Academic literature on the topic 'Leipzig Conservatoire'

The development of modern styles of elite music education played a crucial role in entrenching Werktreue as the dominant practice within classical music performance. Focusing on Germany’s first conservatory, the Leipzig conservatory, which was founded in 1843, this article analyzes how Werktreue, understood as a set of tacit competencies and sensibilities that must be learned by musicians, was produced at a single historical site. Archival documents of the institution, as well as the correspondence and writings of teachers and students like Felix Mendelssohn, William Rockstro, and Ethel Smyth, show that the central objective of musical pedagogy was the faithful interpretation of musical works. Isolated as a discrete subject of training, performing musical works also functioned as the principal mode of student assessment through semesterly examinations. To transmit the necessary skills for this paradigm of performance, pupils’ bodily capacities (Technik) and ability to understand and interpret canonic compositions (Vortrag) became essential targets of conservatory pedagogy. Ubiquitous visibility among students, and the intense competition that this visibility engendered, went hand in hand with institutionalizing styles of musical expertise that continue to this day. In exploring these developments, this article asks how the productive power of modern conservatory training contributed not only to Werktreue’s rise over a wide geography, but also to the remarkable stability with which it has pervaded performance practice across multiple generations.

The article illustrates the life and creative activity of German pianist and pedagogue Karl Eduard Weber in Russia. Weber received his education at the Leipzig Conservatory. In 1854 he went to Russia, where musicians of high professional level were on demand, and taught for over 20 years at the Tambov Music College. However, having engaged in pedagogical activity in various Russian cities, Weber frequently experienced discontent. Having observed the unsatisfactory level of musical education, he began creating methodological works. Among them, those which became famous and were disseminated were “Rukovodstvo k sistematicheskomu obucheniyu igre na fortepiano” [“A Manual for the Systematic Instruction of Playing the Piano”] (1866), and “Putevoditel' pri obuchenii igre na fortepiano” [“A Guide to Instruction of Piano Playing”] (1876). In 1881 Karl Eduard Weber received the position of an instructor at the Tambov Alexandrinsky Institute for Noble Girls. In 1889 he switched to working at the Tambov Musical Classes (since 1900 — the Tambov Music College), where he worked until the end of his life (1913).Weber brought up the talented student Anna Gravert-Lavdovskaya (1881 – 1888). She provided initial instruction to the future outstanding pianist Victor Merzhanov. Therein, undoubtedly, lies a great merit of the Weber school. Many of the foundational traits of piano pedagogy of Karl Eduard Weber are inherent to the pedagogy of Victor K. Merzhanov.

A time there was when it was de rigueur for the self-respecting English composer to sample the life and art of our Germanic neighbours. A little time in the Land der Musik, it seemed, might help them make their own a little less ohne. Elgar supped at the springs in the Bavarian Highlands; Sullivan, Stanford and others in the Leipzig low-lands. It remains perplexing to the German mind that a reference to the ‘Frankfurt School’ in conversation with an Englishman can elicit praise for Percy Grainger, Roger Quilter and Co., but not a word about Adorno. Even Britten would have studied with Alban Berg, had the RCM not declared him ‘immoral’, thus forcing Ben to seek out immorality closer to home. To be sure, the rise of National Socialism reversed the tide for a while (the present writer is typical of his generation in that he owes the quality of his musical education to German-Jewish émigrés). But Gemiania proves today as seductive as ever to the English. Thanks to better pay and employment prospects, our finest graduates are regularly lured across the water to join their countrymen in maintaining the high standards of provincial German opera houses and orchestras. Our composers might on the whole be not as popular; but mentioning the name of Brian Ferneyhough still elicits the same mixture of awe, reverence and enthusiasm in German conservatories and radio studios as would a reference to the Pope in Cracow or to David Beckham at Old Trafford.

