Singspiel

The German/Austrian equivalent of comic operas with spoken dialogue like the French opera comique, and the English ballad opera. It uses spoken dialogue (like ballad opera and opera comique) rather than recitative (used in Italian opera, both seria and buffa). The use of spoken dialogue made it more accessible for the general public. As opposed to the importance of aria in opera comique, like in opera buffa, ensembles were more popular in Singspiel. In Fidelio, five of the ten numbers in Act I, and five of the six numbers in Act II are ensembles. It is the ancestor of the nineteenth century German Romantic opera. Mozart's Entfuhrung aus dem Serail (1782) is an example of Singspiel. The two greatest examples are Mozart's Die Zauberflote and Beethoven's Fidelio.