In May 1910, shortly after the Metropolitan Opera paid Oscar Hammerstein well over a million dollars not to compete with them any longer in the production of grand opera, Hammerstein (grandfather of the later partner to Richard Rodgers) commissioned Victor Herbert, at the time the most sought-after theatrical composer in New York, to compose a light opera for his company. The resulting operetta, Naughty Marietta, became perhaps the great American musical theater piece of the pre-World War I era.

Hammerstein's company included the young Italian soprano star Emma Trentini and the Indiana talent Orville Harrold (this Hoosier tenor was dubbed America's "little Caruso"). For these and the company's other accomplished vocalists, Herbert produced a vocal score more demanding than those of his other operettas such as Babes in Toyland. Even the prima donna, for whom the title role was composed, complained to the New York Times during rehearsals that her part was too high. Such a public display was enough to make the composer dig in his heels and refuse to change a note. The accompanying orchestration, heavily reliant upon strings with winds for color, was perhaps Herbert's most symphonic; as with all his other operettas, the orchestration was later updated in revivals. The librettist for the work was Rida Johnson Young, a playwright making her first foray into musical theater. Later collaborations would include Herbert's final show, The Dream Girl. Although fairly standard, the book is more effective as a vehicle for Herbert's melodies than for its own dramaturgical strength.

The scene of Naughty Marietta is set in eighteenth century New Orleans, at a confluence of cultures that allowed the composer to spice his Viennese-acquired operetta style with various local colors. The score includes the sensual minstrel-inflected song "'Neath the Southern Moon" and the operatic ensemble "Italian Street Song"; chorus scenes include a gathering of townspeople and a martial number for a troop of rangers. Notable for its balance, the show features each of its six principals in one solo and at least one ensemble number. Each principal's music goes beyond mere underscoring of emotion and aids in characterization, for example delineating the title character as charming, playful, and blithe.

An obvious influence is the Viennese light opera of such composers as Franz Lehár and Johann Strauss. Several characteristic waltzes in the score, including the famous tenor song "I've Fallen in Love with Someone," demonstrate this influence. Less often observed but nonetheless present are echoes of Gilbert and Sullivan, with whose comic timing the Irishman Herbert was well familiar before emigrating to the United States.

Premiered on Broadway on November 7, 1910, the show had a run of 136 performances that was limited only because of prior contractual agreements. A 1935 film, with Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald, helped bring the score an international reputation. Though the plot has not proved durable enough to establish for the work a secure spot in the repertoire, Herbert's melodies have nevertheless guaranteed Naughty Marietta's survival.

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Act 2 - 17.Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life

Victor Herbert (1859-1924), born in Dublin and trained in Stuttgart, came into his own in New York City as a composer of immensely popular operettas that essentially defined the American musical. Herbert's biggest hit was Naughty Marietta, which premiered in the New York Theater on Broadway in 1910 and ran for what was then an amazing 136 performances. The greatest hit from Herbert's biggest hit was "Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life," a sentimentally ecstatic duet sung by the show's two leads, Captain Warrington and Countessa Marietta, as a hymn to life and love. Later sung by Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy in the enormously successful film version of the score, the song, and especially its title have become part of the American popular vernacular.

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