In ‘Nationalism in eighteenth-century German opera? – Changing views on the nation in two operas of Johann Friedrich Reichardt’, Mårten Nehrfors Hultén investigates how the idea of nationalism as defined in Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities (2006) is manifested in the operas: Brenno (1789) and Die Geisterinsel (1798). Both were composed for royal celebrations. Hultén shows what kind of nationalism the two operas portray. Brenno, an opera seria, is a typical representational court opera, and the character Brenno represents the absolute ruler of the Prussian state. Die Geisterinsel is a modern Singspiel with a different national spirit. The main protagonist is not an absolutist ruler, but like a father of all inhabitants in a geographically defined community. Reichardt had earlier (1774) expressed scepticism about the German Singspiel, but in Die Geisterinsel he succeeded in portraying ideas of German nationalism based on national identity, common morals, and a new aesthetic.
The changing view of the nation is dependent on genre, and the Singspiel is a far better vehicle than the representational court opera for the expression of a nationalist community. When songs from the play were published for use in German private homes, new nationalistic ideas were also communicated to the general public.