Reclams Operettenführer

by Jens Thomas Thau, Anton Würz

351 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2002

Reviews

[Manybooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

The penned by Jens Thomas Thau and Anton Würz entirely in German Reclams Operettenführer is the 2002 and as such the 21st edition (with the original Reclams Operettenführer being published in 1953). And Reclams Operettenführer, which title means something like a guide to and through operettas, it contains a short one page introduction (of course not very extensive but sufficiently informative and with Thau and Würz specifically pointing out that Reclams Operettenführer focuses only on operettas and as such not on operas and also not on musicals), a main textual body of chronologically listed operetta composers (starting with the early 19th century Austrian composer Josef Lanner and ending with deceased in 1977 Swiss composer Paul Burkhard) and brief synopses of their main works (well, that seems to be the case for many of the presented composers, since I personally do find it rather strange that in the section on Arthur Sullivan, Thau and Würz only list The Mikado and do not bother with describing and presenting either The Pirates of Penzance or The Gondoliers, and not to mention that Arthur Sullivan's collaborator W.S. Gilbert is also not ever really mentioned), two alphabetical indexes (one featuring the presented operettas, the other listing the composers) and ending with the credits for the photography of operatic performances used as accompanying pictorials in Reclams Opererettenführer, but sadly and a bit frustratingly no bibliography with suggestions for further reading (and while there supposedly are more recent editions of Reclams Opererettenführer, the edition I found and read on Open Library is the one from 2002 and I am thus reviewing said particular edition).

Now the biographical information for each of the operetta composers focussed on in Reclams Operettenfürher could and maybe even should (at least in my humble opinion) probably be a bit more extensive, could be somewhat more detailed (and I do find this in particular the case for those operetta composers who were victims of the Nazis, as for example, I certainly consider it kind textually frustrating and also a bit disrespectful when in the section in Reclams Operettenführer on Leon Jessel, Jens Thomas Thau and Anton Würz simply state that Jessel was killed in 1942 by the Gestapo and nothing more is textually being related regarding this tragedy and atrocity). And furthermore, while I do of course accept that Reclams Opernfürher is (and as already mentioned) chronological in scope, I for one would prefer it if the composers were listed alphabetically.

And finally, with regard to how the 105 featured operettas are being presented in Reclams Operettenführer, Jens Thomas Thau and Anton Würz commence each of their descriptions with how the composers themselves labelled their operettas (as while most of course did use the term operetta, some also called their works musical comedies or used the common in Germany, Austria and Switzerland term Singspiel), date and place of the premiere, a list of characters and a sufficiently detailed but also and thankfully not too spoiler-heavy synopsis (and yes, I really do appreciate the absence of spoilers and that Thau and Würz therefore do not generally ruin things for those of us who might actually want to see the operettas listed in Reclams Operettenführer or at least some of them being preformed performed).

Thus and definitely four stars for Reclams Operettenführer, for a generally readable, enlightening and also rather fun and engaging reference manual and introduction to operettas as a genre (and that yes, the 16 colourful performance photographs, not only do they provide a very nice visual accompaniment to the featured text of Reclams Operettenführer, they also certainly make me personally want to watch operettas being performed). And indeed, even with my mild textual annoyances (see above), the main reason why my rating for Reclams Operettenführer is four and not five stars is the fact that the very tiny font size of the printed words is really hard on my ageing eyes (and although I know that Reclaim as a publisher always tends to do this, always tends to feature tiny fonts, it does not really make reading Reclams Operettenführer any easier for me and any less of an eyestrain).