Professor Derek B Scott has completed a major project investigating the success of English versions of German operetta

Professor Scott has published work, delivered workshops, concerts and study days as part of the project.

As a Professor of Critical Musicology, Derek B Scott has published work as part of the major outcomes of an operetta research project. 

One is Scott’s monograph German Operetta on Broadway and in the West End.

Another is the Cambridge Companion to Operetta, edited by Scott and Anastasia Belina, who was a senior research fellow researching German operetta in Warsaw.

The work investigated what lay behind the success of English versions of German operetta in the period 1900–1940, when more than 60 operettas from the German stage were produced in the West End and in excess of 70 made it to Broadway.

Besides visits to archives, libraries and theatre museums in Berlin, London, New York and Vienna, the project also included a study of all those involved in the cultural transfer of operetta: the composers, authors, theatre managers, music publishers and record companies etc.

As the project progressed, workshops, concerts and study days were organised in Leeds and London. The project’s findings were also the subject of Professor Scott’s invited keynote presentations in Europe and North America.

Professor Scott said: “I’m delighted the project’s outcomes were all achieved and that the concluding international operetta conference at Leeds was praised by Amsterdam’s Operetta Research Centre for moving research into operetta forward.”

Find out more about Professor Scott’s work and view public domain vocal scores related to his research on the project’s website.