The New International Encyclopædia/Benda, Georg
BENDA,  (1722-95). A German musician.
He was born at Jungbunzlau, Bohemia,
and studied with his father, Hans Georg Benda.
He became kapellmeister to Duke Frederick
III. of Saxe-Gotha in 1748, and in 1764 went to
Italy at the Duke's expense for the purpose of
study. He returned to Gotha in 1766, and
devoted himself to composition, writing, in all,
about ten operas, several operettas, and the
stirring melodramas Ariadne auf Naxos, Medea,
Almansor, and Nadine. In 1778 he resigned his
position and visited Hamburg, Vienna, and other
cities, and finally settled at the little hamlet of
Köstritz. The important place which he holds
in the history of German opera is due to his
introduction of the music-drama with spoken
text. In other words, he was the originator of
the pure melodrama, in which the whole musical
part is confined to the orchestra, while the
dialect is spoken.