operettas
Frothy sung comedies
Operettas are light operas with spoken dialogue, typically featuring romantic plots, humor, and accessible melodies.
The form flourished in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, bridging opera and musical theater.
Gilbert and Sullivan's works are classic examples: We saw a production of The Pirates of Penzance.
The diminutive suffix signals something smaller and lighter than grand opera.
Victorian operetta collaborators
- librettoOpera's written words
- sopranoHighest female voice range
- tenorEssential meaning or import
- chorusSingers performing together
overture · aria · duet · ensemble · curtain call · footlights · costumes · scenery
Pleasing sequence of notes
- waltzDance in three-quarter time
- polkaBouncy partnered folk step
- coloraturaElaborate vocal ornamentation
- orchestrationScoring for instrumental ensemble
score · leitmotif · refrain · verse · chorus · counterpoint · harmonies · musical comedy
Austrian capital
- bourgeoisMiddle-class and conventional
- satireMockery exposing vice
- parodySatirical imitation
- aristocracyRule by hereditary elite
romanticism · escapism · nostalgia · fin de siecle · Hapsburg · Edwardian · Victorian · light entertainment
Victorian comic opera
- The Merry WidowLehár's celebrated stage work
- HMS PinaforeBritish comic opera
- CandideNaively optimistic person
- Johann StraussAustrian composer of waltzes
Gilbert and Sullivan
Victorian operetta collaborators
chorus · overture · aria · duet · ensemble · curtain call · footlights · costumes · scenery · orchestra pit
melody
Pleasing sequence of notes
- waltzDance in three-quarter time
- polkaBouncy partnered folk step
- coloraturaElaborate vocal ornamentation
orchestration · score · leitmotif · refrain · verse · chorus · counterpoint · harmonies · musical comedy · light music
Vienna
Austrian capital
aristocracy · romanticism · escapism · nostalgia · fin de siecle · Hapsburg · Edwardian · Victorian · light entertainment
The Mikado
Victorian comic opera
- The Merry WidowLehár's celebrated stage work
- HMS PinaforeBritish comic opera
- CandideNaively optimistic person
- vocal musicsong, vocals, soprano, tenor, alto
- cabaretcabaret, cancan, showgirls, burlesque, Moulin Rouge
- Strauss Musicwaltzes, polkas
- Victorian TheatreHenrik Ibsen, proscenium, Oscar Wilde, footlights, backstage
- Americana Musicspirituals, folk ballads, hymn books, Camptown Races, Beautiful Dreamer
- Gilbert and SullivanW.S. Gilbert, Gilbert, Sullivan, The Mikado, H.M.S. Pinafore
operettastragedies
Dramas with fatal endings
Ring Cycle · La Traviata · requiems · oratorios · symphonies