In modern times Singspiel has for the most part become merged in comic opera, which, though originally an importation from France, has become thoroughly acclimatised in Germany, and in the hands of such men as Johann Strauss, Franz von Suppe, and Carl Milloecker, has produced work of no little artistic interest, though scarcely coming within the scope of this book.  To the Singspiel, too, may be traced an exceedingly unpretentious school of opera, dealing for the most part with homely and sentimental subjects, of which the best-known representative is Victor Nessler (1841-1890).  Nessler’s opera, ‘Der Trompeter von Saekkingen,’ is still one of the most popular works in the repertory of German opera-houses, and his ‘Rattenfaenger von Hameln’ is scarcely less of a favourite.  The first of these works is founded upon Scheffel’s well-known poem, and tells in artless fashion of the love of Jung Werner, the trumpeter, for the daughter of the Baron von Schoenau; the second deals with the story of the Hamelin rat-catcher, which Browning has immortalised.  Nessler has little more than a vein of simple melody to recommend him, and his works have had no success beyond the frontiers of Germany; but at home his flow of rather feeble sentimentality has endeared him to every susceptible heart in the Fatherland.

Closely allied to the German school of opera is that of Bohemia, of which the most famous representative is Smetana (1824-1884).  Outside the frontiers of his native land, Smetana was practically unknown until the Vienna Exhibition of 1890, when his opera, ‘Die verkaufte Braut,’ was produced for the first time in the Austrian capital.  Since then it has been played in many German opera-houses, and was performed in London in 1895, and again in 1907.  The story is simplicity itself.  Jenik, a young peasant, and Marenka, the daughter of the rich farmer Krusina, love each other dearly; but Kezal, a kind of go-between in the Bohemian marriage-market, tells Krusina that he can produce a rich husband for his daughter in the shape of Vasek, the son of Micha.  The avaricious old man jumps at the proposal, but Marenka will have nothing to say to the arrangement, for Vasek is almost an idiot, and a stammerer as well.  Kezal then proceeds to buy Jenik out for three hundred gulden.  The latter, however, stipulates that in the agreement it shall only be set down that Marenka is to marry the son of Micha.  The contract is signed and the money is paid, whereupon Jenik announces that he is a long-lost son of Micha by a youthful marriage, and carries off the bride, to the discomfiture of his enemies.  If Smetana owes anything to anybody it is to Mozart, whose form and system of orchestration his own occasionally recalls, but his music is so thoroughly saturated with the melodies and rhythms of Bohemia, that it is quite unnecessary to look for any source of inspiration other than the composer’s own native land.  But although Smetana’s music is Bohemian to the core, he brings about his effects like a true artist.  The national colour is not laid on in smudges, but tinges the whole fabric of the score.  Smetana’s other works are less known outside Bohemia.  ‘Das Geheimniss’ and ‘Der Kuss’ are comic operas of a thoroughly national type, while ‘Dalibor’ and ‘Libusa’ deal with stirring episodes of Bohemian history.