When writing operas, American composers seem to create best with American subject matter. A few works suggest the development of a form of American opera that combines serious opera with the more popular and indigenous musical comedy. Among this works are "Porgy and Bess" by George Gershwin, and "West Side Story" by Leonard Bernstein. One of the few operatic works by an American composer to become popular in Europe is Gunther Schuller's "The Visitation", premiered in Hamburg in 1966. A recent revival of Scott Joplin's "Treemonisha" (1911) proved the work to be the earliest successful American opera.
