, and Sigmund Romberg in the twentieth century.

The height of English-language operetta (at the time known in England as comic opera to distinguish it from French or German operetta) was reached by Gilbert and Sullivan, who had a long-running collaboration in England during the Victorian era. With W.S. Gilbert writing the libretto and Sir Arthur Sullivan composing the music, the pair produced 14 "comic operas" together, most of which were enormously popular in both Britain and elsewhere, especially the U.S., and remain popular to this day. Works such as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance, and The Mikado continue to enjoy regular performances and even some film adaptations. These comic operas influenced the later American operettas, such as those by Victor Herbert, and musical comedy.

English operetta continued into the twentieth century, with works by composers such as Edward German, Lionel Monckton, and Harold Fraser-Simson—but increasingly these took on features of musical comedy until the distinction between an "old fashioned musical" and a "modern operetta" became very blurred indeed. Old fashioned British musicals, in particular, retained an "operetta-ish" flavor well into the 1950s. More modern operettas include Candide and, some would claim, musicals like Brigadoon.

A late twentieth century renewal of the importance of recitative and through composing in some modern musicals, in fact, brings some such works closer (in some ways) to traditional opera than to operetta.

Examples

La Fille du Tambour-Major

La Fille du Tambour-Major (The Drum Major's Daughter) is an operetta in three acts by Henri Chivot and Afred Dudu. It premiered in Paris on December 13, 1879, at the Theatre des Folies-Dramatiques.

The operetta takes place in 1806 Lombardy. Act One takes place in a deserted Italian convent, where a company of French soldiers have crossed the Alps to rendezvous with the army of the First Consul. Synopsis The operetta takes place in Lombardy in 1806

Act 1 - In a deserted Italian convent.

A company of French soldiers, commanded by lieutenant Robert, has crossed the Alps to rendezvous with the army of the First Consul.

Lieutenant Robert’s company, headed by Drum Major Monthabor and the soldier Griolet, invades a convent whence all the nuns have fled for fear of the occupiers. The only person left is a young woman who was there for penitence and who, very quickly gets all these gentlemen in the palm of her hand. This is Stella, daughter of the Duke and Duchess della Volta. Of course, the gentlemanly and handsome lieutenant falls in love with the brave rebel who, from now one, must follow the regiment.

Act 2 - A room in the château of the Duke della Volta à Novare

And now, lieutenant Robert finds himself billeted in the palace of the Duke of Novare. And what a coincidence! The Duchess della Volta is the divorced wife of Drum Major Monthabor and Stella is their daughter. With great enthusiasm, the latter signs up as a vivandière in her father’s company.

Act 3

Scene 1 - The Hôtellerie du Lion d’Or in Milan.

But the fighting is not over. The lieutenant, the Drum Major, the company and Stella are being looked for. Using a trap, the Austrian police seize Stella whom her parents are begging to marry a certain Marquis Bambini. All is going badly.

Scene 2 - A street in Milan

At the very end, Napoleon’s victory changes everything. A departing song announces the arrival of the French troops. Milan greets those who have liberated its inhabitants from the Austrian yoke. And Stella is to marry Lieutenant Robert.

Thus ends, in glory and joy, a lively and sensitive work composed by a genius who was worn out and close to death.

THE LILAC DOMINO

Charles (Louis Paul) Cuvillier

ACT 1

It is gala night at the Hôtel Parnasse in Nice, and a masquerade is in progress. Guests are gathered in a lounge leading to the ballroom, when a girl runs in excitedly with the news that the wealthy old Lyon silk merchant Gaston Le Sage has found himself a young widow as his third wife.

Le Sage enters with his young bride-to-be, Léonie, but, although he fusses around her attentively, she seems to be more interested in his nephew, Paul Dorien. Gaston promised Paul's mother, Gaston's late step-sister, that Paul would eventually be married to Gaston's own daughter, Georgine. The two are due to be reunited the following day after some years apart, but Paul seems to have no great interest either in women in general or Georgine in particular. Léonie, however, attempts to bring the boy out a little, offering him advice from her own experience.

