Helen Dellenbaugh Tretbar[1] (May 16, 1835 – April 3, 1902)[2] was an American author,[3][4] librettist, and translator[5] who edited The Etude magazine in the late 1880s[6] and was fluent in French, German, and Italian.
In 1889, William A. Pond & Co. published Twenty-one New Song Vocalises, with music by Paolo La Villa and original texts by Tretbar.
"Mrs Tretbar's words rise often to the dignity of real poems and not a few of the vocalises are worthy of being sung parlor songs.
"[12] In 1891, Tretbar adapted the original German libretto (by Moritz West and Ludwig Held) of Carl Zeller's operetta Der Vogelhandler for performance in America.
[13] Tretbar translated the lyrics in songs by many composers:[14] Franz Abt, Reinhold Becker, Franz Behr, Theodore Bradsky, Frederick Brandeis, Jean-Baptiste Faure, Richard Genee, Friedrich Gernsheim, Victor Harris, Victor Herbert, Gustav Holzel, Rafael Joseffy, Bruno Oscar Klein, Erik Meyer-Helmund, Giacomo Batista Manzotti, Jules Massenet, Emanuel Moor, George Balch Nevin, Jean Louis Nicodé, Ignacy Paderewski, Johann Peters, Walter Petzet, Joachim Raff, Franz Ries, Martin Roeder, Louis Victor Saar, Xaver Scharwenka, Sebastian Bensen Schlesinger, Armin Schotte, Frank Van der Stucken, Robert Volkmann, and Carl Zeller.