Sir Edward German wrote six comic operas, The Two Poets (later renamed The Rival Poets), The Emerald Isle (a completion of a work left unfinished by the death of Sir Arthur Sullivan), Merrie England, A Princess of Kensington, Tom Jones, and Fallen Fairies.

His first work in the realm of English comic opera, The Two Poets was while he was experimenting with different compositional forms at the Royal Academy of Music.  At one point he wrote to Richard D'Oyly Carte, proprietor of the Savoy Theatre and the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, suggesting that if commissioned with the right libretto, he could write an opera, "something perhaps between Carmen and Faust."  German would eventually be hired by Carte a few years later to finish The Emerald Isle, left incomplete by the death of Sir Arthur Sullivan in 1901.

Following the success of The Emerald Isle, German wrote two more works for the Savoy with its librettist, Basil Hood: Merrie England and A Princess of Kensington.  Additional collaborations with Hood would be suggested from time to time, including a proposed opera about Sir Francis Drake, but these never materialized due to German's disinterest.

German's premiered his last great operatic success, Tom Jones, in 1907.  He followed in 1909 with his last work for the stage, Fallen Fairies, but mixed reviews and considerable disagreements between the librettist Gilbert and the producers seem to have dissuaded German from ever returning to field of operetta.