Singspiel
German-language music drama with spoken dialogue, the form Mozart used for The Magic Flute
Related
Singspiel is the German-language music drama of the eighteenth century: songs are linked by spoken dialogue, not Italian recitative, and subjects often turn to folk life, comedy or magic.
It first flourished with travelling troupes in Vienna and Leipzig; Mozart's Seraglio and Magic Flute carried it onto the great stage, and Beethoven's Fidelio keeps spoken dialogue, showing that the form can bear serious subjects. Nineteenth-century German romantic opera continued the dialogue tradition.
It is not a general term for "German opera", nor is it operetta: its core is the alternation of speech and song. It differs from the Lied as well — one belongs to the stage, the other to the parlour.
Sources
- 德语歌唱剧的对白传统、莫扎特与贝多芬的用法，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Singspiel"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.