La opereta es un género musical derivado de la ópera que nace y se desarrolla a lo largo del siglo XIX, primero en Paris y después en Viena. Se trata de un tipo de ópera musical, animado y anormal, cuya característica fundamental consiste en contar con una trama inverosímil y disparatada. Consta de diálogos hablados entre los que se intercalan historietas, llamadas couplets por los franceses, y bailes como el rigodón o el cancán. Se trata por lo tanto de un espectáculo escénico con sucesión y alternancia de artes musicales, habladas y cantadas

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Operetta grew out of the French opéra comique around the middle of the 19th century, to satisfy a need for short, light works in contrast to the full-length entertainment of the increasingly serious opéra comique. By this time, the "comique" part of the genre name had become misleading: Carmen (1875) is an example of an opéra comique with a tragic plot. The definition of "comique" meant something closer to "humanistic," meant to portray "real life" in a more realistic way, representing tragedy and comedy next to each other, as Shakespeare had done centuries earlier. With this new connotation, opéra comique had dominated the French operatic stage since the decline of tragédie lyrique. Most researchers acknowledge that the credit for creating the operetta form should go to Hervé (1825–1892), a singer, composer, librettist, conductor, and scene painter. In 1842 he wrote the little opérette, L'Ours et le pacha, based on the popular vaudeville show by Scribe and Saintine. In 1848, Hervé made his first notable appearance on the Parisian stage, with Don Quichotte et Sancho Pança (after Cervantes), which can be considered the starting point for the new French musical theatre tradition. Hervé's most famous works are the Gounod-parody Le Petit Faust (1869) and Mam'zelle Nitouche (1883).

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