- Romantische Oper
Romantische Oper (literally "German romantic opera") was a genre of early nineteenth-century German
opera , developed not from the GermanSingspiel of the eighteenth-century but from the opéras comiques of theFrench Revolution . It offered opportunities for an increasingly important role for theorchestra , and greater dramatic possibilities for reminiscence motifs - phrases that are identified with a place, person or idea and which, when re-used in a work, remind the listener of the place, person or idea in question.Carl Maria von Weber 'sDer Freischütz (1821) inaugurated the genre, which increasingly became associated with a distinctively German national style, as exemplified by composers such asHeinrich Marschner (e.g.Der Vampyr andHans Heiling ),Albert Lortzing (e.g. Undine) andLouis Spohr . Themes explored includedNature , thesupernatural , theMiddle Ages and popular culture, specificallyfolklore . Musically, German folksong also served as an inspiration. Spoken dialogue continued to be used between musical numbers.The genre reached its apogee in the early works of
Richard Wagner , specificallyDie Feen , The Flying Dutchman and Tannhäuser, although these differed from their predecessors in not using spoken dialogue. His later operas developed the reminiscence motif into the more proteanLeitmotif and gradually abandoned many of the themes of Romantische Oper, while still largely focused on myths, legends and Nature.References
*cite book | last = Warrack| first = John, and Ewan West| year = 1992| title = The Oxford Dictionary of Opera| publisher = Oxford University Press| location = Oxford| id = ISBN 0-19-869164-5
See also
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German opera
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