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Dramma pastorale
...
The Paris foire St Germain, c. 1763, after the fire of 1762
Nicolet's theatre at the foire St Laurent, c. 1786
In the early 18th century, the Théâtre de la foire in Paris – a collective name for the theatres at the annual fairs at St Germain, St Laurent (see illustration above) and later, St Ovide – offered performances with both music and spoken dialogue. First called comédie en vaudeville, these developed into the opéra comique. The Théâtre de la foire appeared in London in the 1720s, to be imitated in the form of the English ballad opera, which in turn stimulated the creation of the German Singspiel.
This is a glossary list of opera genres, giving alternative names.
"Opera" is an Italian word (short for "opera in musica"); it was not at first commonly used in Italy (or in other countries) to refer to the genre of particular works. Most composers used more precise designations to present their work to the public. Often specific genres of opera were commissioned by theatres or patrons (in which case the form of the work might deviate more or less from the genre norm, depending on the inclination of the composer). Opera genres are not exclusive. Some operas are regarded as belonging to several.[1]
Definitions
Opera genres have been defined in different ways, not always in terms of stylistic rules. Some, like opera seria, refer to traditions identified by later historians,[2] and others, like Zeitoper, have been defined by their own inventors. Other forms have been associated with a particular theatre, for example opéra comique at the theatre of the same name, or opéra bouffe at the Théâtre des Bouffes Parisiens.
This list does not include terms that are vague and merely descriptive, such as "comic opera",[3] "sacred opera", "tragic opera" or "one-act opera" etc. Original language terms are given to avoid the ambiguities that would be caused by English translations.
List
| Genre | Language | Description | First known example | Major works | Last known example | Notable composers | Refs. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Acte de ballet | French | An opéra ballet consisting of a single entrée. 18th century. | Les fêtes de Ramire (1745), Anacréon (1754), | Rameau | [4] | ||
| Afterpiece | English | 18th/19th century short opera or pantomime performed after a full-length play. | The Padlock (1768) | Dibdin | [4] | ||
| Azione sacra | Italian | Literally, "sacred action". 17th and early 18th century opera with religious subject. Performed at Vienna court. | L'humanità redenta (Draghi, 1669) | Draghi, Bertali, Pietro Andrea Ziani, Giovanni Battista Pederzuoli, Cesti | [4] | ||
| Azione sepolcrale | Italian | alternative name for azione sacra | [4] | ||||
| Azione scenica | Italian | alternative name for azione teatrale | Al gran sole carico d'amore (1975) | [4] | |||
| Azione teatrale (plural azioni teatrali) | Italian | Small-scale one-act opera, or musical play. Early form of chamber opera. Popular in late 17th and 18th centuries. (See also festa teatrale, a similar genre but on a larger scale.) | Le cinesi (1754), Il sogno di Scipione (1772), L'isola disabitata (1779) | Bonno, Gluck, Mozart, Haydn | [4] | ||
| Ballad opera | English | Entertainment originating in 18th-century London as a reaction against Italian opera. Early examples used existing popular ballad tunes set to satirical texts. Also popular in Dublin and America, Influenced the German Singspiel, and subsequently 20th-century opera. | The Beggar's Opera (1728) | Love in a Village (1762), Hugh the Drover (1924), The Threepenny Opera (1928) | Pepusch, Coffey, Arne, Weill | [4] | |
| Ballet héroïque | French | Literally 'heroic ballet'. A type of opéra ballet featuring the heroic and exotic, of the early/mid 18th century. | Les festes grecques et romaines (Colin de Blamont, 1723) | Zaïde, reine de Grenade (1739), Les fêtes de Paphos (1758) | Royer, Mondonville, Mion | [4] | |
