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• singspiel
  singspiel

  noun

  a German opera, especially of the 18th century, using spoken dialogue and resembling ballad opera.
• Singspiel
  Singspiel

  noun

  a type of comic opera in German with spoken dialogue, popular during the late 18th and early 19th centuries

singspiel

American  

[sing-speel, zing-shpeel] / ˈsɪŋˌspil, ˈzɪŋˌʃpil /

noun

1. a German opera, especially of the 18th century, using spoken dialogue and resembling ballad opera.

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Singspiel British  

/ ˈzɪŋʃpiːl /

noun

1. a type of comic opera in German with spoken dialogue, popular during the late 18th and early 19th centuries

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Etymology

Origin of singspiel

1880–85; < German, equivalent to sing ( en ) to sing + Spiel play

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

singspiel Singspiel

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

In Mozart and Schikaneder’s singspiel, women lurk in the dark, wild outskirts beyond the gates of Sarastro’s shining, orderly sanctum.

From New York Times ● May 21, 2023

“Fidelio” being a singspiel, the dialogue is spoken rather than sung recitative.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2022

Encores! discovers this early Jason Robert Brown singspiel.

From New York Times ● Jun. 21, 2018

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 Aubertine Woodward Moore

Christopher Luscombe’s production of “The Magic Flute” wittily transformed Mozart’s Singspiel into a British pantomime, a closely related theatrical tradition.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026

Conceived as a Singspiel, in which spoken dialogue alternates with musical numbers, Fidelio took eight years to reach the form in which it’s usually heard today.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 1, 2020

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It's a Singspiel, a comic opera with spoken dialogue, but the humor was about 200 years out of date.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

Singspiel, 223 Smith, F. Hopkinson, 11 Sonata da Camera, 173 Sonata, 127, 182, 183 Sonata form, 127 et seq.

From How to Listen to Music, 7th ed. Hints and Suggestions to Untaught Lovers of the Art by Henry Edward Krehbiel