The operetta remained a dominant genre on stage after its renewed heyday around 1900, with Vienna centre for German-speaking operetta production. The aim of this dissertation is to prove on the basis of successful, but nowadays forgotten representatives of the Viennese operetta, that apart from composers such as Franz Lehár and Emmerich Kálmán a "second tier" of artists has contributed much to its development and worldwide renown. At the same time a knowledge gap in Viennese theatre history

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... een the salient dates 1900 and 1918 is to be filled. From a range of about 25 possible composers Georg Jarno and Leo Ascher were selected, because both – stemming from the Jewish milieu in countries of the Austrian Empire – celebrated their greatest triumphs in Vienna and symbolized the typical "operetta of the Residenzstadt" (Marion Linhardt), yet differed considerably in their biographies and approach to operetta. Leo Ascher, born in Vienna in 1880, had firmly established himself for decades in the Viennese and Berlin "entertainment theatre" scene, wrote over 30 operettas, along with Viennese songs and film music. In 1938 he succeeded to emigrate to New York with his wife and daughter, where he died in 1942. Georg Jarno, born in Budapest in 1868, began his career as conductor and opera composer in Germany. Incited by his brother Josef Jarno, Director of the Theater in der Josefstadt, Vienna, he wrote several operettas for his sister-in-law, the celebrated popular actress Hansi Niese. Later he also worked for the stage in Germany and the Carltheater in Vienna, before death prematurely ended his career in 1920. Building on the work of Marion Linhardt and Moritz Csáky this dissertation treats operetta as a cultural historical phenomenon and theatre history as part of European cultural history. For this, works with their biographical components are considered in social-historical terms, in respect of a precise context of time and space. In two identically arranged sections, the works of both composers are set-out chronologic [...]