Singspiel is a type of stage performance that originated in Germany. It consists of songs or arias, ensembles, choruses, and other musical forms linked together by spoken dialogue. The German word Singspiel literally means sing play and was in general use by the end of the 1500’s to describe any play, either sacred or secular, that contained singing.
From about 1750, the term came to be reserved for a type of mainly light-hearted stage entertainment similar to an operetta (see Operetta). Through its use of spoken dialogue, the Singspiel differed from true operatic comedies, which used music throughout. It also used the German language and was both popular and fairly unsophisticated. By the late 1800’s, true operetta had been introduced into Germany and Austria by such composers as the German-born French musician Jacques Offenbach. This art form was much more polished and elegant in its plots and level of musical composition.
Not all Singspiels produced in the late 1700’s were light-hearted or composed in German. The Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart‘s The Magic Flute (1791) was a Singspiel which, despite certain comic elements, was basically serious and even spiritual in tone. Mozart’s earlier work, The Abduction from the Seraglio (1782), became better known in an Italian version.