| Bühnenfestspiel | German | Literally, "stage festival play". Wagner's description of the four operas of Der Ring des Nibelungen | Wagner | [4] | |||
| Bühnenweihfestspiel | German | Literally, "stage consecration festival play". Wagner's description for Parsifal | Wagner | [4] | |||
| Burla | Italian | alternative name for burletta | [4] | ||||
| Burletta | Italian | Literally, "little joke". Informal term for comic pieces in the 18th century. Used in England for intermezzos and light, satirical works. | The Recruiting Serjeant (1770) | Dibdin | [4] | ||
| Burletta per musica | Italian | alternative name for burletta | Il vero originale (Mayr 1808) | ||||
| Burlettina | Italian | alternative name for burletta | [4] | ||||
| Characterposse | German | Specialized form of Posse mit Gesang concentrating on personalities. | [4] | ||||
| Comédie en vaudeville | French | Entertainment in Paris fair theatres at the end of the 17th century, mixing popular vaudeville songs with comedy. In the 18th century, developed into the opéra comique, while influencing directly the English ballad opera and indirectly the German Singspiel. | |||||
| Comédie lyrique | French | Literally, "lyric comedy". 18th century: description used by Rameau. 19th century: alternative name for opéra lyrique. | Platée (1745), Les Paladins (1760) | Rameau | [5] | ||
| Comédie mêlée d'ariettes | French | Literally, "comedy mixed with brief arias". An early form of French opéra comique dating to the mid 18th century. | La rencontre imprévue (1764), Tom Jones (1765), Le déserteur (1769), Zémire et Azor (1771), Le congrès des rois (Cherubini et al., 1794) | Gluck, Grétry | |||
| Commedia | Italian | abbreviation of commedia in musica | Il barbiere di Siviglia (1816) | ||||
| Commedia in musica | Italian | alternative name for opera buffa | [6] | ||||
| Commedia per musica | Italian | alternative name for opera buffa | La pastorella nobile (1788) | [6] | |||
| Componimento da camera | Italian | alternative name for azione teatrale | [4] | ||||
| Componimento drammatico | Italian | alternative name for azione teatrale | [4] | ||||
| Componimento pastorale | Italian | alternative name for azione teatrale | La danza (Gluck, 1755) | Gluck | [4] | ||
| Conte lyrique | French | alternative name for opéra lyrique | Grisélidis (Massenet, 1901) | [4] | |||
| Divertimento giocoso | Italian | alternative name for opera buffa | [6] | ||||
| Dramatic (or dramatick) opera | English | alternative name for semi-opera | |||||
| Drame forain | French | alternative name for Comédie en vaudeville | [4] | ||||
| Drame lyrique | French | Literally, "lyric drama". (1) Term used in the 18th century. (2) Reinvented in the late 19th/early 20th century to describe opera that developed out of opéra comique, influenced by Massenet. | Echo et Narcisse (1779), La marquise de Brinvilliers (1831), Werther (1892), Briséïs (1897), Messidor (1897) | Gluck, Chabrier, Bruneau, Erlanger | [4] | ||
| Dramma bernesco | Italian | alternative name for opera buffa | [6] | ||||
| Dramma comico | Italian | alternative name for opera buffa, 18th/early 19th century. Also used for the genre that replaced it from mid 19th century, with the elimination of recitatives. | [6] | ||||
| Dramma comico per musica | Italian | alternative name for dramma comico | |||||
| Dramma di sentimento | Italian | alternative name for opera semiseria | [4] | ||||
| Dramma eroicomico | Italian | Literally "heroic-comic drama". A late 18th century opera buffa with some heroic content. | Orlando paladino (1782), Palmira, regina di Persia (1795) | Haydn, Salieri | [4] | ||
| Dramma giocoso (plural drammi giocosi) | Italian | Literally, "jocular drama". Mid 18th century form that developed out of the opera buffa, marked by the addition of serious, even tragic roles and situations to the comic ones. (Effectively a subgenre of opera buffa in the 18th century.)[7] | La scuola de' gelosi (1778), La vera costanza (1779), Il viaggio a Reims (1825), | Haydn, Mozart, Salieri, Sarti, Rossini, Donizetti | [4] | ||
| Dramma giocoso per musica | Italian | full term for dramma giocoso | |||||
