Kevin Clarke (born 14 February 1967) is an Irish-German music historian specializing in 1920s jazz operettas.
Born in Berlin, Germany, Clarke is the author of various books dealing with topics such as the jazz and revue operettas of the Weimar Republic, operetta in Nazi Germany, and homosexuality and operetta. Since 2006 he has been director of the Operetta Research Center Amsterdam (ORCA).
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Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its shorter length, the operetta is usually of a light and amusing character. It sometimes also includes satirical commentaries.
Emmerich Kálmán was a Hungarian composer of operettas and a prominent figure in the development of Viennese operetta in the 20th century. Among his most popular works are Die Csárdásfürstin (1915) and Gräfin Mariza (1924). Influences on his compositional style include Hungarian folk music, the Viennese style of precursors such as Johann Strauss II and Franz Lehár, and, in his later works, American jazz. As a result of the Anschluss, Kálmán and his family fled to Paris and then to the United States. He eventually returned to Europe in 1949 and died in Paris in 1953.
The White Horse Inn is an operetta or musical comedy by Ralph Benatzky and Robert Stolz in collaboration with a number of other composers and writers, set in the picturesque Salzkammergut region of Upper Austria. It is about the head waiter of the White Horse Inn in St. Wolfgang who is desperately in love with the owner of the inn, a resolute young woman who at first only has eyes for one of her regular guests. Sometimes classified as an operetta, the show enjoyed huge successes in the West End, as a Broadway version, and was filmed several times. In a way similar to The Sound of Music and the three Sissi movies, the play and its film versions have contributed to the popular image of Austria as an alpine idyll—the kind of idyll tourists have been seeking for almost a century now. Today, Im weißen Rößl is mainly remembered for its songs, many of which have become popular classics.
Ralph Benatzky, born in Mährisch Budwitz as Rudolph Franz [František] Josef Benatzky, was an Austrian composer of Moravian origin. He composed operas and operettas, such as Casanova (1928), Die drei Musketiere (1929), Im weißen Rössl (1930) and Meine Schwester und ich (1930). He died in Zürich, Switzerland.
Peter Alexander Ferdinand Maximilian Neumayer, commonly known as Peter Alexander, was an Austrian actor, singer and one of the most popular entertainers in the German-language world between the 1950s and his retirement. His fame emerged in the 1950s and 1960s through popular film comedies and successful recordings, predominantly of Schlager and operetta repertory. Later, Alexander established himself as the acclaimed host of television shows. His career as a live singer touring the German language countries lasted until 1991, while he continued his television work until 1996.
Paul Abraham was a Jewish-Hungarian composer of operettas, who scored major successes in the German-speaking world. His specialty – and own innovation – was the insertion of jazz interludes into operettas.
Robert Elisabeth Stolz was an Austrian songwriter and conductor as well as a composer of operettas and film music.
Erik Charell, born as Erich Karl Löwenberg, was a German theatre and film director, dancer and actor. He is best known as the creator of musical revues and operettas, such as The White Horse Inn and The Congress Dances.
Max Hansen , also known as 'The Little Caruso', was a Danish singer, cabaret artist, actor, and comedian.
La Jana was an Austro-German dancer and actress.
White Horse Inn is the title of the Broadway version of the operetta Im weißen Rößl. The original operetta by Erik Charell and composers Ralph Benatzky and Robert Stolz was based on the popular farce of the same name by Oscar Blumenthal and Gustav Kadelburg. It was premiered at Berlin's Großes Schauspielhaus on 8 November 1930 and ran for 416 performances. The Broadway version was premiered on 1 October 1936 at the Center Theatre in New York City. It had a libretto by David Freedman and lyrics by Irving Caesar. The original score was re-orchestrated by Hans Spialek.
Sven Felix Kellerhoff is a German historian, journalist and author who specialises in the history of the Nazi era.
Margit Schramm was a German soprano in operetta, opera and song. She also appeared as a film actress and hosted a television show. In the 1960s, she became known as an operetta diva on stage, German television, in numerous concerts and in films, where she often appeared together with her favourite stage partner, the tenor Rudolf Schock.
Peter Minich was an Austrian stage actor who became a tenor performing in operas, operettas and musical films. He was for decades the lead tenor of the Volksoper in Vienna, focused on Viennese operetta.
Ernst Welisch was an Austrian playwright and theatre director. He is primarily known for the numerous operetta librettos that he wrote for composers such as Leo Fall, Jean Gilbert, Emmerich Kálmán, and Ralph Benatzky. Welisch was born in Vienna, but spent most of his career in Berlin. In the 1930s he returned to Vienna where he died shortly before the premiere of his last work, Venedig in Wien.
RudolfSchanzer was an Austrian playwright and journalist. He is primarily known for the numerous operetta librettos that he wrote for composers such as Leo Fall, Jean Gilbert, Emmerich Kálmán, and Ralph Benatzky. He was born in Vienna and died in Italy where he committed suicide after his arrest by the Gestapo.
Erik Wirl was a German operatic tenor and actor.
Fritz Hennenberg is a German musicologist and dramaturg.
Hedwig Hillengaß was a German operatic soprano, who appeared in leading roles, first operetta, later opera, in Germany. In May 1936, Bizet's Carmen was broadcast with her in the title role. Besides the standard repertoire, she performed in the world premiere of Egk's Peer Gynt, and the German premiere of Jakov Gotovac's Ero s onoga svijeta.
