Charles Rudolf Friml was a Czech-born composer of operettas, musicals, songs and piano pieces, as well as a pianist. After musical training and a brief performing career in his native Prague, Friml moved to the United States, where he became a composer. His best-known works are Rose-Marie and The Vagabond King, each of which enjoyed success on Broadway and in London and were adapted for film.
Image: Rudolf Friml 1905 (cropped)
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.
The audience at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, the birthplace of Jacques Offenbach's operettas. Caricature of 1860 by Émile Bayard.
A Columbia Records advertisement for a recording of Rita Montaner in a production of Eliseo Grenet and Ernesto Lecuona's Niña Rita, o, La Habana en 1830, an operetta from the Spanish genre of zarzuela.
Cover page of Boccaccio, oder Der Prinz von Palermo (Boccaccio, or the Prince of Palermo) by Franz von Suppé in 1879. An example of early Viennese operetta.
Playbill for a revival of Orphée aux enfers
