HOW YOU CAN HELP
Operetta Foundation welcomes the support of operetta lovers everywhere. We appreciate your donations, both monetary and material. Tax-deductible contributions will help us in our efforts to continue producing CDs, DVDs, and live performances. Checks made out to Operetta Foundation should be mailed to:
Operetta Foundation
P.O. Box 1267
Culver City, CA 90232-1267
U.S.A.
Although Operetta Foundation maintains one of the world’s largest collections of material relating to operetta and early musical theatre, we are constantly striving to augment the collection and make it even more useful for researchers, performers, and producers. Examples of desired material include: audio and video recordings; vocal scores, sheet music, and libretti; books; theatre programs, posters, magazines, and newspaper clippings.
Audio and Video Recordings: The Foundation’s collection includes thousands of recordings in more than two dozen languages, but there are many releases, both commercial and private, that we are missing. Particularly welcome are private or limited-release recordings, especially from countries or regions whose products have not been widely distributed—for example Turkey, the Balkans, Mexico, Central and South America, and Scandinavia. Although audio and video originals are preferred, copies (where permitted by copyright law) are gladly accepted.
Vocal Scores, Sheet Music, and Libretti: Hundreds of operettas and musicals that have never been recorded exist as published or manuscript vocal scores. Such scores provide the necessary starting point for staged revivals and recordings. More than one company, most prominently The Ohio Light Opera, has used the Foundation’s collection in this way. Of greatest interest are scores of the lesser-known French composers (e.g., Gaston Serpette, Fréderic Barbier, etc.) and zarzuela composers, as well as those from Italy, Russia, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia. Scores from musical productions by American university theatre societies are especially needed. In addition to vocal scores, musical theatre sheet music and libretti from 1850 to 1950 and from anywhere in the world are welcomed.
Books: The Foundation’s collection of books on operetta and musical theatre—in more than two dozen languages—is exceptionally strong. Items of greatest interest are brochures, pamphlets, exhibition catalogues, and private issues that are not readily available through book dealers or internet sites.
Theatre Programs, Posters, Magazines, and Newspaper Clippings: In 1942, operetta composer Emmerich Kálmán toured the American Midwest, presenting concerts of his own music, but details are not easily accessible. Often, the only way to reconstruct such historical events is through local theatre materials and clippings. The Foundation seeks such ephemera—as well as that for countless other composers and productions—to help us in documenting the history of musical theatre. Theatre programs, posters, and magazines from around the world are of particular interest.
If you have any of the above material that you think might be of interest to the Foundation, please contact us either at the above mailing address or by e-mail at OperettaArchives@yahoo.com.