# A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Singspiel

​SINGSPIEL. This term has been in use in Germany for the last 300 years to denote a dramatic representation with music; not any one particular kind—singing being capable of being employed in such various ways—but any entertainment in which spoken dialogue and singing alternate. In time speech gave way at intervals not only to singing, but to singing by several voices at once. Later, when the spoken dialogue had been brought into entire subjection to music, as was the case in Italy after the revolution effected in the whole nature of dramatic representation by the rise of opera, not only concerted vocal pieces were introduced into the German Singspiel, but instrumental music and its protégé monody as well. We find the earliest traces of the Singspiel in the German miracle-plays, which were gradually developed outside the churches from the Passions given inside them. The Passions were sung throughout, while in the miracle-plays spoken words in German were introduced, the singing still being in Latin, as for example in the 'Ludus paschalis de passione Domini, MS. of the 13th century. In course of time the Latin text, and consequently the music, was thrust into the background. In a 14th-century MS. called 'Marienklage,' preserved in the convent of Lichtenthal near Baden, Mary sings in German. Indeed we already find the typical German miracle-play in the 'Spiel von den zehn Jungfrauen' performed at Eisenach in 1322, in which all the words sung are German. These plays were generally performed on the eves of the great festivals, such as Whit Sunday, Epiphany, etc. Gradually the ecclesiastical element disappeared, leaving only the secular, and thus originated the Shrove Tuesday plays, in which the characteristics of whole classes of society, priests, doctors, travelling scholars, etc., were held up to ridicule. Nuremberg and Augsburg were specially celebrated for these plays, written for the most part by Hans Bosenblut (about 1405), Hans Folz of Worms (about 1480), both living in Nuremberg, and Nicolaus Mercator. They gradually however degenerated into obscene pieces, until in the 16th century Hans Sachs and Jakob Ayrer (both of whom introduced music into their plays) started the movement which ended in the reformation of the German stage. By Ayrer we still have a 'Schöns neus singets Spiel,' 'Der Münch im Kesskorb,' sung in 1618 by five persons 'entirely on the melody of the English Roland.' This melody is repeated 54 times, and one cannot help suspecting that the English stage was to some extent Ayrer's model. A reaction from these 'people's plays' (as they might be called) was caused by the 'school plays' in Latin, annually performed by the pupils of the Jesuits. Between the acts German interludes with music were introduced, and these were virtually Singspiele in the modern sense. The first Singspiel in imitation of the Italian opera without any spoken dialogue was 'Dafne,' written by Martin Opitz and composed by Heinrich Schütz in 1627; unfortunately this has been lost. The earliest instance of an independent German Singspiel with singing and spoken dialogue was 'Seelewig,' a sacred Waldgedicht or Freudenspiel. In a spoken play of Harsdörffer's (1644) were introduced Arias after the Italian manner, composed (see Eitner's 'Monatsheft für Musikgeschichte,' 1881, nos. 4, 5, 6), by Siegmund Gottlieb Staden (born in 1607 at Nuremberg, succeeded his father as organist of St. Sebald in 1634, and died in 1655). The piece is intended for private performance, and written for 3 trebles, 2 altos, 2 tenors, 1 bass, 3 violins, 3 flutes, 3 reeds, and one large horn, the bass being taken throughout by a theorbo. No two voices ever sing at the same time, and the instruments have short symphonies to themselves. The only regular stage at that time was the Italian opera-house of each capital (that of Vienna being built in 1651, and that of Dresden in 1667) and of Nuremberg and other Imperial cities. The German Singspiel found a home in Hamburg in the theatre built in 1678, but soon encountered a formidable rival in German opera, founded by Reinhard Keiser. ​After this, half a century went by before the Singspiel is heard of again. In 1743 the Döbbelin company in Berlin produced without success a German Liederspiel, 'Der Teufel ist los,' founded on the English piece 'The Devil to pay,' followed by Schürer's 'Doris' (1747) and Scheibe's 'Thusnelda' (1749), both very successful. Thus encouraged, Koch's company began to play Singspiele in Leipzig, Weimar, and Berlin, their first piece being 'Die verwandelten Weiber,' another version of the 'Devil to pay,' written by C. F. Weisse, composed by J. A. Hiller, and produced at Leipzig in 1764 with great success. The same authors produced a succession of similar pieces, 'Der lustige Schuster' (1765), 'Lottchen am Hofe,' and 'Die Liebe auf dem Lande' (1767), 'Die Jagd' (1771), 'Aerndtekranz' and 'Der Dorfbarbier' (1772). Neefe, Reichardt, Stegemann, Schweitzer, and others, brought to perfection this new species, now called Operetta.
[ F. G. ]