singspieln.
/ˈzɪŋʃpiːl/ Music.
A semi-dramatic performance in which song and dialogue alternate, popular in Germany in the latter part of the eighteenth century.
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musical comedy1765
sketch1861
music drama1874
singspiel1876
1876 F. L. Ritter Hist. Mus. 266 The ‘Singspiel’ or ‘operette’ as constructed by Hiller, makes use of the spoken dialogue, as does the French comic opera.
1880 G. Grove Dict. Music II. 519/1 That best and truest form of German Opera, the ‘Singspiel’.
1884 Encycl. Brit. 23 Mar. 99/1 The singspiel is the German parallel to the opéra comique.
1911 E. J. Dent Mozart's Opera ‘The Magic Flute’ 4 [Schikaneder] gave a season of German ‘Singspiel’ (comic opera) at Vienna in the winter of 1784–5.
1930 Observer 23 Mar. 25 Many [operettas] of the German ‘singspiel’ type could be done.
1942 E. Blom Mus. in Eng. ii. 24 English ballad opera crept into Germany by the back door and served as the direct model for the German Singspiel.
1962 Guardian 7 Feb. 9/1 Cherubini..evolved a style of opéra comique..not unlike the singspiel of Mozart (‘Seraglio’).
1977 Times Lit. Suppl. 10 June 710/5 A more general discussion of opera seria, Singspiel, etc.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1933; most recently modified version published online December 2020).
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n.1876