Opera

Opera

Industry: Drama

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Opera

Improvise

Drama; Opera

The invention of music as it is played, usually within the framework of a specific musical form.

A short middle section of a musical composition usually offered between the acts of a longer operatic work. These were light-hearted in nature, with very small casts: La serva padrona by Pergolesi is ...

Vibrato

Drama; Opera

The slightly fluctuating quality in a singer’s voice while sustaining a pitch, the quality that produces warmth of feeling in the human voice.

Verismo

Drama; Opera

A theatrical style in the late 1800s that depicted ordinary, everyday characters in melodramatic situations. Puccini’s Il Trittico, a tryptch, includes the ‘verismo’ melodramas Il Tabarro and Suor ...

Instrumentation

Drama; Opera

The particular combination of instruments used in a piece of music. Example: a string quartet’s instrumentation is two violins, one viola, and one cello.

Incidental music

Drama; Opera

Music which provides background for a storey or play.

Upstage/downstage

Drama; Opera

Positions on stage; upstage is toward the rear of the stage and farthest from the audience while downstage is toward the lip of the stage, closest to the audience. On a raked stage, performers at the ...