Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A German musical comedy of the 1700s featuring songs and ensembles interspersed with dialogue.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A semidramatic work or performance in which a series of incidents are related or represented in song.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Music) A dramatic work, partly in dialogue and partly in song, of a kind popular in Germany in the latter part of the 18th century. It was often comic, had modern characters, and patterned its music on folk song with strictly subordinated accompaniment.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun music, uncountable An early German form of opera consisting of spoken dialogue interspersed with song.
  • noun music, countable An opera in this style.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[German : singen, to sing (from Middle High German, from Old High German singan; see sengwh- in Indo-European roots) + Spiel, play; see spiel.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

German

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Examples

  • 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.

    For Every Music Lover A Series of Practical Essays on Music Aubertine Woodward Moore 1885

  • '' '' 'The Magic Flute' '' '' (German '' '' 'Die Zauberflöte' '' '') is a two-act '' singspiel ''

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] 2009

  • '' '' 'The Magic Flute' '' '' (German '' '' 'Die Zauberflöte' '' '') is a two-act '' singspiel ''

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] 2009

  • '' '' 'The Magic Flute' '' '' (German '' '' 'Die Zauberflöte' '' '') is a two-act '' singspiel ''

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] 2009

  • '' '' 'The Magic Flute' '' '' (German '' '' 'Die Zauberflöte' '' '') is a two-act '' singspiel ''

    Conservapedia - Recent changes [en] 2009

  • Justifiable or not, this is easy enough to accomplish in a singspiel which is made up of separate numbers divided by dialogue.

    Top Stories - Google News 2008

  • Not that it lacks more straightforward ways of hitting the dancefloor sweet spot: Flashy Flashy is asweetly irresistible singspiel duet between Allien and a pitched-down version of herself, while on highlights Our Utopie and Ever, she allies music-box tinkles to big, banging techno grooves tosuperb effect.

    Ellen Allien: Dust 2010

  • In this much-awaited continuation of his Mozart cycle, Rene Jacobs approaches the famous singspiel "The Magic Flute" as if it were a radio play, including all the spoken dialogue, often with musical commentary from the keyboard, and sound effects from a veritable battery of percussion.

    Best of 2010: Classical music Anne Midgette 2010

  • So it was rather brilliant of the director James Marvel, bringing Mozart's unfinished singspiel "Zaide" to the Wolf Trap Opera Company's stage on Friday night, to find a contemporary equivalent in science fiction.

    Anne Midgette revisits Wolf Trap's staging of Mozart's 'Zaide' 2010

  • Most of Mozart's operas are in Italian, but this is a singspiel in German like "The Magic Flute" with impossibly difficult arias, lots of spoken dialogue, and an abundance of comic schtick.

    Archive 2009-09-01 sfmike 2009

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