| Dramma pastorale | Italian | Literally, "pastoral drama". Used for some of the earliest operas down to the 18th century. | Eumelio (Agazzari, 1606), La fede riconosciuta (A Scarlatti, 1710) | A Scarlatti, Sarti | [4] | ||
| Dramma per musica (plural drammi per musica) | Italian | Literally, "drama for music", or "a play intended to be set to music" (i.e. a libretto). Later, synonymous with opera seria and dramma serio per musica;[8] in the 19th century, sometimes used for serious opera. | Erismena (1656), Tito Manlio (1719), Paride ed Elena (1770), Idomeneo (1781), Rossini's Otello (1816) | A Scarlatti, Cavalli, Vivaldi, Sarti, Gluck, Mozart | [4] | ||
| Dramma semiserio | Italian | alternative name for opera semiseria | Torvaldo e Dorliska (1815) | ||||
| Dramma tragicomico | Italian | alternative name for opera semiseria. | Axur, re d'Ormus (1787) | [4] | |||
| Entr'acte | French | French name for intermezzo | [4] | ||||
| Episode lyrique | French | alternative name for opéra lyrique | [4] | ||||
| Fait historique | French | Late 18th/19th century. Opéra or opéra comique based on French history, especially popular during the French Revolution. | L'incendie du Havre (1786) | Joseph Barra (Grétry 1794), Le pont de Lody (Méhul 1797), Milton (1804) | Grétry, Méhul, Spontini | [4][9] | |
| Farsa (plural farse) | Italian | Literally, "farce". A form of one-act opera, sometimes with dancing, associated with Venice, especially the Teatro San Moisè, in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. | La cambiale di matrimonio (1810), L'inganno felice (1812), La scala di seta (1812), Il signor Bruschino (1813), Adina (1818) | Rossini | [10] | ||
| Farsetta | Italian | alternative name for farsa | [10] | ||||
| Feenmärchen | German | alternative name for Märchenoper | [11] | ||||
| Favola in musica | Italian | Earliest form of opera | Dafne (1598) | L'Orfeo (1607) | Monteverdi | ||
| Festa teatrale | Italian | A grander version of the azione teatrale. An opera given as part of a court celebration (of a marriage etc.) Typically associated with Vienna. | Il pomo d'oro (Cesti, 1668) | Draghi, Fux, Caldara | [4] | ||
| Geistliche Oper | German | Literally, "sacred opera". Genre invented by the Russian composer Anton Rubinstein for his German-language, staged opera-oratorios. | Das verlorene Paradies (Rubinstein, 1856) | Der Thurm zu Babel (1870), Sulamith (1883), Moses (1894) | Christus (Rubinstein, 1895) | Rubinstein | [12] |
| Género chico | Spanish | Literally, "little genre". A type of zarzuela, differing from zarzuela grande by its brevity and popular appeal. | Ruperto Chapí | ||||
| Género grande | Spanish | alternative name for zarzuela grande | |||||
| Grand opéra | French | 19th-century genre, usually with 4 or 5 acts, large-scale casts and orchestras, and spectacular staging, often based on historical themes. Particularly associated with the Paris Opéra (1820s to c. 1850), but similar works were created in other countries. | La muette de Portici (1828) | Robert le diable (1831), La Juive (1835), Les Huguenots (1836) | Patrie! (Paladilhe, 1886) | Meyerbeer, Halévy, Verdi | |
| Handlung | German | Literally "action" or "drama". Wagner's description for Tristan und Isolde. | Wagner | ||||
| Intermezzo | Italian | Comic relief inserted between acts of opere serie in the early 18th century, typically involving slapstick, disguises etc. Spread throughout Europe In the 1730s. Predated Opera buffa. | Frappolone e Florinetta (Gasparini?, 1706) | La serva padrona (1733) | Pergolesi, Hasse | [13] | |
| Liederspiel | German | Literally "song-play". Early 19th century genre in which existing lyrics, often well-known, were set to new music and inserted into a spoken play. | Lieb' und Treue (Reichardt, 1800) | Kunst und Liebe (Reichardt, 1807) | Reichardt Lindpaintner | [14] | |
| Lokalposse | German | Specialized form of Posse mit Gesang concentrating on daily life themes, associated with the playwright Karl von Marinelli. | [4] | ||||
