Talk:Operetta

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Operetta vs. Comic Opera or Light Opera. Operetta is considered a form of Comic Opera or Light Opera. I tried to clarify this throughout. Note that Gilbert and Sullivan always referred to their works as operas and never operettas.

In the Strauss paragraph: I'm not sure if the Offenbach reference is to Fledermaus, or to Strauss's operettas in general. I'm doing some reorganizing for (I hope) more clarity & accuracy. Herbivore 02:40, 27 September 2006 (UTC)

Contents 1 What are you talking about here?? 2 Greetings to Herbivore and Soundofmusicals 3 Improvements 4 Scott Joplin brief introduction 5 Joplin as a composer

[edit] What are you talking about here??

This is by no means a bad article - I'd like to see the tag removed, frankly.

Gilbert and Sullivan IS English operetta - and is very often referred to as such in reference works - although it is true that they avoided the term - probably to avoid the "naughty" association with the works of Offenbach and Strauss in Victorian London. I think that to lose sight of this would bog us down in senseless semantics. In fact the word "comic opera" generally referred, in nineteeth and early twentieth century Britain, to "operetta with English lyrics". Some "comic operas" of the time (you can probably think of examples yourself) are actually closer to the then emerging form of musical comedy than to Offenbach style operetta - I can't think of a single one that is fundamentally more "operatic" that most Offenbach!! (Although this is POV of course).

Since operetta was not only a precursor of modern musicals, but has also continued to exist in paralell to the later form, with each exerting influence on the other, and many "grey area" works hovering between the two - not to mention a complex and at times difficult to pin down relationship between both operettas and musicals with opera itself, the situation IS confusing. It is NOT clear - and to say or imply that it is is NOT accurate.

In fact "simplicity" would almost certainly lead to a simplistic, and far from accurate treatment.

Soundofmusicals 08:34, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

I have actually done a little re-arrangement etc. - comments welcomed!!

Soundofmusicals 08:55, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Greetings to Herbivore and Soundofmusicals

Greetings from the Opera Project to Herbivore and Soundofmusicals. Great that you have both taken an interest in this article. I wonder whether it might be possible to give us some information about yourselves on the your users page?

Regarding this article, much needs to be done. (The tag should stay until some progtress has been made.) IMO the article should be objective and not be written from the false perspective of later (English and American) forms. (The focus has to be rigorously encyclopedic.) I recommend reading Andrew Lamb in Grove. It's also essential to give sources. Good luck! - Kleinzach 14:06, 10 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Improvements

Could part of the problem of the imbalance of this article be due to the enormous introduction before the contents? I was thinking perhaps the intro could be condensed, then further details of the distinguishing features and conventions of operettas over operas could be put into a seperate section at the top of the menu links (#1), perhaps called Distinguishing operetta from opera, or something a lot shorter and catchier, hehe...

Also, I assume it's intentional that List of operettas direct links to The opera corpus? If so, then I assume that the list of operettas link is redundant and should be removed? Lethe 13:06, 7 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Scott Joplin brief introduction

Scott Joplin was born in Linden, Texas on November 24th, 1868. He moved to Texarkana at the age of seven. That time, he was already proficient on the banjo and was beginning to play piano. When he became a teenager, the was a dance musician. After a several years, he settled in st. Louis in about 1890. There, he studied a music genre called "ragtime". —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.133.56.162 (talk) 13:07, 17 February 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Joplin as a composer

In 1976, Joplin got awarded for one of his compositions, 'Treemonisha', because it was the first grand opera by an African American. His ideas were all from African music. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 122.133.56.162 (talk) 13:18, 17 February 2008 (UTC)