Elsewhere in the lounge are to be found a couple of expatriate Englishmen — Major Montague Drake, a dapper, regimental type, and a young man named Bertie Raymond. Both of them are somewhat down on their luck and they have to struggle from day to day to finance their gambling interests. They are hoping that their friend Jack Allison may have succeeded in raising more cash, but he is currently putting his gambling interests to one side in favour of the pursuit of romance. Jack is, in reality, the Duke of Everset, but he has chosen to hide his aristocratic identity since he settled on the Riviera because of the way prices are put up when a titled gentleman approaches.

Georgine, Gaston's eighteen-year-old daughter, appears accompanied by Madame Delcasse, the principal of her finishing school. Madame Delcasse is evidently concerned to keep Georgine on the straight and narrow and she has only agreed to attend the masquerade under pressure from Georgine herself. Georgine is determined to enjoy the champagne that is flowing freely, and to see what fate may produce for her in the form of a mate. She promises Madame Delcasse that she will not remove her mask and she is unrecognisable under her domino when Gaston and Paul come upon her and begin chatting. She conjures up an air of mystique as she introduces herself to them merely as the Lilac Domino.

Drake, Bertie Raymond and Jack Allison reappear. Jack has now lost all his remaining money, but a possible remedy for their troubles is at hand. When they seek solace in music from the gipsy orchestra, the leader Krovani reveals himself as a representative of a matrimonial agency and produces a list of wealthy ladies seeking husbands. The three friends reckon that they are on to a winner when they find on the list a young lady of eighteen, the daughter of a Lyon silk merchant and fresh from finishing school. The only question is which of them should be forced into matrimony for the good of the others. The problem is resolved by a throw of the dice, which Jack wins.

Meanwhile, the men come upon the figure of the Lilac Domino, who has passed out under the influence of too much unaccustomed champagne. Jack kisses her and wakes her up and, after a brief display of reluctance, the two of them waltz away together.

ACT 2

In the garden of Le Sage's villa near Monte Carlo, a cocktail party and informal dance are being held to celebrate Georgine's coming out and her engagement to Paul. Léonie is still looking for some real sign of tender recognition from Gaston and, when he appears with a young lady on each arm, she challenges his devotion to her. She proposes that he should give her a million francs if he should be discovered flirting with a young lady within the next forty-eight hours, and Gaston agrees to write out the cheque there and then. Léonie can retain it as a hostage.

When Gaston has gone, Léonie turns her attentions to Paul and tests him on the training that she has been giving him in readiness for wooing Georgine. However, Paul's parting shot is an admission that he is in love with Léonie. Major Drake and Bertie Raymond arrive, having followed up the details of Georgine issued by Krovani's matrimonial agency, and they press upon Gaston the claims of the Duke of Everset as a suitor for Georgine, undeterred by Gaston's insistence that she is already promised. The Major reckons that Jack will never be persuaded to come to the house to meet Georgine, but Bertie explains that he has sought to trick Jack there by claiming that he will find there the mysterious Lilac Domino over whom he has so completely lost his head. They both feel pretty pleased with themselves as they mature their little plot.

The arrival of the Duke of Everset is duly announced, and Jack immediately greets Georgine as his Lilac Domino. Georgine naturally rejects the suggestion that she could have been at a masquerade, and Madame Delcasse adds forcefully that she would never have allowed Georgine to visit such an event. Jack's two friends try to persuade him to forget the Lilac Domino nonsense and concentrate on the heiress. They tell him that the invitation was just their trick to get him there, but Jack is not to be put off. He insists that the voice of the Lilac Domino remains in his mind as clear as a bell, and he knows that that voice was Georgine's.

Drake and Raymond are delighted to see how well Jack and Georgine are getting on — so much so that they indulge in some impromptu dancing with Léonie, Gaston and Paul — while Paul has now quite definitely decided that he is in love with Léonie. Whenever he and Georgine get together they squabble like the children they were when they last met, and they are quite resolved not to marry each other. So, while Paul returns to Léonie, Georgine now welcomes Jack's expressions of love.

