What does opera mean?

Definitions for opera
ˈɒp ər ə, ˈɒp rəoper·a

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word opera.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. operanoun

    a drama set to music; consists of singing with orchestral accompaniment and an orchestral overture and interludes

  2. Operanoun

    a commercial browser

  3. opera, opera housenoun

    a building where musical dramas are performed

Wiktionary

  1. operanoun

    A theatrical work combining drama, music, song and sometimes dance.

  2. operanoun

    The score for such a work.

  3. operanoun

    A building designed for the performance of such works; an opera house.

  4. operanoun

    A company dedicated to performing such works.

  5. operanoun

    Any showy, melodramatic or unrealistic production resembing an opera.

  6. operanoun

    A collection of work (plural of opus).

  7. operanoun

    Plural form of opus.

  8. Etymology: From opera.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. OPERAnoun

    An opera is a poetical tale or fiction, represented by vocal and instrumental musick, adorned with scenes, machines, and dancing. Dryden’s Pref. to Albion.

    Etymology: Italian.

Wikipedia

  1. Opera

    Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and incorporates a number of the performing arts, such as acting, scenery, costume, and sometimes dance or ballet. The performance is typically given in an opera house, accompanied by an orchestra or smaller musical ensemble, which since the early 19th century has been led by a conductor. Although musical theatre is closely related to opera, the two are considered to be distinct from one another.Opera is a key part of the Western classical music tradition. Originally understood as an entirely sung piece, in contrast to a play with songs, opera has come to include numerous genres, including some that include spoken dialogue such as Singspiel and Opéra comique. In traditional number opera, singers employ two styles of singing: recitative, a speech-inflected style, and self-contained arias. The 19th century saw the rise of the continuous music drama. Opera originated in Italy at the end of the 16th century (with Jacopo Peri's mostly lost Dafne, produced in Florence in 1598) especially from works by Claudio Monteverdi, notably L'Orfeo, and soon spread through the rest of Europe: Heinrich Schütz in Germany, Jean-Baptiste Lully in France, and Henry Purcell in England all helped to establish their national traditions in the 17th century. In the 18th century, Italian opera continued to dominate most of Europe (except France), attracting foreign composers such as George Frideric Handel. Opera seria was the most prestigious form of Italian opera, until Christoph Willibald Gluck reacted against its artificiality with his "reform" operas in the 1760s. The most renowned figure of late 18th-century opera is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who began with opera seria but is most famous for his Italian comic operas, especially The Marriage of Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte, as well as Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio), and The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte), landmarks in the German tradition. The first third of the 19th century saw the high point of the bel canto style, with Gioachino Rossini, Gaetano Donizetti and Vincenzo Bellini all creating signature works of that style. It also saw the advent of grand opera typified by the works of Daniel Auber and Giacomo Meyerbeer as well as Carl Maria von Weber's introduction of German Romantische Oper (German Romantic Opera). The mid-to-late 19th century was a golden age of opera, led and dominated by Giuseppe Verdi in Italy and Richard Wagner in Germany. The popularity of opera continued through the verismo era in Italy and contemporary French opera through to Giacomo Puccini and Richard Strauss in the early 20th century. During the 19th century, parallel operatic traditions emerged in central and eastern Europe, particularly in Russia and Bohemia. The 20th century saw many experiments with modern styles, such as atonality and serialism (Arnold Schoenberg and Alban Berg), neoclassicism (Igor Stravinsky), and minimalism (Philip Glass and John Adams). With the rise of recording technology, singers such as Enrico Caruso and Maria Callas became known to much wider audiences that went beyond the circle of opera fans. Since the invention of radio and television, operas were also performed on (and written for) these media. Beginning in 2006, a number of major opera houses began to present live high-definition video transmissions of their performances in cinemas all over the world. Since 2009, complete performances can be downloaded and are live streamed.

ChatGPT

  1. opera

    Opera is a form of theatre in which music plays a significant part and the parts are typically performed by singers. It combines several art forms such as singing, acting, orchestral music, poetry, dance and often visual arts, in a theatrical setting. Most opera stories are told entirely with music and all the words are sung rather than spoken. Operas can be based on a wide range of subjects, including historical events, classic literature, mythology, or even contemporary issues.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Opera

    op′ėr-a, n. a musical drama: a place where operas are performed.—adj. used in or for an opera, as an opera-glass, &c.—ns. Op′era-cloak, a cloak of elegant form and material for carrying into the auditorium of a theatre or opera-house as a protection against draughts; Op′era-danc′er, one who dances in ballets introduced into operas; Op′era-glass, a small glass or telescope for use at operas, theatres, &c.; Op′era-hat, a hat which can be made flat by compression and expanded again to its full size; Op′era-house, a theatre where operas are represented; Op′era-sing′er.—adjs. Operat′ic, -al, pertaining to or resembling the opera. [It.,—L. opera. Cf. Operate.]

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

  1. Opera

    a drama set to music and acted and sung to the accompaniment of a full orchestra, of which there are several kinds according as they are grave, comic, or romantic.

The Roycroft Dictionary

  1. opera

    1. Forerunner of the phonograph. 2. A rendezvous for the bored.

The Foolish Dictionary, by Gideon Wurdz

  1. OPERA

    A drama that has taken on airs and refuses to speak, yet always sings its own praises. =GRAND OPERA= An excuse for displaying several boxes of jewelry and peaches with pedigrees.

Editors Contribution

  1. opera

    A loving happy expression of a facet of life created and designed in various musical sounds, harmonies, tones and lyrics.

    Opera is amazing and is very uplifting.


    Submitted by MaryC on December 14, 2019  

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'opera' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #3988

  2. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'opera' in Nouns Frequency: #1528

How to pronounce opera?

How to say opera in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of opera in Chaldean Numerology is: 5

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of opera in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of opera in a Sentence

  1. Hannah Moore:

    Going to the opera, like getting drunk, is a sin that carries its own punishment with it, and that a very severe one.

  2. Norman Lebrecht:

    In the end money speaks, talent walks. It’s a sad day for opera.

  3. Sienna Szarek:

    I'm not an opera singer but I am pretty good at singing, I think.

  4. Jason Case:

    We returned to Austria and visited the Vienna Opera House. Amyeven bungee jumped from the Danube Tower (the Fast Forward task in Leg 6 we weren't able to complete because of inclement weather).

  5. Ron Howard:

    I knew that operas were very dramatic and that his life was very dramatic and so it was pretty easy early on to say' Hey, I wonder if we can actually understand these performances of particular arias and use them in the film so in a way we're kind of telling his story', we're almost making an opera about Pavarotti using these arias and these great performances because the performances are just staggering.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

opera#1#3948#10000

Translations for opera

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

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"opera." Definitions.net. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Mar. 2024. <https://www.definitions.net/definition/opera>.

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