Deus ex machina

Deus ex machina

A stage or literary device that represents a last minute salvation of a dicey situation by a god/goddess who’s been watching the plot unfold from afar. In the baroque period, elaborate scenery was devised whereby the deity would descend from above the stage in a cloud or carriage. Amor in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Eurydice is just such a ‘deus ex machina.

This is auto-generated content. You can help to improve it.

0 0

Improve it

Add an image

Part of Speech: noun
Synonym(s):
Blossary:
Industry/Domain: Drama
Category: Opera
Company:
Product:
Acronym-Abbreviation:

Collect to Blossary

Other Languages:

Related terms

deus ex machina

Printing & publishing; Publishing

Any artificial device or improbable technique used to resolve the difficulties of a plot. In ancient Greek and Roman drama, the introduction of a god into the entanglements of a ...

Deus ex Machina

Performing arts; Theatre

Literally, the god from the machine. Refers to the character (usually a god) in classical Greek tragedy who enters the play from the heavens at the end of the drama to resolve or ...

deus ex machina

Literature; General

Resolving the primary conflict by a means unrelated to the story (e.g., a god appears and solves everything).

deus ex machina

Literature; Fiction

Miraculous (often offstage) solution to an otherwise insoluble problem. Look, the Martians all caught cold and died!

deus ex machina

Drama; Opera

A stage or literary device that represents a last minute salvation of a dicey situation by a god/goddess who’s been watching the plot unfold from afar. In the baroque period, ...

deus ex machina

Literature; General literature

A Latin term meaning "god out of a machine." In Greek drama, a god was often lowered onto the stage by a mechanism of some kind to rescue the hero or untangle the plot. By ...

capella

Drama; Opera

A term that describes singing without accompaniment.

brava!

Drama; Opera

A term used during applause to commend the performance of female performers on stage. Bravo for male performers, Bravi for the entire ensemble or male and female performers ...

semitone

Drama; Opera

A half step or half tone, an interval midway between two whole tones.

set

Drama; Opera

A construction on stage built to suggest place and time in which the singers enact the story of the opera plot.

sharp (

Drama; Opera

Any note a semitone higher than another note..

singspiel

Drama; Opera

“sung play”; A form of German musical drama that used spoken dialogue in addition to musical numbers. Examples of “singspiel” are Mozart’s The Abduction from the Seraglio, Von ...

Terms in the News

Featured Terms

Harry8L

0
Terms
0
Blossaries
1
Followers

Industry/Domain: Language Category: General language

Received pronunciation

Received Pronunciation (RP), also called the Queen's (or King's) English,[1] Oxford English,[2] or BBC English, is the accent of Standard English in ...