The radiantly happy Georgine bumps into Krovani, who has arrived to provide the music for the occasion. He has been instructed to remove Georgine's name from his list of matrimonial prospects, as her engagement to her cousin is to be announced that evening. Seeing her looking so happy, he comments on the joy of true love. It is a far cry from the situation at the masquerade he recently attended where three gentlemen threw dice to decide which one should find a wife purely for her money. Somewhat the worse for wine, Krovani carelessly adds the name of the winner of the gamble — the Duke of Everset! Georgine is horrified.

Now Jack is brought in blindfolded to test whether he really can recognise his Lilac Domino but Georgine bitterly renounces him and declares that her hand is Paul's. She will have nothing to do with Jack's assurance that, though he did indeed throw the dice, his love for Georgine is real.

ACT 3

It is carnival night at the Café de Paris, Monte Carlo, and the guests are all in fancy dress. Jack has arranged a private supper, and Drake and Raymond are surprised and concerned to learn that he intends it as a farewell, even though he seems to have little idea of where he is going to go. They attempt to reassure him with the news that they have selected another likely candidate from the matrimonial list to restore their fortunes, and this time they will take on the challenge. Krovani provides more realistic reassurance with the news that he has told Georgine, Léonie and Madame Delcasse the full story of what had happened and they are on their way to the Café de Paris.

As the evening progresses, Drake becomes involved in a party game with a bunch of girls and the revels continue unabated. Georgine, Léonie and Madame Delcasse have appeared, with Georgine obviously much distressed, and Gaston and Paul arrive separately. Gaston is much taken by the sight of Madame Delcasse and, indeed, he is soon alone with her, flirting madly until Léonie catches them about to embrace. Léonie has won her million francs from Gaston, and, no longer in need of him for his money, she turns to Paul.

Gaston is furious at this turn of events, but only for as long as it takes Madame Delcasse to offer a few words of comfort and affection. She also points out to Gaston how well it would sound to have the Duchess of Everset as a daughter and, by the time that the guests are enjoying supper, almost all the romantic pairings are resolved. Then Georgine comes to bid Jack a fond farewell and, before long, his little Lilac Domino has accepted his offer of marriage. The news that one of his estates has been sold for a large sum of money is merely the icing on their future wedding cake.

Taken from Ganzl's Book of the Musical Theatre

A NIGHT IN VENICE

By Johann Strauss

ACT I

It is an evening in eighteenth-century Venice. In a square on the Grand Canal, with a view across to the Ducal Palace and the Isle of San Giorgio, the people are are strolling around as the sun goes down while the tradeswomen call their wares. The young Neapolitan macaroni cook Pappacoda pipes up with the observation that, for all the splendours of Venice, they do not have everything without their macaroni cook. "Macaroni as long as the Grand Canal, with as much cheese as there is sand in the Lido" - that is what Pappacoda offers. The young man is approached by Enrico, a naval officer, enquiring whether the Senator Delacqua is at home. When he is told that he is at a sitting of the Senate, Enrico sees it as an opportunity for a few private minutes with the Senator's young wife Barbara. However, she too is out, so Enrico slips Pappacoda a coin to give Barbara a letter, with the message that Enrico will be ready for her at nine o'clock that evening.

As the people watch, a boat arrives carrying Annina, a fisher-girl, calling her wares. Pappacoda greets her, hinting that what has really brought her hither is the imminent arrival of the Duke of Urbino, and more particularly his barber Caramello, Annina's sweetheart. 'Caramello is a monster, a ne'er-do-well, and a conceited blockhead into the bargain,' she pouts. 'Stupidity is no hindrance to love,' Pappacoda retorts, sampling an oyster. "After all, I'm passionately in love with Ciboletta, Signora Delacqua's pretty cook - a girl as stupid as this oyster, and yet just as appetising, just as worthy of catching!'

