1880–85; < German, equivalent to sing ( en ) to sing + Spiel play
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Written at the end of Mozart’s life as a popular entertainment, its a singspiel, or sung play.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
“Fidelio” being a singspiel, the dialogue is spoken rather than sung recitative.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2022
This was especially true in a seminal 2010 recording of “Die Zauberflöte” and a recent one of “Die Entführung aus dem Serail,” which are both in the German singspiel genre, full of vivacious dialogue.
From New York Times ● Aug. 12, 2016
“Die Zauberflöte,” with its use of the German language and spoken dialogue, is a singspiel from Mozart’s last year, 1791.
From New York Times ● Aug. 1, 2012
Native dramatic tastes, once fostered by minnesingers and strolling players, were kept alive by the "singspiel," or song-play, composed of spoken dialogue and popular song, which furnished the actual beginnings of German national music drama.
From For Every Music Lover A Series of Practical Essays on Music by Moore, Aubertine Woodward
Stoute was known for his patience with horses and trained numerous champions including Harbinger, Shareef Dancer, Singspiel and Pilsudski.
From BBC ● Sep. 10, 2024
In the Teatro di San Carlo, Mozart’s opera Singspiel in three acts, “The Abduction From the Seraglio,” will depict a timeless love story.
From New York Times ● Sep. 6, 2017
It's a Singspiel, a comic opera with spoken dialogue, but the humor was about 200 years out of date.
From Slate ● Apr. 10, 2012
On a recent visit to Mark Johnston's yard to watch his 2000 Guineas hope Awzaan, my eye was taken by a particularly good-looking unraced son of Singspiel working in a different group.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 9, 2010
Of much greater importance than these is an operetta to German words by Kotzebue, called Fanchon, an admirable specimen of the primitive form of the musical drama known in Germany as the Singspiel.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 13, Slice 4 "Hero" to "Hindu Chronology" by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