| Märchenoper | German | "Fairy-tale opera", a genre of 19th century opera usually with a supernatural theme. Similar to Zauberoper. | Hänsel und Gretel (1893) | Humperdinck, Siegfried Wagner | [11] | ||
| Märchenspiel | German | alternative name for Märchenoper | [11] | ||||
| Melodramma | Italian | 19th century. General term for opera sometimes used instead of more specific genres. | [15] | ||||
| Melodramma serio | Italian | alternative name for opera seria | |||||
| Musikdrama | German | Term associated with the later operas of Wagner but repudiated by him.[16] Nevertheless, widely used by post-Wagnerian composers. | Tiefland (1903), Salome (1905), Der Golem (d'Albert 1926) | d'Albert, Richard Strauss | [4][16] | ||
| Opéra | French | Referring to individual works: 1. 18th century. Occasionally used for operas outside specific, standard genres. 2. 19th/20th century: an opéra is a "French lyric stage work sung throughout"[17] in contrast to an opéra comique that mixed singing with spoken dialogue. Opéra (which included grand opéra), was associated with the Paris Opéra (the Opéra). Also used for some works with a serious tone at the Opéra-Comique. | Naïs (1749), Fernand Cortez (1809), Moïse et Pharaon (1827), Les vêpres siciliennes (1855), Roméo et Juliette (1867) | Grétry, Spontini, Rossini, Verdi, Gounod | [17] | ||
| Opéra-ballet | French | Genre with more dancing than tragédie en musique. Usually with a prologue and a number of self-contained acts (called entrées), following a theme. | L'Europe galante (1697) | Les élémens (1721), Les Indes galantes (1735), Les fêtes d'Hébé (1739) | Destouches, Rameau | [4] | |
| Opera ballo | Italian | 19th-century Italian grand opéra. | Il Guarany (1870), Aida (1871), La Gioconda (opera) (1876) | Gomes, Verdi, Ponchielli | [18] | ||
| Opera buffa (plural, opere buffe) | Italian | Major genre of comic opera in the 18th and early 19th centuries. Originating in Naples (especially the Teatro dei Fiorentini), its popularity spread during the 1730s, notably to Venice where development was influenced by the playwright/librettist Goldoni. Typically in three acts, unlike the intermezzo. Contrasting in style, subject matter, and the use of dialect with the formal, aristocratic opera seria. | La Cilla (Michelangelo Faggioli, 1706) | Li zite 'ngalera (1722), Il filosofo di campagna (Galuppi, 1754), La buona figliuola (1760), Le nozze di Figaro (1786), Il barbiere di Siviglia (1816), Don Pasquale (1843), Crispino e la comare (1850) | Don Procopio (1859) | Vinci, Pergolesi, Galuppi, Duni, Piccinni, Sacchini, Salieri, Mozart, Rossini | [6] |
| Opéra bouffe (plural, opéras bouffes) | French | Comic genre of opérette including satire, parody and farce. Closely connected with Offenbach and the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens where most of them were produced. | Orphée aux enfers (1858) | La belle Hélène (1864), La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein (1867), La Périchole (1868) | Les mamelles de Tirésias (1947) | Offenbach, Hervé, Lecocq | [19] |
| Opéra bouffon | French | Opera buffa as performed in 18th-century France, either in the original language or in translation. (Sometimes confused with opéra comique.) | Le roi Théodore à Venise (Paisiello, 1786) | [20] | |||
| Opéra comique (plural, opéras comiques) | French | Literally, 'comic opera'. Genre including arias, a certain amount of spoken dialogue (and sometimes recitatives). Closely associated with works written for the Paris Opéra-Comique. Themes included were serious and tragic, as well as light. Tradition developed from popular early 18th century comédies en vaudevilles and lasted into 20th century with many changes in style. | Télémaque (Jean-Claude Gillier, 1715) | Les troqueurs (1753), La dame blanche (1825), Carmen (1875), Lakmé (1883) | Philidor, Monsigny, Grétry, Boieldieu, Auber, | [4] | |
| Opéra comique en vaudeville | French | alternative name for comédie en vaudeville | |||||
| Opera eroica | Italian | 17th/18th/19th century genre which translates as "heroic opera". It mixed serious and romantic drama with improvised comedy.[21] | Enrico di Borgogna (1818)[22] | ||||
