About this recording

At the end of the eighteenth century in Denmark the syngespil (the genre known in Germany as Singspiel and in French as opéra-comique) was used as an element in the struggle for the Danish language and the Danish identity. Common to all the syngespil was the fact that they were performed in Danish, that the characters were ordinary citizens (not gods, royalty or aristocrats, as was normally the case), and that they had a comic element and simple music. At the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen the syngespil became the most popular genre of all in the course of the 1790s. Weyse gathered together what he had learned from the composers Kunzen and Schultz and added his own rich, catchy melodies, thus creating the most popular syngespil ever in Denmark. On 21st April 1809 The Sleeping Draught was premiered at the Royal Theatre, Copenhagen.