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Engelbert Humperdinck's opera ‘Hansel and Gretel’ – the second most performed opera in Germany – was staged 142 times in the 2021-22 season after a dramatic slump during the pandemic (2020-21: only three performances in front of a total of 756 visitors). Humperdinck's fairytale opera recorded almost 66,000 attendances in 2021-22.
The Singspiel became the most popular form of German opera, especially in the hands of the composer Johann Adam Hiller. Hiller's 1766 reworking of the Singspiel Die verwandelten Weiber was a landmark in the history of the genre, although his most famous work would be Die Jagd (1770).
- Sigmund Theophil Staden - Seelewig. Although German opera history began in 1627 with composer Heinrich Schutz’s German translation of the Italian opera Dafne, the score to that piece unfortunately no longer exists.
- Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Die Zauberflöte. While “simple” Singspiele were the favoured style among the German public in the mid-17th century, at court and elsewhere across Europe, the grander and more dramatic Italian style was in vogue.
- Ludwig van Beethoven - Fidelio. After Mozart’s premature death, contemporaries such as Ludwig van Beethoven saw his opera as something to aspire to - and build upon.
- Carl Maria von Weber - Der Freischütz. In the late 18th century and early 19th century, Romanticism began to exert an influence over German composers. As a cultural movement, Romanticism sparked a revival of interest in the Middle Ages and German folklore, with the Brothers Grimm fairy tales and German medieval epics as particular sources of inspiration.
Explore upcoming and past Opera Seasons in . Find more information of 2021-2022 Opera season on Operabase
Audience numbers in 2021-22 remained below the pre-pandemic figures due to ongoing restrictions, but peformance figures stabilised. In the 2021-22 season, the most frequently performed operettas in Germany were ‘The Merry Widow’ by Franz Lehár (128) and ‘Die Fledermaus’ by Johann Strauss (103). These works were the most attended ones.
The figure of more than 80 opera houses in the destination of Germany is unparalleled anywhere else, as is the number of premieres. Since Germany's first opera house opened its doors on Munich's Salvatorplatz in 1657, opera has become one of the pillars of national culture; a magnet for millions of visitors from all over the world – and for outstanding performers.
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Jun 13, 2022 · The ultimate appeal of operagoing in Germany is to see a venerable art form experiencing continuous rebirth. ♦ Published in the print edition of the June 20, 2022 , issue, with the headline ...
