Richard Traubner (November 24, 1946 – February 25, 2013) was an American journalist, author,

operetta Operetta is a form of theatre and a genre of light opera. It includes spoken dialogue, songs, and dances. It is lighter than opera in terms of its music, orchestral size, length of the work, and at face value, subject matter. Apart from its s ...

scholar and historian, and lecturer on theatre and (mostly musical) film. His best-known book, ''Operetta: A Theatrical History'', was first published in 1983. According to ''

Opera News ''Opera News'' is an American classical music magazine. It has been published since 1936 by the Metropolitan Opera Guild, a non-profit organization located at Lincoln Center which was founded to engender the appreciation of opera and also support ...

'', "Traubner was universally regarded as the foremost expert on operetta in the U.S.""Richard Traubner"
''Opera News'', Obituaries, May 2013 – Vol. 77, No. 11 He reviewed numerous opera and theatre productions and wrote widely on opera, musical theatre, classical music and film. He also wrote reviews, liner and program notes and participated in theatre productions as translator, director and designer.

Biography

Traubner was the son of Muriel and Edward Traubner. He attended

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...

, where he was president of the B. U. Savoyards. He received his Ph.D. from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

."Brief Biographies of ARG Reviewers"
''

American Record Guide The ''American Record Guide'' (''ARG'') is a classical music magazine. It has reviewed classical music recordings since 1935. History and profile The magazine was founded by Peter Hugh Reed in May 1935 as the ''American Music Lover''. It chang ...

'', accessed May 21, 2009 From 1971 to 1977, he was the editor of ''The Palace Peeper'', the newsletter of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society of New York. His book on the history of operetta was first published in 1983 and won the 17th annual

ASCAP The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...

Deems Taylor Joseph Deems Taylor (December 22, 1885 – July 3, 1966) was an American music critic, composer, and promoter of classical music. Nat Benchley, co-editor of ''The Lost Algonquin Roundtable'', referred to him as "the dean of American music." Ear ...

Award. According to MusicWeb International, Traubner's book is "One of the best reference books of the

Musical Theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

. ... Apart from

urt Gänzl Urt (; ; )AHURTI

John Kenrick calls the book "The ultimate love letter to operetta, with superb scholarship throughout." The book "is still the definitive work on the subject". ''

'' calls it "the standard work on the subject". ''

The Gramophone ''Gramophone'' is a magazine published monthly in London, devoted to classical music, particularly to reviews of recordings. It was founded in 1923 by the Scottish author Compton Mackenzie who continued to edit the magazine until 1961. It was a ...

'' wrote: Traubner wrote widely about opera, musical theatre, film and classical music, as well as reviewing and numerous opera and theatre productions, as a frequent contributor to ''

'', ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'', ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...

'', ''American Record Guide'' and many other publications. He frequently provided notes for recordings and operetta productions. He translated into English, directed and designed sets for many European operettas in the U.S. In 2000 and 2001, he was the designer in residence at

Ohio Light Opera The Ohio Light Opera is a professional opera company based in Wooster, Ohio that performs the light opera repertory, including Gilbert and Sullivan, American, British and continental operettas, and other musical theatre works, especially of the late ...

and designed and translated numerous productions for them, directing some. He also designed for Harrisburg Opera in Pennsylvania. Traubner lived in New York City. He was married to Andrea Traubner ''nee'' Schuster since 1971, and had a sister, Carol Epstein. He died of

ALS Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most com ...

at age 66."Richard Traubner"
''The New York Times'', February 27, 2013

Works

*''Operetta: a theatrical history'', 2nd edition, London: Routledge, 2003, *''The Great movie series'', contributing editor, South Brunswick: A. S. Barnes (1971) *''The Metropolitan Opera Guide to Opera on Video'', Contributor, Paul Gruber (ed.) (1997) *Morin, Alexander J. and Harold C. Schonberg (Traubner, contributor). ''Classical Music: the listener's companion'', Hal Leonard Corporation (2002)

Notes

External links

*
Review noting Traubner's expertise
{{DEFAULTSORT:Traubner, Richard American non-fiction writers American male journalists Boston University alumni New York University alumni 1946 births 2013 deaths