| The first German opera was Dafne, | | | | German and Austrian culture flourishing |
| composed by Heinrich Schütz in | | | | in spite of the surrounding political |
| 1627 (the music has not survived). | | | | turmoil. Late Romantic composers were |
| Italian opera held a great sway over | | | | still at work alongside the avowed |
| German-speaking countries until the late | | | | modernists Schoenberg and Berg. The |
| 18th century. Nevertheless, native forms | | | | Italian-born Ferruccio Busoni ploughed |
| developed too. In 1644 Sigmund Staden | | | | an individual furrow, attempting to fuse |
| produced the first Singspiel, a popular | | | | Bach and the avant-garde, Mediterranean |
| form of German-language opera in which | | | | and Germanic culture in his music. He |
| singing alternates with spoken dialogue. | | | | never lived to finish his most |
| In the late 17th and early 18th | | | | significant opera Doktor Faust (1925). |
| centuries, the Theater am | | | | Paul Hindemith began his operatic career |
| Gänsemarkt in Hamburg presented | | | | with short, scandalous pieces such as |
| German operas by Keiser, Telemann and | | | | Mörder, Hoffnung der Frauen |
| Handel. Yet many of the major German | | | | ("Murder, Hope of Women") before turning |
| composers of the time, including Handel | | | | to Bach, as Busoni had done. Hindemith |
| himself, as well as Graun, Hasse and | | | | saw Bach-inspired "neo-classicism" as a |
| later Gluck, chose to write most of | | | | way of curbing the excesses of late |
| their operas in foreign languages, | | | | Romanticism. Cardillac(1925) was his |
| especially Italian. | | | | first work in this vein. Hindemith was |
| Mozart's Singspiele, Die | | | | also interested in puuting contemporary |
| Entführung aus dem Serail (1782) | | | | life on the stage in his operas (a |
| and Die Zauberflöte (1791) were | | | | concept called Zeitoper), as was Ernst |
| an important breakthrough in achieving | | | | Krenek whose Jonny spielt auf (1927) has |
| international recognition for German | | | | a jazz violinist as its hero. Kurt Weill |
| opera. The tradition was developed in | | | | reflected life in Weimar Germany in a |
| the 19th century by Beethoven with his | | | | more overtly political way. His most |
| Fidelio, inspired by the climate of the | | | | famous collaboration with Bertolt |
| French Revolution. Carl Maria von Weber | | | | Brecht, The Threepenny Opera (1928), was |
| established German Romantic opera in | | | | both a scandal and an immense box-office |
| opposition to the dominance of Italian | | | | success. |
| bel canto. His Der Freischütz | | | | Adolf Hitler's assumption of power |
| (1821) shows his genius for creating | | | | destroyed this thriving operatic scene. |
| supernatural atmosphere. Other opera | | | | Ironically, after the burning of the |
| composers of the time include Marschner, | | | | Reichstag in 1933 , the German seat of |
| Schubert, Schumann and Lortzing, but the | | | | the government was moved to the |
| most important figure was undoubtedly | | | | Krolloper, the state opera house in |
| Richard Wagner. | | | | Berlin which, under the adventurous |
| Illustration inspired by Wagner's music | | | | directorship of Otto Klemperer, had seen |
| drama Das RheingoldWagner was one of the | | | | the premieres of many innovative works |
| most revolutionary and controversial | | | | of the 1920s, including Hindemith's |
| composers in musical history. Starting | | | | Neues vom Tage. Now Hindemith responded |
| under the influence of Weber and | | | | to the advent of the Third Reich with |
| Meyerbeer, he gradually evolved a new | | | | his chief work Mathis der Maler, a |
| concept of opera as a Gesamtkunstwerk (a | | | | portrait of an artist trying to survive |
| "complete work of art"), a fusion of | | | | in hostile times. It received its |
| music, poetry and painting. In his | | | | premiere in Zurich in 1938, since all |
| mature music dramas,Tristan und Isolde, | | | | performances of Hindemith's music had |
| Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, | | | | been banned in Germany the previous |
| Der Ring des Nibelungen and Parsifal, he | | | | year. In 1940, Hindemith left |
| abolished the distinction between aria | | | | Switzerland for the United States, |
| and recitative in favour of a seamless | | | | joining a transatlantic exodus of |
| flow of "endless melody".He greatly | | | | composers which included Schoenberg, |
| increased the role and power of the | | | | Weill, Korngold and Zemlinsky. Schreker |
| orchestra, creating scores with a | | | | had died in 1934, having been dismissed |
| complex web of leitmotivs, recurring | | | | from his teaching post by the Nazis; |
| themes often associated with the | | | | other composers, such as the promising |
| characters and concepts of the drama; | | | | Viktor Ullmann, would perish in the |
| and he was prepared to violate accepted | | | | death camps. Some opera composers, |
| musical conventions, such as tonality, | | | | including Carl Orff, Werner Egk and the |
| in his quest for greater expressivity. | | | | ageing Richard Strauss, remained in |
| Wagner also brought a new philosophical | | | | Germany to accommodate with the new |
| dimension to opera in his works, which | | | | regime as best they could. |
| were usually based on stories from | | | | German opera since 1945 |
| Germanic or Arthurian legend. Finally, | | | | Composers writing after World War II had |
| Wagner built his own opera house at | | | | to find a way of coming to terms with |
| Bayreuth, exclusively dedicated to | | | | the destruction caused by the Third |
| performing his own works in the style he | | | | Reich. The modernism of Schoenberg and |
| wanted. | | | | Berg proved attractive to young |
| Opera would never be the same after | | | | composers, since their works had been |
| Wagner and for many composers his legacy | | | | banned by the Nazis and were free of any |
| proved a heavy burden. On the other | | | | taint of the former regime. Bernd Alois |
| hand, Richard Strauss accepted Wagnerian | | | | Zimmermann looked to the example of |
| ideas but took them in wholly new | | | | Berg's Wozzeck for his only opera Die |
| directions. He first won fame with the | | | | Soldaten (1965), and Aribert Reimann |
| scandalous Salome and the dark tragedy | | | | continued the tradition of expressionism |
| Elektra, in which tonality was pushed to | | | | with his Shakespearean Lear (1978). |
| the limits. Then Strauss changed tack in | | | | Perhaps the most versatile and |
| his greatest success, Der Rosenkavalier, | | | | internationally famous post-war German |
| where Mozart and Viennese waltzes became | | | | opera composer is Hans Werner Henze, who |
| as important an influence as Wagner. | | | | has produced a series of works which mix |
| Strauss continued to produce a highly | | | | Bergian influences with those of Italian |
| varied body of operatic works, often | | | | composers such as Verdi. Examples of his |
| with libretti by the poet Hugo von | | | | operas are Boulevard Solitude, The |
| Hofmannsthal, right up until Capriccio | | | | Bassarids (to a libretto by W.H.Auden) |
| in 1942. Other composers who made | | | | and Das verratene Meer. Karlheinz |
| individual contributions to German opera | | | | Stockhausen set off in an even more |
| in the early 20th century include | | | | avant-garde direction with his enormous |
| Zemlinsky, Hindemith, Kurt Weill and the | | | | operatic cycle based on the seven days |
| Italian-born Ferruccio Busoni. The | | | | of the week, Licht (1977-). Other |
| operatic innovations of Arnold | | | | leading composers still producing operas |
| Schoenberg and his successors are | | | | today include Wolfgang Rihm and Olga |
| discussed in the section on modernism. | | | | Neuwirth. |
| The years following World War I saw | | | | |