''Zeitoper'' (, 'opera of the time') was a short-lived genre of

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

associated with

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

Germany. It is not known when or by whom the term was coined, but by 1928

Kurt Weill Kurt Julian Weill (; ; March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for hi ...

("Zeitoper" in ''Melos'') was able to complain that it was more a slogan than a description. Like ''

opera buffa Opera buffa (, "comic opera"; : ''opere buffe'') is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ''commedia in musica'', ''commedia per musica'', ''dramma bernesc ...

'' it used contemporary settings and characters, comic or at least satiric plots (

Max Brand Frederick Schiller Faust (May 29, 1892 – May 12, 1944) was an American writer known primarily for his Western (genre), Western stories using the pseudonym Max Brand. As Max Brand, he also created the popular fictional character of young ...

's ''Maschinist Hopkins'' is a sole tragic example) and aimed at musical accessibility. Two distinguishing characteristics are a tendency to incorporate modern technology ('' Jonny spielt auf'': trains, '' Der Lindberghflug'': airplanes, '' Von Heute auf Morgen'': telephones, and even elevators) and frequent allusions to popular music, especially

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

. This last, more than any social satire, earned the suspicion of the political right and ensured that it would not survive into the

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

era. Ernst Krenek's '' Jonny spielt auf'' (1927) is held up as the epitome of the genre.Sadie, p. 1221 Other composers are

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith ( ; ; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German and American composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advo ...

('' Hin und zurück'', 1927, '' Neues vom Tage'', 1929), Wilhelm Grosz ('' Achtung! Aufname!'' to a libretto by Bela Balazs), plus Weill's '' Der Zar lässt sich photographieren'' (1928) and '' Die Bürgschaft'' (1932). The first Zeitoper to be composed was probably '' Intermezzo'' (1924) by

Richard Strauss Richard Georg Strauss (; ; 11 June 1864 – 8 September 1949) was a German composer and conductor best known for his Tone poems (Strauss), tone poems and List of operas by Richard Strauss, operas. Considered a leading composer of the late Roman ...

. At the possible instigation of Krenek, the American

George Antheil George Johann Carl Antheil ( ; July 8, 1900 – February 12, 1959) was an American avant-garde composer, pianist, author, and inventor whose modernist musical compositions explored the sounds – musical, industrial, and mechanical – of the ear ...

also wrote a ''Zeitoper'' for Frankfurt, ''Transatlantic'' (1930, originally titled ''Glare''). In '' Von Heute auf Morgen'' (1930)

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian and American composer, music theorist, teacher and writer. He was among the first Modernism (music), modernists who transformed the practice of harmony in 20th-centu ...

attempted to have the last word on the fashion: at the end a child enters and asks the reconciled parents "What are modern people?" who respond with "That changes from one day to the next."

References

Notes Sources *Sadie, Stanley (ed.) (1998): "Zeitoper" in ''The

New Grove Dictionary of Opera ''The New Grove Dictionary of Opera'' is an encyclopedia of opera. It is the largest work on opera in English, and in its printed form, amounts to 5,448 pages in four volumes. The dictionary was first published in 1992 by Macmillan Reference, L ...

'', London. *Warrack, John and West, Ewan (1992), ''The Oxford Dictionary of Opera'', 782 pages, Further reading *Cook, Susan C. (1988), ''Opera for a New Republic: the Zeitopern of Krenek, Weill and Hindemith''. University of Michigan. {{Opera genres Opera terminology Opera genres