In concert and especially in teaching practice, Edvard Grieg’s Violin Sonata in F Major op. 8, which was written in 1865, is labelled as his youthful composition. Considering the time when it was created, it is an undisputed fact, but such a term has negative connotations and may also make one’s attitude towards artistic explorations within the piece shallower. It is worth to mention here that it was this very Sonata in F Major that attracted the attention of the great Ferenc Liszt. In his article, the author attempts to point to different sources which inspired Grieg during the initial period of his creative life. These influences can be divided into national ones (Norwegian) and European ones (based on the firm roots of the European musical heritage). There is no doubt that the composer is another link in the great Romantic tradition, both in terms of composition technique and form, as well as regular studies at the Conservatory in Leipzig. However, the matters related to the national element are much more difficult to look at using a comprehensive approach. While experiencing and analysing Norwegian folk music, one needs to consider to what extent Grieg’s music draws from it. In this aspect, the author discusses the issue of how well Grieg knew the music from his home country as well as objective obstacles in reflecting its idiom in artistic music. Norwegian folk instruments as such, in this case – the violin: hardingfele, seem an interesting element. These diverse influences were present throughout the whole period of Grieg’s creative work and can be seen already in his youthful Sonata in F Major – even though sometimes they are barely noticeable because of not having a mature form. Nevertheless, the awareness of rich- ness and many layers included in this composition should stimulate performers to study it in a diligent and in-depth way.

