OPERETTA AS A GENRE FROM ITS BEGINNINGS TO ITS FAMOUS HUNGARIAN REPRESENTATIVES

Abstract

This work comprises three uneven parts. In the first part we have attempted to offer an abbreviated history of the operetta genre, from the beginning of the 17th century to its Hungarian composers at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries. Instead of an exhaustive historical presentation, we focused on pursuing a line of argumentation that would explain the emergence of the Hungarian composers from Budapest and Vienna, whose operettas successfully entertain audiences until this day. In the second part, we reviewed the specific topics approached by the Hungarian operetta composers, exemplifying these by briefly presenting the contents of the 14 operettas that we will analyze during our doctoral research. In the third part we compared the genres of opera and operetta, in terms of their elements. We considered this to be necessary in order to be able to demonstrate the specific features of the operetta genre and also emphasize the fact that they are very elaborate works created by talented and well-trained composers, and their staging required just as much talent, work and dedication throughout history, as their great operatic counterparts.