ABSTRACT
ACCORDING to most French dictionaries of the mid-nineteenth century, the word opérette was taken from the German Operette, itself derived from the Italian term operetta. The -ette or -etta designated something diminutive, a “little” opera or a “little” opéra-co-mique. There was substantial agreement that operettas were performed in “little theatres or salons,” and several dictionaries, particularly the musical ones, named Mozart as the originator of the term.
