comic opera

views updated May 21 2018

comic opera Musico-dramatic work with some spoken dialogue and a light or amusing plot. The term is used indiscriminately and includes musical comedy and operetta. In operatic works, it approximates most closely to early 18th-century Italian opera buffa (notably the operas of Pergolesi), but bears little relation to the French opéra comique.

comic opera

views updated May 21 2018

com·ic op·er·a • n. an opera that portrays humorous situations and characters, enhanced by spoken dialogue. ∎  the genre of such opera.

comic opera

views updated Jun 08 2018

comic opera. An imprecise term, though by it most people today would understand an opera with a comic element. opéra-bouffe or opera buffa means comic opera but has a specific meaning, as has opéra-comique.