Background. The performance practice of recent decades demonstrates an obvious tendency to expand and update the repertoire due to the use of the works of those composers whose pieces had “lost” over time against to the pieces of their more famous contemporaries. At the same time, in sociology, psychology, culturology, gender issues are largely relevant. Musicology does not stand aside, applying the achievements of gender psychology in the study of composer creativity and musical performing (Tsurkanenko, I., 2011; Gigolaeva-Yurchenko, V., 2012, 2015; Fan, Liu, 2017). In general, the issue of gender equality is quite acute in contemporary public discourse. The indicated tendencies determine the interest of many musicians and listeners in the work of women-composers (for example, recently, the creativity by Clara Schumann attracts the attention of performers all over the world, in particular, in Ukraine the International Music Festival “Kharkiv Assemblies” – 2018 was dedicated to her works). The theme of the proposed work is also a response to the noted trends in performing practice and musicology discourse. For the first time in domestic musicology an attempt is made to give a brief overview of the life and career of another talented woman, whose name is little known in the post-Soviet space. This is a Swedish violinist, composer and pianist Amanda Röntgen-Maier (1853–1894), a graduate of the Stockholm Royal College of Music and the Leipzig Conservatory, a contemporary of Clara Schumann, J. Brahms, E. Grieg, with whom she and her husband – composer, pianist, conductor Julius Röntgen – were associated for enough long time by creative and friendly relationships. In the post-Soviet space, not a single work has been published that would be dedicated to the works of A. Maier. In European and American musicology, the composer’s personality and creative heritage is also not widely studied. Her name is only occasionally mentioned in works examining the musical culture and, in particular, the performing arts of Sweden at that time (Jönsson, Å., 1995, 151–156; Karlsson, Å., 1994, 38–43; Lundholm, L., 1992, 14–15; Löndahl, T., 1994; Öhrström, E., 1987, 1995). The aim of the proposed study is to characterize Amanda Meier’s creative heritage in the context of European romanticism. Research results. Based on the available sources, we summarized the basic information about the life and career of A. Maier. Carolina Amanda Erica Maier (married Röntgen-Maier ) was born on February 20, 1853 in Landskrona. She received the first music lessons from his father, Karl Edward Mayer, a native of Germany (from Württemberg), who worked as a confectioner in Landskrona, but also studied music, in particular, in 1852 he received a diploma of “music director” in Stockholm and had regular contracts. In 1869, Amanda entered to the Kungliga Musikaliska akademien (Royal College of Music) in Stockholm. There she learns to play several instruments at once: the violin, cello, piano, organ, and also studies history, music theory and musical aesthetics. A. Maier graduated from Royal College successfully and became the first woman who received the title of “Musik Direktor”. The final concert, which took place in April 1873, included the performance of the program on the violin and on the organ and also A. Maier’s own work – the Romance for Violin. In the spring of 1874, Amanda received the grant from the Royal College for further studies at the Leipzig Conservatory. Here, Engelbert Röntgen, the accompanist of the glorious orchestra Gewandhaus, becomes her teacher on the violin, and she studies harmony and composition under the guidance of Karl Heinrich Karsten Reinecke and Ernst Friedrich Richter. Education in Leipzig lasts from 1874 to 1876. In the summer and autumn of 1875, A. Maier returns to Landskron, where she writes the first major work – the Concerto for violin and orchestra in one-movement, D minor, which was performed twice: in December 1875 in Halle and in February 1876 with the Gewandhaus Orchestra under the direction of K. Reinecke. The further career of A. Maier, both performing and composing, developed very successfully. She made several major concert trips between 1876 and 1880: to Sweden and Norway, to Finland and St. Petersburg; she also played to the Swedish king Oscar II (1876); concerts were held with constant success. While studying in Leipzig, A. Maier met her future husband (the son of her violin teacher) Julius Röntgen, composer and conductor. They married 1880 in Landskrona. Their personal relationships included active creative communication, both playing music together, and exchanging musical ideas, getting to know each other’s works. Part of his chamber opuses, for example, the cycle of Swedish folk dances, A. Maier created in collaboration with her husband. An analogy with life of Robert and Clara Schumann may take place here, although the Röntgen spouses did not have to endure such dramatic collisions that fell to the lot of the first. After the wedding, Röntgen family moved to Amsterdam, where Julius Röntgen soon occupies senior positions in several music organizations. On the contrary, the concert and composing activities of A. Maier go to the decline. This was due both, to the birth of two sons, and to a significant deterioration in her health. Nevertheless, she maintains her violin skills at the proper level and actively participates in performances in music salons, which the family arranges at home. The guests of these meetings were, in particular, J. Brahms, K. Schumann, E. Grieg with his wife and A. Rubinstein. The last years of A. Maier’s life were connected with Nice, Davos and Norway. In the fall of 1888 she was in Nice with the goal of treating the lungs, communicating there with her friends Heinrich and Elizabeth Herzogenberg. With the latter, they played Brahms violin sonatas, and the next (1889) year A. Maier played the same pieces with Clara Schumann. Amanda Maier spent the autumn of 1889 under the supervision of doctors in Davos, and the winter – in Nice. In 1890, she returned to Amsterdam. His last major work dates back to 1891 – the Piano Quartet in D minor. During the last three years of her life, she visited Denmark, Sweden and Norway, where she performed, among other, her husband’s works, for example, the suite “From Jotunheim”. In the summer of 1889, A. Maier took part in concerts at the Nirgaard Castle in Denmark. In 1894, she returned to Amsterdam again. Her health seems stable, a few hours before her death she was conducting classes with her sons. A. Maier died July 15, 1894. The works of A. Maier, published during the life of the composer, include the following: Sonata in H minor (1878); 6 Pieces for violin and piano (1879); “Dialogues” – 10 small pieces for piano, some of which were created by Julius Röntgen (1883); Swedish songs and dances for violin and piano; Quartet for piano, violin, viola and cello E minor (1891). Still unprinted are the following works: Romance for violin and piano; Trio for violin, cello and piano (1874); Concert for violin and orchestra (1875); Quartet for piano, violin, viola and clarinet E minor; “Nordiska Tonbilder” for violin and piano (1876); Intermezzo for piano; Two string quartets; March for piano, violin, viola and cello; Romances on the texts of David Wiersen; Trio for piano and two violins; 25 Preludes for piano. The composer style of A. Mayer incorporates the characteristic features of the Romantic era, in particular, the Leipzig school. Lyric elements prevail in her works, although the composer is not alien to dramatic, heroic, epic images (the Piano Quartet E minor, some pieces from the Six Songs for Violin and Piano series). In the embodiment of such a circle of images, parallels with the musical style of the works of J. Brahms are quite clearly traced. In constructing thematic structures, A. Maier relies on the melody of the Schubert-Mendelssohn type. The compositional solutions are defined mainly by the classical principles of forming, which resembles the works of F. Mendelssohn, the late chamber compositions of R. Schumann, where the lyrical expression gets a clear, complete form. The harmonic language of the works of A. Maier gravitates toward classical functionality rather than the uncertainty, instability and colorfulness inherent in the harmony of F. Liszt, R. Wagner and their followers. The main instrument, for which most of the opuses by A. Maier was created, the violin, is interpreted in various ways: it appears both, in the lyrical and the virtuoso roles. The piano texture of chamber compositions by A. Maier is quite developed and rich; the composer clearly gravitates towards the equality of all parties in an ensemble. At the same time, piano techniques are reminiscent of texture formulas by F. Mendelssohn and J. Brahms. Finally, in A. Mayer’s works manifest themself such characteristic of European romanticism, as attraction to folklore, a reliance on folk song sources. Conclusions. Periods in the history of music seemed already well studied, hide many more composer names and works, which are worthy of the attention of performers, musicologists and listeners. A. Mayer’s creativity, despite the lack of pronounced innovation, has an independent artistic value and, at the same time, is one of such musical phenomena that help to compile a more complete picture of the development of musical art in the XIX century and gain a deeper understanding of the musical culture of this period. The prospect of further development of the topic of this essay should be a more detailed study of the creative heritage of A. Maier in the context of European musical Romanticism.

