page_title: Music of Germany
section_title: Opera
hierarchical_section_title: Music of Germany / Classical music / Opera
caption_attribution_description: Johann Sebastian Bach (aged 61) in a portrait by Elias Gottlob Haussmann, copy or second version of his 1746 canvas. The original painting hangs in the upstairs gallery of the Altes Rathaus (Old Town Hall) in Leipzig, Germany.
context_page_description: Germany claims some of the most renowned composers, singers, producers and performers of the world. Germany is the largest music market in Europe, and third largest in the world.
  German classical music is one of the most performed in the world; German composers include some of the most accomplished and popular in history, among them Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Friedrich Händel, Ludwig van Beethoven, Felix Mendelssohn, Johannes Brahms, Robert Schumann and Richard Wagner. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was among the composers who created the field of German opera. One of the most famous film score composers is Hans Zimmer.
  German popular music of the 20th and 21st century includes the movements of Neue Deutsche Welle, Disco, Metal/Rock, Punk, Pop rock and Indie. Famous female singers were Marlene Dietrich and Hildegard Knef. German Electronic music gained global influence, with Kraftwerk and Tangerine Dream being pioneer groups in this genre. The Electro and Techno scene being internationally popular with Paul van Dyk and Scooter.
  Germany hosts many large rock music festivals. The Rock am Ring and Rock im Park festival is among the largest in the world.
context_section_description: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (1791) is usually said to be the beginning of German opera. An earlier starting date for German opera, however, could be Heinrich Schütz's Dafne from 1627. Schütz is said to be the first great German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach, and was a major figure in 17th-century music.
  In the 19th century, two figures were paramount in German opera: Carl Maria von Weber and Richard Wagner. Wagner introduced devices like the Leitmotiv, a musical theme which recurs for important characters or ideas. Wagner (and Weber) based his operas of German history and folklore, most importantly including the Ring of the Nibelung (1874). Into the 20th century, opera composers included Richard Strauss (Der Rosenkavalier) and Engelbert Humperdinck, who wrote operas meant for young audiences. Across the border in Austria, Arnold Schoenberg innovated a form of twelve-tone music that used rhythm and dissonance instead of traditional melodies and harmonies, while Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht collaborated on some of the great works of German theater, including Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny and The Three-Penny Opera.
  Following the war, German composers like Karlheinz Stockhausen and Hans Werner Henze began experimenting electronic sounds in classical music.
  Germany is also very well known for its many subsidised opera houses, such as Semperoper, Munich State Theatre and the Bayreuth Festspielhaus.
caption: J. S. Bach
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