When Barbara Delacqua returns home, Pappacoda gives her the message from Enrico and receives another tip for his troubles. Annina departs with Barbara, leaving Pappacoda to greet his own girlfriend, Ciboletta. She is wondering when they are going to get married, and he promises that they will do so just as soon as he gets a position in service.

The senators return from a stormy session, discussing the banquet that the Duke of Urbino is to give today when he arrives for his annual Carnival-time visit to Venice. The Duke is a notorious womaniser and has already cast his roving eye on Barbara, so Delacqua has taken the precaution of arranging for his wife to be taken by gondola to Murano to stay with an old abbess aunt in the convent there.

The Duke's arrival is signalled by the appearance of a gondola carrying his personal barber, Caramello, who is warmly greeted by the crowd. He proceeds to show off his close acquaintance with the Duke and rounds things off with an agile tarantella for good measure. He quickly spots Annina, but she is not too pleased that he has practically ignored her for the past year. She becomes interested enough when the subject of their talk turns to marriage, but Caramello explains that he is anxious to obtain the position as the Duke's steward before committing himself to matrimony.

In pursuit of amorous adventures on his master's behalf Caramello has learned with interest from Pappacoda that a gondolier is due to take Barbara Delacqua to Murano at 9 p.m. What he does not know is that his own girlfriend, Annina, has been persuaded by Barbara to take her place in the gondola, so that Barbara may spend her time with Enrico Piselli. Annina is determined to be back within the hour so that she may join in the Carnival dancing with Caramello, Pappacoda and Ciboletta in masks borrowed from their masters.

The Duke arrives and greets Venice and its people. He loves them all, he tells them, though it is noticed that he seems to love the pretty girls rather more than the rest. To the Duke's great delight, Caramello reveals to him his plan to take the place of the gondolier in the gondola calling for Barbara. Instead of taking her to Murano, he will then deliver her to the Duke's palace. Pulling on a gondolier's cloak and hood, he sets off on his adventure. The scene is set and the evening still, as the Duke looks up to Delacqua's balcony and sings a serenade. Inside the Delacqua house Barbara and Annina are making their final preparations, putting on the dominoes that will disguise them, as they await the sound of the gondolier's song that is to be the agreed signal. Down below Ciboletta brings Pappacoda a carnival costume.

Finally the voice of Caramello is heard from the gondola singing the gondolier's song. Delacqua helps into the gondola the masked figure he believes to be his wife and he bids her farewell as the Duke looks on with keen anticipation. A group of sailors appear and, with Enrico at their head, they sing a serenade to Delacqua for his birthday the following day. While Delacqua is on the balcony thanking the singers, Barbara slips out below to join Enrico. The birthday serenade merges with the sound of Caramello's gondola song as night falls on Venice and the disguised Caramello glides away with his masked sweetheart Annina, neither knowing the true identity of the other.

ACT 2

Watching from a room in his palace, the Duke is eagerly awaiting the arrival of the gondola in which Caramello is due to bring Barbara, as Agricola, Constantia and the other senators' wives arrive in their carnival costumes, ignoring their husbands' fears for their moral safety. Finally the gondola in seen approaching, and the Duke ushers his guests into the ballroom while he prepares to greet his special lady guest. When Caramello and Annina arrive and masks are removed, Caramello is dismayed to discover who it is he has brought for the Duke's pleasure, but Annina fancies making the most of the opportunity with the Duke that fate has given her.

Caramello does his best to warn the Duke off Annina. 'Don't trust her. She scratches and bites!' he warns. Finally Annina and the Duke are left alone and the disguised Annina is shocked and thrown on the defensive when the Duke rhapsodises over the receptive response that his advances to Barbara had previously aroused. As the orchestra in the ballroom strikes up a waltz, the Duke takes the reluctant Annina into his arms.