As much as the history of the Free City of Danzig (1920–1939) has been dedicated numerous academic studies, the activity of its institutions and people, particularly Gdańsk residents of German nationality who played a significant role in the city’s political, cultural, scientific, educational, and spiritual life until 1945 has been hardly investigated. One of such individuals is Willi Drost born in Gdańsk in 1892. Following his studies and academic work in Leipzig, Marburg, Cologne, and Konigsberg, in 1930 he returned to Gdańsk, where he was offered the position of a custodian and later conservator of monuments of the Free City of Gdańsk; furthermore, as of 1938 he was appointed Director of the City Museum, which he remained uninterruptedly until 1945. Beginning from 1930, he was also professor of art history at the Technischer Hochschule, engineering university, as well as curator of Museum Collections for the whole region of Gdańsk – Western Prussia. His scholarly activity yielded numerous publications in art theory, North European modern painting, and Gdańsk art. Furthermore, Drost takes credit for the inventory of Gdańsk historic churches conducted from 1934 onwards. Resorting to the preserved materials, in 1957–1964, Drost published a 5-volume series titled Art Monuments of the City of Gdańsk (Kunstdenkmäler der Stadt Danzig). During WW II, together with Prof. Erich Volmar, he supervised the action of protecting and evacuating art works from the City Museum, Town Hall’s Red Room, Artus Manor, Uphagen’s House, as well as from churches and other historic facilities. Directly following the end of WW II, Drost stayed on in Gdańsk, helping Polish art historians to recover art works hidden in the city and its vicinity. Having left for Germany in the spring of 1946, he was professor at Hamburg and Tubingen universities. Until his last days he continued to promote the cultural heritage of Gdańsk. In recognition of his merits, Drost was honoured with numerous awards in Germany, while in 1992, on the 100th anniversary of his Birthday, a plaque commemorating him was unveiled in front of the building of the former City Museum (Stadtmuseum), today housing the National Museum in Gdańsk. The paper’s goal is to popularize Drost’s endeavours as a museologist, and to recall all he did for Gdańsk.

