Romantische Oper (literally
German romantic opera) was a genre of early nineteenth-century
German opera, developed not from the German
Singspiel of the eighteenth-century but from the
opéras comiques of the
French Revolution. It offered opportunities for an increasingly important role for the
orchestra, and greater dramatic possibilities for reminiscence
motifs - phrases that are identified with a place, person or idea and which, when re-used in a work, remind the listener of the place, person or idea in question.