The Cambridge Companion to Operetta ed. by Anastasia Belina and Derek B. Scott (review)

To conclude that this book is what one would expect from a Cambridge Companion is high praise. As is the norm in this distinguished series, its editors take a catholic approach to a complex subject, covering perspectives of scholars at different career stages, and representing a variety of sub-disciplinary interests. The volume leaves the reader wanting more; moreover, like many of the series, this is the first such treatment of its subject in English, and as such is doubly welcome.

In their introduction, the editors comment on the difficulty of selecting a satisfactory organizational scheme (p. 10); little wonder, as this volume probably covers as much material as any book has until now in this series. The editors opt for a more or less chronological/geographical approach, although this obscures the diffuse nature of the subject. The historical situation of operetta has the same complexities as its big brother genre: just like opera, the operetta repertory regularly crossed borders (both in translation and in the original), the censor's hand was often at work, and its reception history is complicated by multiple productions of perennial favourites and unexpected revivals of formerly forgotten works. The chronology included among the book's front matter spans 1855 to 1950, but some chapters extend the coverage well beyond that, even to the present day.

Dominating virtually all of the book's narratives is a coming to terms with the core operatic repertory: Offenbach, Strauss (and to a lesser extent Lehár), and Sullivan. Part I, 'Early Centres of Operetta', thus has the expected focuses of Paris, Vienna, and London, but it helpfully includes chapters for Buda-Pest and Prague as well—reminding the reader of the vibrant stage culture in major cities of the imperial periphery, and making the book's centre of gravity Central Europe. The title for Part II, 'The Global Expansion of Operetta', is hyperbole: 'Euro-American' would have sufficed, as the coverage here extends no further east than Moscow, scarcely further west than Manhattan, and with nothing south of Madrid or Athens. The chapters in this section and in the following ('Operetta since 1900') confront in some way the importation—usually by ambitious local producers—of at least a few works from the Parisian/Viennese/ London repertory, which generally leads to the development of a nationalistic or ethnic style. But apparently not always: Pentti Paavolainen's contribution, 'Operetta in the Nordic Countries (1850–1970)', is striking precisely because it is an account of foreign domination, mentioning no works of local origin. It is striking, too, because he presents by far the longest list of 'Recommended Reading' (pp. 165–6), without a clear indication of what more this literature would offer. Nevertheless, the articulation of distinct chains of influence (Paris—Copenhagen—Oslo on the one hand, Berlin—Stockholm—Helsinki on the other) is illuminating as abroader frame of reference.

Useful, too, is the recognition in many chapters that the development, without intent to export, of a local operetta repertory was not at all a sign of failure, but indeed of success. Christopher Webber's contribution, 'Spain and Zarzuela', cannily distances the zarzuela from everything else in the book, and does what it can to distinguish a range of Spanish theatrical traditions pigeonholed with that generic term. Belina and Scott lament the absence of a chapter on Yiddish operetta in this book, as they could locate no one to write it. The subject has been covered recently—if narrowly—in the first portion of Alisa Solomon's Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of Fiddler on the Roof (New York, 2013), and a reference to her impressive work would not have gone amiss.

The chronology itself could have benefitted from more careful proofreading. It seems unlikely that Suppédied twice (1895 and 1899), and the 1875 premiere of Carmen was at the Salle Favart, not the Palais Garnier. Too...