Background. The name of Amanda Maier (married – Röntgen-Maier), the Swedish violinist, composer, pianist, organist, representative of the Leipzig school of composition, contemporary and good friend of С. Schumann, J. Brahms, E. Grieg, is virtually unknown in the post-Soviet space and little mentioned in the works of musicologists from other countries. The composer’s creativity has long been almost completely forgotten, possibly due to both her untimely death (at the age of 41) and thanks to lack of the research interest in the work of women composers over the past century. The latter, at least in domestic musicology, has significantly intensified in recent decades, which is due in part to the advancement in the second half of the XX and early XXI centuries of a constellation of the talanted women-composers in Ukraine – L. Dychko, H. Havrylets, A. Zagaikevych, I. Aleksiichuk, formerly – G. Ustvolska, S. Gubaydulina in Russia, etc. Today, it is obvious that the development of the world art is associated not only with the activities of male artists, but also with the creative achievements of women: writers, artists, musicians. During her life, A. Maier was the well-known artist in Europe and in the world and the same participant in the musical-historical process as more famous today the musicians of the Romantic era. Objectives and methodology. The proposed study should complement the idea of the work of women-composers of the 19th century and fill in one of the gap on the music map of Europe at that time. The purpose of this article is to characterize the genre-stylistic and compositional-dramaturgical features of selected chamber music works by A. Röntgen-Maier. In this research are used historical-stylistic, structural and functional, analytical, comparative, genre methods. Research results. Carolina Amanda Erika Maier-Röntgen was born in Landskrona, Sweden, where she received her first music lessons from her father. Then she studied at the Royal College of Music in Stockholm, where she mastered playing on the several instruments at once – violin, cello, piano, organ, as well as studied the music theory. She became the first woman received the title of “Musik Direktor” after successfully graduating from college. She continued her studies at the Leipzig Conservatory – in the composition under Carl Reineke and Ernst Friedrich Richter direction, in the violin – with Engelbert Röntgen (concertmaster of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the father of her future husband J. Röntgen). She toured Europe a lot, firstly as a violinist, performing her own works and her husband’s works, alongside with world classics. After the birth of her two sons, she withdrew from active concert activities due to the deterioration of her health, but often participated in music salons, which she and her husband organized at home, and whose guests were J. Brahms, C. Schumann, E. Grieg with his wife, and A. Rubinstein. It is known that Amanda Maier performed violin sonatas by J. Brahms together with Clara Schumann. The main part of the composer’s creative work consists of chamber and instrumental works. She wrote the Sonata in B minor (1878); Six Pieces for violin and piano (1879); “Dialogues” – 10 small pieces for piano, some of which were created by Julius Röntgen (1883); Swedish songs and dances for violin and piano; Quartet for piano, violin, viola and cello E minor (1891), Romance for violin and piano; Trio for violin, cello and piano (1874); Concert for violin and orchestra (1875); Quartet for piano, violin, viola and clarinet E minor; “Nordiska Tonbilder” for violin and piano (1876); Intermezzo for piano; Two string quartets; March for piano, violin, viola and cello; Romances on the texts of David Wiersen; Trio for piano and two violins; 25 Preludes for piano. Sizable part of the works from this list is still unpublished. Some manuscripts are stored in the archives of the Stockholm State Library, scanned copies of some manuscripts and printed publications are freely available on the Petrucci music library website, but the location of the other musical scores by A. Maier is currently unknown to the author of this material; this is the question that requires a separate study. Due to the limited volume of the article, we will focus in detail on two opuses, which were published during the life of the composer, and which today have gained some popularity among performers around the world. These are the Sonata in B minor for Violin and Piano and the Six Pieces for Violin and Piano. Sonata in B minor is a classical three-part cycle. The first movement – lyricaldramatic sonata allegro (B minor), the second – Andantino – Allegretto, un poco vivace – Tempo I (G major) – combines lyrical and playful semantic functions, the third – Allegro molto vivace (B minor) is an active finale with a classical rondosonata structure. The Six Pieces for Violin and Piano rightly cannot be called the cycle, in the Schumann sense of this word, because there is no common literary program for all plays, intonation-thematic connections between this musical numbers, end-to-end thematic development that would permeate the entire opus. But this opus has the certain signs of cyclization and the common features to all plays, contributing to its unification: tonal plan, construction of the whole on the principle of contrast, genre, song and dance intonation, the leading role of the violin in the presentation of thematic material. Conclusions and research perspectives. Amanda Maier’s chamber work freely synthesizes the classical (Beethoven) and the romantic (Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann) traditions, which the composer, undoubtedly, learned through the Leipzig school. From there come the classical harmony, the orderliness of her thinking, clarity, conciseness, harmony of form, skill in ensemble writing, polyphonic ingenuity. There are also parallels with the music of J. Brahms. With the latter, A. Maier’s creativity correlates trough the ability to embody freely and effortlessly the subtle lyrical psychological content, being within the traditional forms, to feel natural within the tradition, without denying it and without trying to break it. The melodic outlines and rhythmic structures of some themes and certain techniques of textured presentation in the piano part also refer us to the works of the German composer. However, this is hardly a conscious reliance on the achievements of J. Brahms, because the creative process of the two musicians took place in parallel, and A. Maier’s Violin Sonata appeared even a little earlier than similar works by J. Brahms in this genre. Prospects for further research in this direction relate to the search for new information about A. Maier’s life and creativity and the detailed examination of her other works.

