My thesis explores the relationship between opera and expressionism in the Weimar Republic. It will show how individual opera performances can be used to trace discourses of expressionism at local and national levels, fuelled by networks of individuals and institutions. By 1920, art critics deemed expressionism outdated, or even dead, and questioned its relevance. Debates fixating on expressionism, however, continued throughout the 1920s. My thesis will tease out these debates and consider them as living entities of Weimar culture, thereby recasting our understanding of the position of expressionism in this period. Rather than considering expressionism as a fixed aesthetic, I shall be primarily be considering it as a discourse: i.e., an idea; a topic of debate; a collaborative project; similar to how critics viewed it at the time. In addition to the operas of Schoenberg and Berg – works that are regularly associated with expressionism – my case studies will include operas by composers such as Hindemith, Krenek, Weill and Bartók. Therefore, as well as drawing together operas that have typically been understood in isolation, my research will also re-evaluate the emergence of a modern opera culture in Germany.