Singspiel \Sing"spiel`\, n. [G.; singen to sing + spiel to
play.] (Music)
A dramatic work, partly in dialogue and partly in song, of a
kind popular in Germany in the latter part of the 18th
century. It was often comic, had modern characters, and
patterned its music on folk song with strictly subordinated
accompaniment.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]