| Opéra féerie (plural, opéras féeries) | French | 18th/19th century genre of works based on fairy tales, often involving magic. | Zémire et Azor (1771), Cendrillon (1810), La belle au bois dormant (1825) | Carafa, Isouard | [23] | ||
| Opéra lyrique | French | Literally, "lyric opera". Late 18th/19th century, less grandiose than grand opéra, but without the spoken dialogue of opéra comique. (Term applied more to the genre as a whole than individual operas.) | Gounod, Ambroise Thomas, Massenet | [4] | |||
| Opera-oratorio | Oedipe roi (1927), Jeanne d'Arc au bûcher (1938) | Milhaud, Honegger, Stravinsky | |||||
| Opera semiseria | Italian | Literally, "semi-serious opera". Early/mid 19th century genre employing comedy but also, unlike opera buffa, pathos, often with a pastoral setting. Typically included a basso buffo role. | Camilla (Paer, 1799) | La gazza ladra (1817), Linda di Chamounix (1842) | Violetta (Mercadante, 1853) | Paer, Rossini, Donizetti | [24] |
| Opera seria (plural, opere serie) | Italian | Literally, "serious opera". Dominant style of opera in the 18th century, not only in Italy but throughout Europe (except France). Rigorously formal works using texts, mainly based on ancient history, by poet-librettists led by Metastasio. Patronized by the court and the nobility. Star singers were often castrati. | Griselda (1721), Cleofide (Hasse, 1731), Ariodante (1735), Alceste (1767), La clemenza di Tito (1791) | Alessandro Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Hasse, Handel, Gluck, Mozart | [4][2] | ||
| Opéra-tragédie | French | alternative name for tragédie en musique | [25] | ||||
| Operetta | English (from Italian) | Literally, "little opera". Derived from English versions of Offenbach's opéras bouffes performed in London in the 1860s. Some of the earliest native operettas in English were written by Frederic Clay and Sullivan. (W. S. Gilbert and Sullivan wished to distinguish their joint works from continental operetta and later called them "comic operas" or Savoy operas). | Cox and Box (1866) | Princess Toto (1876), Rip Van Winkle (1882), Naughty Marietta (1910), Monsieur Beaucaire (1919), The Student Prince (1924), The Vagabond King (1925) | Candide (1956) | Sullivan, Herbert, Romberg, Friml, Leonard Bernstein | [26] |
| Opérette (plural, opérettes) | French | French operetta. Original genre of light (both of music and subject matter) opera that grew out of the French opéra comique in the mid 19th century. Associated with the style of the Second Empire by the works of Offenbach, though his best-known examples are designated subgenerically as opéras bouffes. | L'ours et le pacha (Hervé, 1842) | Madame Papillon (Offenbach, 1855), Les mousquetaires au couvent (1880), Les p'tites Michu (1897), Ciboulette (1923) | Hervé, Offenbach, Varney, Messager, Hahn | [26] | |
| Opérette bouffe | French | Subgenre of French opérette. | La bonne d'enfant (1856), M. Choufleuri restera chez lui le . . . (1861) | Offenbach | [26] | ||
| Opérette vaudeville (or vaudeville opérette) | French | Subgenre of French opérette. | L'ours et le pacha (Hervé, 1842) | Mam'zelle Nitouche (1883) | Hervé, Victor Roger | [26] | |
| Operette (plural, operetten) | German | German operetta. Popular Viennese genre during the 19th and 20th centuries, created under the influence of Offenbach and spread to Berlin, Budapest, and other German and east European cities. | Das Pensionat (Suppé, 1860) | Die Fledermaus (1874), The Merry Widow (1905), Das Land des Lächelns (1929) | Frühjahrsparade (Robert Stolz, 1964) | Johann Strauss II, Lehár, Oscar Straus | [26] |
| Pasticcio | Italian | Literally "a pie" or a hotchpotch. An adaptation or localization of an existing work that is loose, unauthorized, or inauthentic. Also used for a single work by a number of different composers, particularly in early 18th-century London. | Thomyris (Pepusch, Bononcini, Scarlatti, Gasparini, Albinoni, 1707) Muzio Scevola (1721), Ivanhoé (1826) | Handel, Vivaldi | [4] |