Literally means little opera. Light, effervescent, theatrical, these compositions are based on simple plots that contain spoken dialogue, dancing, practical jokes, mistaken identities. Popular in late 19th c. Vienna and France, and in the USA in the early 20th c., Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus, Offenbach’s La Périchole and Noel Coward’s Bitter Sweet are all operettas.