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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

“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

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It's a Singspiel, a comic opera with spoken dialogue, but the humor was about 200 years out of date.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

Did not Wagner himself recommend a budding bard to start his musical career with a Singspiel?

From The Opera A Sketch of the Development of Opera. With full Descriptions of all Works in the Modern Repertory. by J. A. Fuller-Maitland