History of opera
Germany and Austria

An indigenous style did not flourish in Germany, and the structure of Italian opera was generally followed. However, the singspiel emerged as a minor genre of comic tone, analogous to the French opéra-comique and the Spanish zarzuela, which alternated dialogue with music and song. The earliest example was Croesus by Reinhard Keiser (1711).

Georg Philipp Telemann performed operas with arias in Italian and recitatives in German. A precocious musician, he composed his first opera at the age of twelve. He was a composer, organist, conductor and creator of the first musical magazine in history, Der getreue Musikmeister. However, his work fell into oblivion and was not recovered until the early 20th century, although his operas today are not performed on the operatic theater circuit. It is estimated that he composed about fifty operas, although only nine are preserved, including Germanicus (1704), Pimpinone (1725) and Don Quichotte auf der Hochzeit des Camacho (Don Quixote at Camacho's Wedding, 1761).

One of the best operatists of the time was Georg Friedrich Händel. A disciple of Friedrich Wilhelm Zachow, in 1703 he settled in Hamburg, where he composed his first opera, Almira, in 1705, at the age of nineteen. In 1707 he traveled to Rome, Venice and Florence, the latter city where he premiered his first opera, Rodrigo. Despite his origins, he wrote all his operas in Italian. In 1708 he traveled to Naples, where he made contact with the notable operatic school of that city. In 1710 he premiered Agrippina in Venice, which was a great success. In his works he brought together Italian and French influences, without lacking his Germanic character. Shortly thereafter, he returned to his homeland, where he became the chapel master to Prince Elector George of Hanover, who in 1714 became George I of Great Britain. In 1712 he settled in England, where he developed most of his work, and where he was conductor of the orchestra of the Royal Academy of Music, which was based at the King's Theatre. He composed forty-two operas, usually solemn and grandiose works, where he usually incorporated choirs, though not ballets like the French. He had a preference for heroic plots and his protagonists were usually heroes of antiquity, whether historical or mythological, such as Theseus, Jerxes, Alexander the Great, Scipio or Julius Caesar. His works include: Rinaldo (1711), Amadigi di Gaula (1715), Giulio Cesare in Egitto (1724), Tamerlano (1724), Rodelinda (1725), Admeto (1727), Tolomeo (1728), Orlando (1732), Ariodante (1735), Alcina (1735), Serse (1738) and Imeneo (1740). His regular librettist was Nicola Francesco Haym.

Other exponents were Johann Adolph Hasse, Johann Joseph Fux and Johann Mattheson. Hasse studied in Naples with Scarlatti. His first opera was Antioco (1721), at the age of twenty-two, followed by Sesostrate (1726) and La sorella amante (1729). In 1730 he premiered in Venice Artaserse, which was innovative for its expressive contrasts that allowed a great showcasing of the singers. That year he was appointed director of the Dresden Opera, where he was one of the main promoters of opera seria. He left some seventy operas. Fux was the author of eighteen operas, mostly with librettos by Pietro Pariati, though also by Zeno and Metastasio. His greatest success was Costanza e Fortezza (1723), premiered in Prague at the coronation of Emperor Charles VI as king of Bohemia. Mattheson was a tenor as well as a composer. He worked as an assistant to other operatists, including Keiser, before composing his own. In 1715 he was appointed director of music at Hamburg Cathedral. His works include Cleopatra (1704).
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