Die Beschäftigung mit Hermann Kretzschmars Kompositionen bereichert das Gesamtbild dieser musikschriftstellerisch und musikpolitisch wirkungsmächtigen Persönlichkeit. In dem Beitrag werden Kretzschmars Bearbeitungen für Männerchor und deren Bezug zu seinen Schriften untersucht; seine Originalkompositionen für dieselbe Besetzung werden mit Rücksicht auf die Leipziger Harmonielehre der Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts betrachtet, seine Chorsätze für gemischten Chor dienen als Dokument für Kretzschmars formale Ambitionen und für seine Arbeitsweise. Für die Geschichte der musiktheoretischen Unterweisung am Leipziger Konservatorium in der zweiten Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts kann Kretzschmars einseitig nur bestimmte Genres bedienendes Werk eine Quelle darstellen.

This introductory chapter recounts Johanna Beyer's arrival in New York City. Beyer first lived in New York from April 1911 until June 1914. She then sang for three years in the Leipziger Singakademie and graduated from a German music conservatory in September 1923. She returned to New York on November 14, 1923. In the years following her arrival in New York, Beyer earned two degrees from the Mannes School of Music, and she took additional classes at Mannes through 1929. During her life after 1927 and until her passing in 1944, she composed all of the music available today: works for piano, percussion ensemble, chamber groups, choir, band, and orchestra. Indeed, Beyer's fifty-six known compositions can be divided into several broad categories: piano music, percussion music, music with text, and mixed instrumental music.

Several overviews of flow chemistry appeared recently. Katherine S. Elvira and Andrew J. deMello of ETH Zürich wrote (Nature Chem. 2013, 5, 905) on micro­fluidic reactor technology. D. Tyler McQuade of Florida State University and the Max Planck Institute Mühlenberg reviewed (J. Org. Chem. 2013, 78, 6384) applications and equipment. Jun-ichi Yoshida of Kyoto University focused (Chem. Commun. 2013, 49, 9896) on transformations that cannot be effected under batch condi­tions. Detlev Belder of the Universität Leipzig reported (Chem. Commun. 2013, 49, 11644) flow reactions coupled to subsequent micropreparative separations. Leroy Cronin of the University of Glasgow described (Chem. Sci. 2013, 4, 3099) combin­ing 3D printing of an apparatus and liquid handling for convenient chemical synthe­sis and purification. Many of the reactions of organic synthesis have now been adapted to flow con­ditions. We will highlight those transformations that incorporate particularly useful features. One of those is convenient handling of gaseous reagents. C. Oliver Kappe of the Karl-Franzens-University Graz generated (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 10241) diimide in situ to reduce 1 to 2. David J. Cole-Hamilton immobilized (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2013, 52, 9805) Ru DuPHOS on a heteropoly acid support, allowing the flow hydrogenation of neat 3 to 4 in high ee. Steven V. Ley of the University of Cambridge added (Org. Process Res. Dev. 2013, 17, 1183) ammonia to 5 to give the thiourea 6. Alain Favre-Réguillon of the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers used (Org. Lett. 2013, 15, 5978) oxygen to directly oxidize the aldehyde 7 to the car­boxylic acid 8. Professor Kappe showed (J. Org. Chem. 2013, 78, 10567) that supercritical ace­tonitrile directly converted an acid 9 to the nitrile 10. Hisao Yoshida of Nagoya University added (Chem. Commun. 2013, 49, 3793) acetonitrile to nitrobenzene 11 to give the para isomer 12 with high regioselectively. Kristin E. Price of Pfizer Groton coupled (Org. Lett. 2013, 15, 4342) 13 to 14 to give 15 with very low loading of the Pd catalyst. Andrew Livingston of Imperial College demonstrated (Org. Process Res. Dev. 2013, 17, 967) the utility of nanofiltration under flow conditions to minimize Pd levels in a Heck product.

Arthur Sullivan’s musical formation was effected during his teenage years in three institutions: the Chapel Royal, where he was a chorister between the ages of 12 and 15, the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied from 14 to 16 as the first Mendelssohn scholar, and the Conservatory of Music in Leipzig which he attended from the age of 16 until just before his 19th birthday. Each of these places had a considerable impact on him, deepening his childhood love of church music and laying the foundations of his later career as a composer and conductor of sacred works. His time at the Chapel Royal also played a significant role in his spiritual development, owing partly to the strong influence of Thomas Helmore, the master of the choristers. In his teens, Sullivan composed several anthems and got to know many of the leading church musicians of the day. His training in church music is compared to the similar grounding in church and religious music experienced by several of the most prominent Continental European composers of operetta in the mid-nineteenth century.