Opera
Drama carried entirely by singing, with an orchestra pushing the plot from the pit
Related
Opera is drama carried by singing: plot, dialogue and soliloquy are sung, with an orchestra accompanying and pushing the emotion from the pit. It took shape around 1600 in Florence, at first so that the words could be "clearly sung", and later divided into recitative (moving the plot) and aria (stopping to reflect).
Opera is not simply "a play with singing": music decides the time of the drama — a line can stretch into a five-minute aria or pass in a phrase of recitative. To judge opera, first hear how the music proportions "speaking" and "singing".
Read deeper → Musical Form
Sources
- 歌剧的诞生、宣叙调与咏叹调的分工，参 The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, "Opera"；本文为原创表述
Used for fact-checking only; all prose is original.