Introduction

There has been a remarkable growth in scholarly attention for operetta over the last two decades. Books, journal articles, and conferences all attest to a new sense that the moment has come for this once-marginalised genre. Studies cite its commercial success and the long-lasting impact of the music on popular discourse as signs that the genre is indeed critical to our understanding of culture from the nineteenth century to the present day. There has been a remarkable growth in scholarly attention for operetta over the last two decades. Books, journal articles, and conferences all attest to a new sense that the moment has come for this once-marginalised genre. As well as offering a remarkably consistent lens through which to view much of the activity surrounding operetta, our position reflects a concern to sidestep the question of how to define the genre, something which has long been a struggle for those who wish to take it seriously.