Lyric Opera
French through-sung opera of the mid-nineteenth century, melody first and scale in between
Related
Opéra lyrique was the middle scale of French opera in the mid-nineteenth century: three to five acts, sung throughout, without the five-act spectacle of grand opera or the spoken dialogue of opéra comique. Plots favoured love and private fate.
Gounod's Roméo et Juliette and Massenet's Hérodiade put melody and the female voice first; the orchestra stays moderate, and the chorus colours the scene rather than narrating history. The style reached Italy and Russia as well.
The term names a historical French form, not any opera that happens to be lyrical; in Italian, opera lirica simply means opera. Unlike operetta it avoids spoken satire, and unlike musical theatre it neither amplifies nor dances.
Sources
- 法国抒情歌剧的中间规模、旋律优先与代表作曲家，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Opéra lyrique"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.