German Opera

John Warrack

German opera from its primitive origins up to Wagner is the subject of this wide-ranging history. It traces the growth of the humble Singspiel into a vehicle for the genius of Mozart and Beethoven, together with the persistent attempts at German Grand Opera. Seventeenth-century Hamburg opera, the role of the travelling companies and Viennese Singspiel are all explored. Discussions that from early days absorbed Germans concerned for the development of a national art are followed, together with the influence of new critical thought at the start of the nineteenth century. The many operas studied are placed in their historical, social and theatrical context, and attention is paid to the literary, artistic and philosophical ideas that made them part of the country’s intellectual history. Warrack assesses the contributions of Schubert, Mendelssohn and Schumann, as well as Weber and Hoffmann, among others.

Bibliographic Details

42 music examples

Contents

• Acknowledgements
• List of abbreviations
• Map: centres of German opera
• 1. Sixteenth-century beginnings
• 2. The Thirty Years War and its aftermath
• 3. The Hamburg enterprise
• 4. Travelling troupes and changing attitudes
• 5. From the Seven Years War to the French Revolution
• 6. The Viennese Singspiel
• 7. Mozarts German operas
• 8. From the French Revolution to the turn of the century
• 9. French opera in Germany after the Revolution
• 10. New critics and singers
• 11. Opera in a new century: the first decade (I)
• 12. Opera in a new century: the first decade (II)
• 13. The growth of Romantic and grand opera
• 14. Romantic opera and grand opera in the 1820s (I)
• 15. Romantic opera and grand opera in the 1820s (II)
• 16. Opera in the mid-nineteenth century (I)
• Opera in the mid-nineteenth century (II)
• 18. Wagner
• Appendix: list of operas
• Bibliography
• Index.