Patrick Bade
Viennese Operetta, Part 2
Summary
Patrick Bade discusses the operatta’s that came out of Vienna from 1870 to 1920 and explains why the lines are so blurred between operetta, grand opera, opera comic, musical comedy and musicals. Part 2 of 2.
Patrick Bade
Patrick Bade is a historian, writer, and broadcaster. He studied at UCL and the Courtauld Institute of Art. He was a senior lecturer at Christie’s Education for many years and has worked for the Art Fund, Royal Opera House, National Gallery, and V&A. He has published on 19th- and early 20th-century paintings and historical vocal recordings. His latest book is Music Wars: 1937–1945.
German operetta was immensely popular in America during the Second World War. And of course, there were all these operatic composers like Kalman, Robert Stoltz, and there were, as I said, hugely popular revivals of The Merry Widow and also of the Straus’s operettas in America.