Baranello, Micaela. “Die lustige Witewe and the Creation of the Silver Age of Viennese Operetta.” Cambridge Opera Journal 26.2 (July, 2014): 175-202.

 

Bargainnier, Earl F. “W. S. Gilbert and American Musical Theatre.” Journal of Popular Culture 12.3 (1978): 446-458. Print.

This journal article discusses the reception of Gilbert and Sullivan’s operettas in the United States (including how they were often pirated at any opportunity) and goes on to discuss Gilbert and how influential he was on early musical theatre contributors like Hart, Hammerstein II, Gershwin, and Sondheim, who all said so in their own words. The author goes on to analyze the works of Cole Porter and consider the ways he was influenced by Gilbert, although he never admitted as such. Says the author, “In his rhymes, his use of words as words, his patter songs, his satiric contemporaneity and his approach to this love song, Porter is a twentieth-century sophisticated Gilbert” (page 452). With influence both spoken of and simply observed in such important figures in musical theatre’s history, it becomes obvious what a strong influence Gilbert was on the later form.

 

Dizikes, John. Opera in America: A Cultural History. New Haven: Yale University. 1993. Print

This book is a history of American opera and opera in American from the 1730s to the present at the time of this writing in 1993. The author’s methods involve examining how European opera and operetta came into the United States and how Americans composers began to write for those forms. He discusses the history in great detail and delves very deep into the history surrounding the different forms of operetta. He spends two chapters discussing Offenbach and then Gilbert and Sullivan, talking at length about the differences of their art forms, how those came to be, and how they would influence musical theatre in America. “The desire to buy and defy Europe, and at the same time to imitate and defer to it, would shape the future development of American musical theatre” (page 213).

 

Everett, William A. Sigmund Romberg. New Haven: Yale University Press. 2007. Print.

 

Grout, Donald Jay, and Hermine Weigel Williams. A Short History of Opera. 4th ed. New York: Columbia University Press. 2003. Print.

 

Hanák, Péter. “The Cultural Role of the Vienna-Budapest Operetta.” Budapest and New York: Studies and Metropolitan Transformation, 1870-1930. Eds. Thomas Bender, Carl E. Schorske. Russel Sage Foundation, 1994. 209-223.

This collection of essays was formed into a book for the purpose of examining the cultural and historiographical differences between New York and Budapest in the late 19th to early 20th centuries, given the relative separation before that time. The specific essay referenced discusses the history of operetta from Vienna and Budapest, analyzing why certain operas became so popular while other were less. The author gives specific insight into Viennese history that explains some cultural elements of Viennese operetta.

 

 

Kirk, Elise Kuhl. American Operetta: Music in American Life. Chicago: University of Illinois Press. 2001. Print.

This book seeks to educate American audiences about the rich history of American opera, which is often sidelined by such composers as Donizetti and Wagner. The author explains how and why the form evolved, and goes into detail on influential American composers, such as John Philip Sousa and Reginald De Koven. In a form dominated by outside composers, she strives to bring attention to those American creators, although it is impossible to deny the influence that those outside composers had on the Americans. According to the author, “John Philip Sousa and Reginald De Koven carved a special niche in the history of American opera” (page 107).

 

Knapp, Raymond. The American Musical and the Performance of Personal Identity. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2009. Print.

This book is the second of a two-part thematic history of the American musical. The first dealt primarily with creating a collective identity for Americans, while the second deals more with developing an individual voice and body. According to the author, “the American Musical…was in core ways specifically American and thus concerned with collective identify-formation” (page 3). He continues to explain the transition of operetta to focus more on the individuals and their relationships rather than the larger political idea, explaining the appeal to American audiences. In addition to analysis, the author gives detailed history into the later period of American operetta, starting with Franz Lehár. The author examines the popularity of popular operettas in American history, including the Merry Widow and Naughty Marietta, in terms of plot and themes and musical structure.

 

Maslon, Laurence. “Essay: Operetta.” Broadway: The American Musical. Thirteen/WNET New York Public Media. Web. April 2, 2016.

This webpage on the PBS funded website Broadway: The American Musical provides a surprisingly comprehensive overview of operetta, touching on the different geographical areas that brought their own versions of operetta to the United States and how they were influential. The author discusses important creators such as Offenbach, Gilbert and Sullivan, Lehár, and Herbert. He also discusses the “resurgence of the operetta” following World War I and the anti-German feelings that had emerged in the United States during that time. Composers such as Friml and Romberg were responsible for this event.

 

Mordden, Ethan. Anything Goes: A History of American Musical Theatre. New York: Oxford University Press. 2013. Print.

 

Mortimer, Harold Roan. The Silver operetta and the Golden musical: The influence of the Viennese operetta of the Silver Age (1905-1935) on the Broadway musical of the Golden Age (1943-1964). Diss. University of Washington, 1999. Ann Arbor: UMI, 1999.

This document is a doctoral dissertation by Harold Roan Mortimer in partial fulfillments of the requirements for the Doctoral degree at the University of Washington. The author’s purpose is to examine the history of Viennese Operetta of the Silver tradition and its influence on American Musical Theatre, and from there, examine such influences as revue, burlesque, vaudeville, etc. The author’s intent was, that by a side-by-side comparison of Lehár’s the Merry Widow and Lerner and Loewe’s My Fair Lady, he could provide irrefutable proof of the greater influence of operetta than the previously mentioned forms.

 

Osborne, Charles. The Opera Lover’s Companion. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004. Print.

 

Traubner, Richard. Operetta: A Theatrical History. New York: Routledge. 2003. E-book.

 

Wells, K. A. “Music as War Propaganda: Did music help win the first World War?” The Parlor Songs Academy: Lessons in America’s Popular Music History. The Parlor Songs Academy. 2004. Web. March 14, 2016.

This web article discusses the use of American propaganda during World War I, especially concerning music. The author discusses many forms of musical propaganda, including how Viennese operettas lost favor with American audiences during and after the war. “Popular music,” says the author, “Saturated the citizenry and reached into all of its corners, forming a great medium for conveying messages.” This article is valuable because it provides the historical context for the transition from Viennese to American operetta more specific to propaganda. “Music provides a weapon of social change which can be used to achieve specific goals.”

 

 “The WWI Home Front: War Hysteria & the Persecution of German-Americans.” The Authentic History Center. Web. April 2, 2016.