“Camp: Notes On Operetta.” Or: Getting Back To The “Filthy” Side Of The Genre?
“More than any other art form, fashion most fully embraces and expresses camp’s exuberant aesthetic, excelling in its ability to
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Nils Grosch & Carolin Stahrenberg: “Im weißen Rössl. Kulturgeschichtliche Perspektiven”
Over the past twenty years, German-speaking operetta has been enjoying a revival, especially Berlin operettas of the Weimar Republic by
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Christian Walther: “Robert Gilbert. Eine zeitgeschichtliche Biografie”
The lyricists behind our classic pop songs are generally unknown or forgotten. Robert Gilbert (pseuydonym of Robert Winterfeld, 1899–1978) wrote
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“Jimmy Berg – Von der Ringstraße zur 72nd Street”: Chansons From Vienna And New York Exile
Authentic cabaret texts are hard to come by. This material was written for the day, not for posterity, and was
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Berlin’s Entertainment Industry In The 1920s As Seen By Willy Römer & On Sheet Music Covers
Tea might be the only simple pleasure left to us, as Oscar Wilde once remarked. But you need to be
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A Franz von Suppé Biography In French By José-Luis Munoz
Be careful what you wish for, says the old adage. You may get it … and in spades! Forty years
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“Offenbachiades” And Their Context: A New Study By Peter Hawig
Let’s start this review backwards, shall we? The last sentence in Peter Hawig’s new book for the Offenbach bicentenary is:
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“Jacques Offenbach – Meister des Vergnügens”: Ein Interview mit Heiko Schon
Große Ereignisse werfen ihre Schatten voraus, und so sind im Vorfeld des 200. Offenbach-Geburtstags 2019 mehrere neue Bücher auf den
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The Revolution Of 1918/1919 In Berlin: A New Exhibition Incorporates Entertainment Culture
There are many events and exhibitions, TV documentaries and newspaper articles in circulations right now in Germany, commemorating the end
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Operetta and Modernity: A New Book By Ethel Matala de Mazza
When I first heard of this book I got really excited: the famous S. Fischer publishing house would release a
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“La comédie musicale britannique XIXème et XXème siècle”: A New Collection Of Essays In English, French And German
Just out is a large-size almost catalogue-like publication in English, French and German in the Revue Musicorum series, no. 20/2018.
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Cross-Dressed Military Operetta In World War 1 And 2: An Exhibition In Meiningen And A New Book
Back in 2014, corresponding with the centenary of the outbreak of World War 1, the Schwules Museum in Berlin offered
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“Make Me Look Beautiful, Madame D’Ora!” Or: Revivisting Elsie Altmann And The Viennese Operetta Soubrette
Ah, yes: Madame D‘Ora! She’s been one of my great operetta heroines, ever since I first found her portrait of
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“Hervé par lui-même” Presented By Pascal Blanchet At Palazzetto Bru Zane
It has been a splendid winter. Three new musical-theatre works – one English, two French – have crossed my desk,
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A New Biography: “André Messager. Le passeur de siècle” By Christophe Mirambeau
The Musical Theatre book of the decade. I sha’n’t gush. Well, I’ll try not to. But … I thought that
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The Three Lives of Jetty Treffz, First Wife of Johann Strauss: A New Biography By Peter Sommeregger
Here it is, finally: a full biography of Jetty Treffz (1818-1878), first wife of Johann Strauss and responsible for bringing
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Jacques Offenbach and the Making of Modern Culture: An Interview with Prof. Laurence Senelick
At long last someone has written a brand new Offenbach book – in English. And what’s even better, it’s a
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A Critical Quotebook: Marion Linhardt’s “Stimmen zur Unterhaltung” Revisited
This is one of those publications that should have made a big splash – but didn’t. Back in 2009, Marion
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Barbara Denscher: Der Operettenlibrettist Victor Léon
Victor Léon (1858-1940) hat im Lauf seiner mehr als fünfzigjährigen Theater-Karriere über hundert Bühnenstücke geschrieben, knapp die Hälfte davon wird
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Richard Genée’s “Der Seekadett”: New Edition By Dario Salvi
New operas are hard to come by these days—at least that is what I have always been told. Finding an
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“Must Close Saturday”: The Decline and Fall of the British Musical Flop
When this heavy, 350 page book, closely but clearly typed and well-illustrated, arrived in the post I thought I would
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Barbara Denscher’s Victor Léon Biography & Matthias Kauffmann’s “Operette im Dritten Reich”
Has operetta research shifted gear? One could think so, considering that there are finally in-depth academic studies coming out that
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Racist Minstrel Magic? The Story of the George Mitchell Choirs
A seventy-one year old man, a little crippled these days, lying in the too-scorching sun by the Australian seaside, reading
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Oscar Straus: New Academic Essays On A Mostly Forgotten Composer
Oscar Straus (1870-1954) is one of the leading operetta composers of the first half of the 20th century whose greatest
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A New Monography On Offenbach’s “Orpheus in the Underworld”
For many operetta fans, Offenbach’s Orpheus in the Underword is the masterpiece with which it all began, back in 1858.
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John Koegel: Music in German Immigrant Theater, New York City, 1840-1940
John Koegel reminds us, early on in this broadly conceived, superbly researched, and elegantly written study, that the population of
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A History Of Popular Musical Theater In Dresden, 1844 Until Today
The Staatsoperette Dresden has been – for many years – one of the few theaters in Germany, before and after
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Re-Visiting The Villas Of Bad Ischl: Marie-Theres Arnbom’s New Book
Anyone who is even remotely interested in the history of German language operetta knows that Bad Ischl – a kind
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A New Biogragphy Of Charles Amberg – Lyricist Of “Clivia”
Charles Amberg (1894-1946) is not exactly a household name today, and even dedicated operetta fans will be hard pressed to
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Peter Minich At St. Pölten’s Stadtmuseum: “Ein Leben für die Musik”
For many operetta lovers, Austrian tenor and Volksoper star Peter Minich, is an icon. He certainly represents a very particular
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“Sex in Vienna”: New Exhibition At The Wien Museum Explores Forgotten Aspects Of Operetta History
We admit, in many ways the year 2016 hasn’t exactly been “good news” all around. Yet, from an operetta perspective
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“Every Country Gets The Operetta It Deserves”: Trends, Ideological Wars And New Books
In variation of the famous saying “Every country has the government it deserves” – by 18th century political philosopher Joseph-Marie
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Re-Sampling A Legend: “Ziegfeld And His Follies” By Cynthia And Sara Brideson
Here is a splashy new biography of “Broadway’s Greatest Producer,” Florenz Ziegfeld, written by the team of the Brideson sisters,
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Reviewing The Operetta Aspects In “New York’s Yiddish Theater”
As a companion volume to its recent exhibition on New York’s Yiddish Theater: From the Bowery to Broadway, the Museum
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New York’s Yiddish Theater: From the Bowery to Broadway
Considering that most new books dealing with Broadway history in coffee table format simply recycle what has already been written
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“A Trip to Africa”: Suppé’s Operetta Available At Cambridge Scholars
The enthusiasm is impressive and a role model, no doubt: conductor Dario Salvi got so excited about Franz von Suppé’s
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