Caramello finds an excuse to interrupt the amorous scene and Annina persuades the Duke to take her into the ballroom. While they are away, Caramello opens the doors to the Duke's apartments and a crowd enters, including Pappacoda, prominent in a faded, shabby senator's costume with false, misshapen nose and spectacles and with his pockets stuffed with sausages, meat and pastries. Pappacoda has brought with him all his tradesmen friends, to whom he has distributed invitations given to him by Caramello. They are wide-eyed at the scale of the Duke's hospitality and, having introduced his friends to Caramello, Pappacoda invites them to help themselves.

As the Duke seeks somewhere to be alone with Annina, a group of senators and their wives detain him. Among them are Senator Delacqua and his supposed wife, and the Duke is taken aback at being introduced to a second Barbara. However, Annina identifies this 'wife' for the Duke as the masked Ciboletta. The Duke goes along with Ciboletta's pretence, as he recalls the serenade he had sung to Barbara at previous carnival times. Delacqua pushes the supposed Barbara forward to put his own case for the position of the Duke's steward, but Ciboletta instead asks for a place for Pappacoda as the Duke's personal cook and the Duke is only too ready to oblige her. Delacqua departs to join Barbara in Murano, leaving the Duke to take supper with Annina and Ciboletta. Caramello has sent away the servants, and he and Pappacoda wait on the trio personally in order to keep their eyes open for any unwelcome developments.

As the Duke courts the two ladies, Caramello and Pappacoda repeatedly interrupt. The cook gives a timely discourse on his culinary arts before the senators' wives arrive seeking the Duke's attention. By now midnight is approaching-the time when the Duke must go to lead the revels in Saint Mark's Square. When the bells of Saint Mark's sound out, Annina joins in the revelry and all go off in masks to enjoy themselves.

ACT 3

In Saint Mark's Square, before the moonlit cathedral, the revellers are celebrating but Caramello stands alone, reflecting upon Annina's flirtation with the Duke and lamenting the fickleness of women. Ciboletta, meanwhile, is looking for Pappacoda to tell him of his appointment as the Duke's personal cook, a piece of news that dispels Pappacoda's wrath at Ciboletta's adventures with the Duke. Now they can marry. When Pappacoda goes to pay his respects to the Duke, Ciboletta reveals to the Duke that the young lady on whom he had been lavishing his attention was not Barbara but Caramello's sweetheart Annina. When the Duke finally catches up with Annina, he finds her telling the senators' wives all about her escapade with him. Fanfares announce the start of the grand Carnival procession, in which all sections of Venetian life are represented and, when it is over, the pigeons of Saint Mark's flutter down into the square.

Delacqua has returned, distressed by the discovery that Barbara is not in Murano and, when she appears with Enrico, the young man reassures Delacqua with a story of how he has rescued his aunt Barbara from an impostor gondolier. The Duke is decidedly less interested in Barbara when he discovers that she has a nephew as big as Enrico, and he rewards Caramello for delivering him from a potentially awkward situation by making him his steward. Caramello and Annina can therefore join Pappacoda and Ciboletta in marrying, and the revelries are set fair to go on long into the night.

The above synopsis follows the original text as finalised during the first Viennese run. The work is commonly performed in the 1923 revision by Ernst Marischka and Erich Wolfgang Korngold which, in the interests of smoothing the action, makes cuts and revisions to both dialogue and music. In particular, two numbers are added to build up the part of the Duke - 'Sei mir gegrüsst, du holdes Venezia!' (to music from Simplicius) in Act 1 and 'Treu sein-das liegt mir nicht' in Act 2 to the music originally given to Annina for 'Was mir der Zufall gab'.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Bordman, Gerald. American Operetta. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981.
• Ganzl, Kurt. The Encyclopedia of Musical Theatre. New York: Schirmer Books, 2001.
• Traubner, Richard. Operetta: A Theatrical History. Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1983

External links

All links retrieved July 21, 2008.

• Extensive site with information about operettas, light operas and their composers
• Essay on operettas of Offenbach, Johann Strauss Jr. and their contemporaries
• http://www.operetta-research-center.org (with a large archive of historical reviews)

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