Mozart excelled in both comedic and tragic operatic genres, including Italian opera and German Singspiel works. Singspiel, similar to Broadway musicals, featured spoken dialogue between musical pieces instead of sung dialogue. This format allowed Mozart to add humor and originality to his Singspiel compositions. Some of Mozart's most famous Singspiel works include Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail and The Magic Flute.

1. MOZART’S WORKS IN THE GERMAN
SINGSPIEL OPERATIC TRADITION
Edward Reicin

2. INTRODUCTION
Based in Chicago, Edward Reicin is an established attorney and
entrepreneur who heads MPC Containment International, Ltd. With
extensive experience as an opera singer, Edward Reicin has performed
bass roles in productions that include Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s
The Magic Flute and Don Giovanni.

3. Unique among composers of his time, Mozart excelled in both
comedic and tragic operatic settings, including Italian opera and
the German-language Singspiel. The latter, similar to today’s
Broadway musicals, has spoken dialogue surrounding its musical
pieces, instead of sung dialogue.

4. Less formal than Italian operas of the day, Singspiele was
commonly performed by traveling troupes, rather than the larger
opera companies, in mid-18th century Austria. This gave Mozart
the opportunity to add personal wit and whimsy to Singspiel
compositions, and to interpret popular themes from the entire
musical spectrum. Composed at age 12, his first secular Singspiele,
the one-act Bastien und Bastienne, parodied Le Devin du village, a
French opera by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

5. After having focused on serious operas in Italian for many years,
Mozart returned to Singpiel with the never-completed work Zaide
in 1779. It is telling that Mozart’s Italian-language opera
Idomeneo attained success during the same period as this project
faltered. However, Mozart did return to the form in several full
length works, including Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail and his
penultimate opera The Magic Flute.