Singspiel

singspiel, 18th-century opera in the German language, containing spoken dialogue and usually comic in tone. The earliest singspiels were light plays whose dialogue was interspersed with popular songs.

A Singspiel (German pronunciation: [ˈzɪŋʃpiːl]; plural: Singspiele; lit. 'sing-play') is a form of German-language music drama, now regarded as a genre of opera. It is characterized by spoken dialogue, which is alternated with ensembles, songs, ballads, and arias which were often strophic, or folk-like.

The music was strophic, meaning it followed a rhythmic pattern of repeated lines and melodies quite similar to German folk music and religious hymns. Singspiel plots were usually comic or romantic and featured magical settings and fantastical creatures - themes that recur in German operas throughout history.

As a genre, the Singspiel had its origins in the semi-sacred miracle plays of medieval Germany. It was only in the 17th century that secularized Singspiele began to appear, making the genre as Mozart knew it actually a more recent development than Italian opera. It was still relatively fresh and ripe for expansion.

Mozart Mozart wrote several Singspiele: Zaide (1780), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782), Der Schauspieldirektor (1786), and finally the sophisticated Die Zauberflöte (1791). In 1927, Kurt Weill created a new word, "Songspiel", to describe his work Mahagonny-Songspiel.

^ According to the 1908 edition of Grove's Dictionary of Music, the main distinction between opera and Singspiel is: "[Singspiel] by no means excludes occasional recitative in place of the spoken dialogue, but the moment the music helps to develop the dramatic denouement we have to do with Opera and not with Singspiel. ...

↑ According to the 1908 edition of Grove's Dictionary of Music, the main distinction between opera and Singspiel is: "[Singspiel] by no means excludes occasional recitative in place of the spoken dialogue, but the moment the music helps to develop the dramatic denouement we have to do with Opera and not with Singspiel. ...

Johann Adam Hiller, Hiller also spelled Hüller, (born Dec. 25, 1728, Wendisch-Ossig, near Görlitz, Saxony [Germany] - died June 16, 1804, Leipzig), German composer and conductor, regarded as the creator of the German singspiel, a musical genre combining spoken dialogue and popular song.

sing·​spiel ˈsiŋ-ˌspēl. ˈziŋ-ˌshpēl. : a musical work popular in Germany especially in the latter part of the 18th century characterized by spoken dialogue interspersed with songs.

The Singspiel belongs to model 3, since it combines musical numbers with spoken dialog. It thus stands between the play (model 4) and the opera (models 1 and 2). A definition for the genre Singspiel could therefore be: "The Singspiel is a play with musical interludes."

Entitled The Devil to Pay; or, The Wives Metamorphosed (Der Teufel ist los; oder, Die verwandelten Weiber, 1743) and The Merry Cobbler (Der lustiger Schuster, 1752), these mark the earliest known German Singspiels.

Singspiel – a classification All texts are musically realized. It may be a work in which musical numbers such as arias, duets, or choral scenes are linked together by so-called 'recitatives'.