Zeitoper (German:[ˈtsaɪtʔoːpɐ], 'opera of the time') was a short-lived genre ofopera associated withWeimar Germany. It is not known when or by whom the term was coined, but by 1928Kurt Weill ("Zeitoper" inMelos) was able to complain that it was more a slogan than a description. Likeopera buffa it used contemporary settings and characters, comic or at least satiric plots (Max Brand'sMaschinist 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, especiallyjazz. This last, more than any social satire, earned the suspicion of the political right and ensured that it would not survive into theNazi era.
Ernst Krenek'sJonny spielt auf (1927) is held up as the epitome of the genre.[1][2] Other composers arePaul Hindemith (Hin und zurück, 1927,Neues vom Tage, 1929),Wilhelm Grosz (Achtung! Aufname! to a libretto byBela Balazs), plus Weill'sDer Zar lässt sich photographieren (1928) andDie Bürgschaft (1932). The first Zeitoper to be composed was probablyIntermezzo (1924) byRichard Strauss.
At the possible instigation of Krenek, the AmericanGeorge Antheil also wrote aZeitoper for Frankfurt,Transatlantic (1930, originally titledGlare). InVon Heute auf Morgen (1930)Arnold Schoenberg 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."
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