Operetta: A Sourcebook, Volume II

Operetta developed in the second half of the 19th century from the French opera-comique and the more lighthearted German Singspiel. As the century progressed, the serious concerns of mainstream opera were sustained and intensified, leaving a gap between opera-comique and vaudeville that necessitated a new type of stage work. Jacques Offenbach, son of a Cologne synagogue cantor, established himself in Paris with his series of operas-bouffes. The popular success of this individual new form of...