Editing Opera in German (section)

{{Short description|none}}
'''Opera in German''' is [[opera|that]] of the [[List of countries and territories where German is an official language|German-speaking countries]], which include [[Germany]], [[Austria]], and the [[List of historic states of Germany|historic German states]] that pre-date those countries.

[[File:Wien - Staatsoper (2).JPG|thumb|upright=1.3|[[Vienna State Opera]]]]
[[File:München Nationaltheater.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|[[National Theatre Munich]], home of the [[Bavarian State Opera]]]]
German-language [[opera]] appeared remarkably quickly after the birth of opera itself in Italy. The first Italian opera was [[Jacopo Peri]]'s ''[[Dafne]]'' of 1598. In 1627, [[Heinrich Schütz]] [[Dafne (Opitz-Schütz)|provided the music]] for a German translation of the same [[libretto]]. Yet during much of the 17th and 18th centuries German-language opera would struggle to emerge from the shadow of its Italian-language rival, with leading composers from German-speaking parts of Europe, such as [[George Frideric Handel|Handel]] and [[Christoph Willibald Gluck|Gluck]], opting to work in foreign traditions such as [[opera seria]].

Some Baroque composers, such as [[Reinhard Keiser]], did try to challenge Italian dominance, and the theatre principal [[Abel Seyler]] became an eager promoter of German opera in the 1770s, but it was only with the appearance of [[Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart|Mozart]] that a lasting tradition of serious German-language opera was established. Mozart took the simple, popular genre of ''Singspiel'' and turned it into something far more sophisticated. [[Ludwig van Beethoven|Beethoven]] followed his example with the idealistic ''[[Fidelio]]''; and with ''[[Der Freischütz]]'' of 1821, [[Carl Maria von Weber|Weber]] established a uniquely German form of opera under the influence of [[Romanticism]]. Weber's innovations were eclipsed by those of [[Richard Wagner|Wagner]], one of the most revolutionary and controversial figures in musical history. Wagner strove to achieve his ideal of opera as "music drama", eliminating all distinction between [[aria]] and [[recitative]], employing a complex web of [[leitmotif]]s and vastly increasing the power and richness of the orchestra. Wagner also drew on [[Germanic mythology]] in his huge operatic cycle ''[[Der Ring des Nibelungen]]''.

After Wagner, opera could never be the same again, so great was his influence. The most successful of his followers was [[Richard Strauss]]. Opera flourished in German-speaking lands in the early 20th century in the hands of figures such as [[Paul Hindemith|Hindemith]], [[Ferruccio Busoni|Busoni]] and [[Kurt Weill|Weill]] until [[Adolf Hitler]]'s seizure of power forced many composers into silence or exile. After World War II young opera writers were inspired by the example of [[Arnold Schoenberg|Schoenberg]] and [[Alban Berg|Berg]] who had pioneered [[modernism|modernist]] techniques such as [[atonality]] and [[serialism]] in the earlier decades of the century. Composers at work in the field of opera today include [[Hans Werner Henze]].

As the names of Mozart, Weber, Wagner, Richard Strauss and Berg indicate, Germany and Austria have one of the strongest operatic traditions in European culture. This is also evidenced by the large number of opera houses, particularly in Germany where almost every major city has its own theatre for staging such works, as well as internationally renowned operatic events such as the [[Salzburg Festival]].