Editing Opera (section)

===German-language opera===
{{Main|Opera in German}}
[[File:Karl Friedrich Schinkel Die Sternenhalle der Königin der Nacht Bühnenbild Zauberflöte Mozart.tif|thumb|upright=1.3|The Queen of the Night in an 1815 production of Mozart's ''[[Die Zauberflöte]]'']]
The first German opera was ''[[Dafne (Opitz-Schütz)|Dafne]]'', composed by [[Heinrich Schütz]] in 1627, but the music score has not survived. Italian opera held a great sway over German-speaking countries until the late 18th century. Nevertheless, native forms would develop in spite of this influence. In 1644, [[Sigmund Theophil Staden|Sigmund Staden]] produced the first ''[[Singspiel]]'', ''[[Seelewig]]'', a popular form of German-language opera in which singing alternates with spoken dialogue. In the late 17th century and early 18th century, the Theater am Gänsemarkt in [[Hamburg]] presented German operas by [[Reinhard Keiser|Keiser]], [[Georg Philipp Telemann|Telemann]] and [[George Frideric Handel|Handel]]. Yet most of the major German composers of the time, including Handel himself, as well as [[Carl Heinrich Graun|Graun]], [[Johann Adolph Hasse|Hasse]] and later [[Christoph Willibald Gluck|Gluck]], chose to write most of their operas in foreign languages, especially Italian. In contrast to Italian opera, which was generally composed for the aristocratic class, German opera was generally composed for the masses and tended to feature simple folk-like melodies, and it was not until the arrival of Mozart that German opera was able to match its Italian counterpart in musical sophistication.<ref>''Man and Music: the Classical Era'' ed. [[Neal Zaslaw]] (Macmillan, 1989), pp. 242–247, 258–260; {{harvnb|Parker|1994|pp=58–63, 98–103}}. Articles on Hasse, Graun and Hiller in ''Viking Opera Guide''.</ref> The theatre company of [[Abel Seyler]] pioneered serious German-language opera in the 1770s, marking a break with the previous simpler musical entertainment.<ref>Francien Markx,&nbsp;''E. T. A. Hoffmann, Cosmopolitanism, and the Struggle for German Opera'', p. 32,&nbsp;BRILL, 2015,&nbsp;{{ISBN|9004309578}}</ref><ref>[[Thomas Bauman]], "New directions: the Seyler Company" (pp.&nbsp;91–131), in&nbsp;''North German Opera in the Age of Goethe'',&nbsp;Cambridge University Press, 1985</ref>
[[File:RichardWagner.jpg|left|thumb|upright|Richard Wagner]]
[[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]]'s ''Singspiele'', ''[[Die Entführung aus dem Serail]]'' (1782) and ''[[Die Zauberflöte]]'' (1791) were an important breakthrough in achieving international recognition for German opera. The tradition was developed in the 19th century by [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]] with his ''[[Fidelio]]'' (1805), inspired by the climate of the [[French Revolution]]. [[Carl Maria von Weber]] established [[German Romanticism|German Romantic]] opera in opposition to the dominance of Italian [[bel canto]]. His ''[[Der Freischütz]]'' (1821) shows his genius for creating a supernatural atmosphere. Other opera composers of the time include [[Heinrich Marschner|Marschner]], [[Franz Schubert|Schubert]] and [[Albert Lortzing|Lortzing]], but the most significant figure was undoubtedly [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]].
[[File:Siegfried and the Twilight of the Gods p 180.jpg|thumb|right|upright=0.9|Brünnhilde throws herself on Siegfried's funeral pyre in Wagner's ''[[Götterdämmerung]]'']]
Wagner was one of the most revolutionary and controversial composers in musical history. Starting under the influence of [[Carl Maria von Weber|Weber]] and [[Giacomo Meyerbeer|Meyerbeer]], he gradually evolved a new concept of opera as a ''[[Gesamtkunstwerk]]'' (a "complete work of art"), a fusion of music, poetry and painting. He greatly increased the role and power of the orchestra, creating scores with a complex web of [[leitmotif]]s, recurring [[Theme (music)|themes]] often associated with the characters and concepts of the drama, of which prototypes can be heard in his earlier operas such as ''[[Der fliegende Holländer]]'', ''[[Tannhäuser (opera)|Tannhäuser]]'' and ''[[Lohengrin (opera)|Lohengrin]]''; and he was prepared to violate accepted musical conventions, such as [[tonality]], in his quest for greater expressivity. In his mature music dramas, ''[[Tristan und Isolde]]'', ''[[Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg]]'', ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen]]'' and ''[[Parsifal]]'', he abolished the distinction between aria and recitative in favour of a seamless flow of "endless melody". Wagner also brought a new philosophical dimension to opera in his works, which were usually based on stories from [[Germanic paganism|Germanic]] or [[Arthurian]] legend. Finally, Wagner built [[Bayreuth Festspielhaus|his own opera house]] at [[Bayreuth]] with part of the patronage from [[Ludwig II of Bavaria]], exclusively dedicated to performing his own works in the style he wanted.

Opera would never be the same after Wagner and for many composers his legacy proved a heavy burden. On the other hand, [[Richard Strauss]] accepted Wagnerian ideas but took them in wholly new directions, along with incorporating the new form introduced by Verdi. He first won fame with the scandalous ''[[Salome (opera)|Salome]]'' and the dark tragedy ''[[Elektra (opera)|Elektra]]'', in which tonality was pushed to the limits. Then Strauss changed tack in his greatest success, ''[[Der Rosenkavalier]]'', where Mozart and Viennese [[waltz]]es became as important an influence as Wagner. Strauss continued to produce a highly varied body of operatic works, often with libretti by the poet [[Hugo von Hofmannsthal]]. Other composers who made individual contributions to German opera in the early 20th century include [[Alexander von Zemlinsky]], [[Erich Wolfgang Korngold|Erich Korngold]], [[Franz Schreker]], [[Paul Hindemith]], [[Kurt Weill]] and the Italian-born [[Ferruccio Busoni]]. The operatic innovations of [[Arnold Schoenberg]] and his successors are discussed in the section on [[#Modernism|modernism]].<ref>General outline for this section from {{harvnb|Parker|1994|loc=chapters 1–3, 6, 8 and 9}}, and ''The Oxford Companion to Music''; more specific references from the individual composer entries in ''The Viking Opera Guide''.</ref>

During the late 19th century, the Austrian composer [[Johann Strauss II]], an admirer of the [[French language|French]]-language [[operetta]]s composed by [[Jacques Offenbach]], composed several German-language operettas, the most famous of which was ''[[Die Fledermaus]]''.<ref>[[John Kenrick (theatre writer)|Kenrick, John]]. [http://www.musicals101.com/operetta.htm A History of The Musical: European Operetta 1850–1880] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120505001616/http://musicals101.com/operetta.htm |date=5 May 2012 }}. Musicals101.com</ref> Nevertheless, rather than copying the style of Offenbach, the operettas of Strauss II had distinctly [[Vienna|Viennese]] flavor to them.