operetta

The Best of Operetta, Vol. 1
$8.99
Treat yourself to these wonderful records (this one, plus the other two volumes). It's the best collection of Viennese operetta I know. The voices aren't the best--the tenor especially can be squally at times. No, this isn't Tauber or Schwarzkopf, but enjoy it for what it is: three hours of sheer pleasure.

Stuhrling Original Men's Special Reserve Operetta Automatic Watch #97.331510
$715.00
I received my Stuhrling Original Mens' Special Reserve Operetta Automatic Watch yesterday and am delighted with it. It looks like it should have cost thousands, not hundreds. The casework is beautiful and the dial highly decorated. The overall look of this watch is one of Old World European Craftsmanship. I own many more expensive watches and this one rivals them. I recommend this watch to anyone who loves classic timepieces.

Operetta: A Theatrical History (Routledge Studies in Musical Genres)
$39.99
This newly revised ( from 1984 ) book will be a treat to those who are not familiar with operettas but are interested to learn about them. Traubner is absolute accurate in his comments about each one (as I learned to my cost once in Munich. I saw "Tzar und Zimmerman" but had I paid attention to the book, I would not have.) His eye and ear for scores and librettos is spot on though, as he concedes, many of these have not been seen in perfomance in decades.
The book is arranged to take the reader on an entertaining tour of the genre and never forgets this is being written for the viewer and not the musicologist. But this later group will not feel slighted. Along with historical data, original casts, performances etc. are comments on the musical construction of each one and its' relationship to the time and audience in which it played.
The reader may find themself wishing some of the pieces might be revived, they sound interesting, tuneful and with careful performance might do well in repetoire. However, the majority of operettas are now period pieces, fascinating in Mr. Traubner's text but probably stultifying on stage.
Well written, amusing in it's recollections of nights in the theatre past, even if the topic is not your favorite, it's a good read as it traces the sociology of taste and how it varies.
As a reference source this is an invaluable book. As we get further from the time in which these pieces were written, material about them, indeed the pieces themselves (witness Gilbert and Sullivan's "Thespis") simply become non-existent. They will always exist in Traubner's OPERETTA; A THEATRICAL HISTORY. We should be grateful.

Best Of Operetta, Vol. 1
$7.99
Treat yourself to these wonderful records (this one, plus the other two volumes). It's the best collection of Viennese operetta I know. The voices aren't the best--the tenor especially can be squally at times. No, this isn't Tauber or Schwarzkopf, but enjoy it for what it is: three hours of sheer pleasure.