"Hier berührt sich das Zeitkunstwerk mit dem 'Ewigkeitswerk'". To what extent was the Zeitoper truly "of its time"?

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2008 in the subject Musicology - Miscellaneous, grade: 1, King`s College London, language: English, abstract: Recent scholarly discourse on the so-called Zeitopern of the Weimar Republic has tended to focus on the novelty of these works: their obsession with technology, the prevailing political climate or jazz idioms, for example. Indeed, very few academics have examined the operas- close links to music and opera of the past (especially Wagner, who apparently stands in direct opposition) and to contemporaneous, non--Zeit-- music drama. To what extent, then, were these pieces -of their time-? Investigating these issues, as well as the disparity between the works- ambition for mass appeal on the one hand and their swift departure from the repertoire (unprecedented for works of such initial popularity) on the other, the Zeitoper-s apparently most fundamental defining quality - ephemerality - will be brought into question in an approach novel for its broader outlook and thoroughness.