Episode 105 of Sound Expertise

What can operetta tell us about everyday life in fin-de-siècle Vienna? Why has our understanding of Vienna been limited to high-art composers like Mahler and Schoenberg, and how might studying operetta change our perspective on the Austro-Hungarian Empire amidst the tumult of the early twentieth century? A conversation with Micaela K. Baranello, Assistant Professor of musicology at the University of Arkansas.

If you’re interested in learning more about Prof Baranello’s work, follow her on Twitter as @ZerbinettasBlog and check out:

• “Die lustige Witwe and the Creation of the Silver Age of Viennese Operetta,” in Cambridge Opera Journal
• “‘Operettendämmerung’: Die lustigen Nibelungen and the Failures of Wagnerian Operetta” in Opera Quarterly
• On Offenbach in Salzburg, for the New York Times
• Likely Impossibilities, her amazing (and intermittently updated) opera review blog
• And stay tuned for her forthcoming book, The Operetta Empire, with University of California Press!

Also, a bit of recommended listening:

Sound Expertise is hosted by Will Robin (@seatedovation), and produced by D. Edward Davis (@warmsilence). Please subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, and/or Spotify. Questions or comments? Email williamlrobin@ gmail

A written transcript of this episode is available here; many, many thanks to Andrew Dell’Antonio for volunteering to prepare transcripts for the show!

Stay tuned for Episode 106, coming next Tuesday, August 25: an interview with Jesse Rodin on Renaissance polyphony!