List of opera genres
List

List of opera genres

Section Title: List
Table Section Text: None

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

Afterpiece	English	18th/19th century short opera or pantomime performed after a full-length play.	The Padlock (1768)	Dibdin

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

Azione sepolcrale	Italian	alternative name for azione sacra

Azione scenica	Italian	alternative name for azione teatrale	Al gran sole carico d'amore (1975)

Azione teatrale (plural azioni teatrali)	Italian	Small-scale one-act opera, or musical play. Early form of chamber opera.	Le cinesi (1754), Il sogno di Scipione (1772), L'isola disabitata (1779)	Bonno, Gluck, Mozart, Haydn

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.	The Beggar's Opera (1728)	Love in a Village (1762), Hugh the Drover (1924), The Threepenny Opera (1928)	Pepusch, Coffey, Arne, Weill

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

Bühnenfestspiel	German	Literally, "stage festival play". Wagner's description of the four operas of Der Ring des Nibelungen	Wagner

Bühnenweihfestspiel	German	Literally, "stage consecration festival play". Wagner's description for Parsifal	Wagner

Burla	Italian	alternative name for burletta

Burletta	Italian	Literally, "little joke". Informal term for comic pieces in the 18th century.	The Recruiting Serjeant (1770)	Dibdin

Burletta per musica	Italian	alternative name for burletta	Il vero originale (Mayr 1808)

Burlettina	Italian	alternative name for burletta

Characterposse	German	Specialized form of Posse mit Gesang concentrating on personalities.

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

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

Commedia per musica	Italian	alternative name for opera buffa	La pastorella nobile (1788)

Componimento da camera	Italian	alternative name for azione teatrale

Componimento drammatico	Italian	alternative name for azione teatrale

Componimento pastorale	Italian	alternative name for azione teatrale	La danza (Gluck, 1755)	Gluck

Conte lyrique	French	alternative name for opéra lyrique	Grisélidis (Massenet, 1901)

Divertimento giocoso	Italian	alternative name for opera buffa

Dramatic (or dramatick) opera	English	alternative name for semi-opera

Drame forain	French	alternative name for Comédie en vaudeville

Drame lyrique	French	Literally, "lyric drama". (1) Term used in the 18th century.	Echo et Narcisse (1779), La marquise de Brinvilliers (1831), Werther (1892), Briséïs (1897), Messidor (1897)	Gluck, Chabrier, Bruneau, Erlanger

Dramma bernesco	Italian	alternative name for opera buffa

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.

Dramma comico per musica	Italian	alternative name for dramma comico

Dramma di sentimento	Italian	alternative name for opera semiseria

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

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.	La scuola de' gelosi (1778), La vera costanza (1779), Il viaggio a Reims (1825),	Haydn, Mozart, Salieri, Sarti, Rossini, Donizetti

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

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).	Erismena (1656), Tito Manlio (1719), Paride ed Elena (1770), Idomeneo (1781), Rossini's Otello (1816)	A Scarlatti, Cavalli, Vivaldi, Sarti, Gluck, Mozart

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)

Entr'acte	French	French name for intermezzo

Episode lyrique	French	alternative name for opéra lyrique

Fait historique	French	Late 18th/19th century. Opéra or opéra comique based on French history, especially popular during the revolution.	L'incendie du Havre (1786)	Joseph Barra (Grétry 1794), Le pont de Lody (Méhul 1797), Milton (1804)	Grétry, Méhul, Spontini

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

Farsetta	Italian	alternative name for farsa

Feenmärchen	German	alternative name for Märchenoper

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

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

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.	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.	Frappolone e Florinetta (Gasparini?, 1706)	La serva padrona (1733)	Pergolesi, Hasse

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

Lokalposse	German	Specialized form of Posse mit Gesang concentrating on daily life themes, associated with the playwright Karl von Marinelli.

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

Märchenspiel	German	alternative name for Märchenoper

Melodramma	Italian	19th century. General term for opera sometimes used instead of more specific genres.

Melodramma serio	Italian	alternative name for opera seria

Musikdrama	German	Term associated with the later operas of Wagner but repudiated by him. Nevertheless, widely used by post-Wagnerian composers.	Tiefland (1903), Salome (1905), Der Golem (d'Albert 1926)	d'Albert, Richard Strauss

Opéra	French	Referring to individual works: 1. 18th century.	Naïs (1749), Fernand Cortez (1809), Moïse et Pharaon (1827), Les vêpres siciliennes (1855), Roméo et Juliette (1867)	Grétry, Spontini, Rossini, Verdi, Gounod

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

Opera ballo	Italian	19th-century Italian grand opéra.	Il Guarany (1870), Aida (1871), La Gioconda (opera) (1876)	Gomes, Verdi, Ponchielli

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.	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)	Vinci, Galuppi, Duni, Piccinni, Sacchini, Salieri, Mozart, Rossini

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

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)

Opéra comique (plural, opéras comiques)	French	Literally, 'comic opera'. Genre including arias, a certain amount of spoken dialogue (and sometimes recitatives).	Télémaque (Jean-Claude Gillier, 1715)	Les troqueurs (1753), La dame blanche (1825), Carmen (1875), Lakmé (1883)	Philidor, Monsigny, Grétry, Boieldieu, Auber,

Opéra comique en vaudeville	French	alternative name for comédie en vaudeville

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

Opéra lyrique	French	Literally, "lyric opera". Late 18th/19th century, less grandiose than grand opéra, but without the spoken dialogue of opéra comique.	Gounod, Ambroise Thomas, Massenet

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.	Camilla (Paer, 1799)	La gazza ladra (1817), Linda di Chamounix (1842)	Violetta (Mercadante, 1853)	Paer, Rossini, Donizetti

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).	Griselda (1721), Cleofide (Hasse, 1731), Ariodante (1735), Alceste (1767), La clemenza di Tito (1791)	Alessandro Scarlatti, Vivaldi, Hasse, Handel, Gluck, Mozart

Opéra-tragédie	French	alternative name for tragédie en musique

Operetta	English (from Italian)	Literally, "little opera". Derived from English versions of Offenbach's opéras bouffes performed in London in the 1860s.	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

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.	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

Opérette bouffe	French	Subgenre of French opérette.	La bonne d'enfant (1856), M. Choufleuri restera chez lui le . . . (1861)	Offenbach

Opérette vaudeville (or vaudeville opérette)	French	Subgenre of French opérette.	L'ours et le pacha (Hervé, 1842)	Mam'zelle Nitouche (1883)	Hervé, Victor Roger

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

Pasticcio	Italian	Literally "a pie" or a hotchpotch. An adaptation or localization of an existing work that is loose, unauthorized, or inauthentic.	Thomyris (Pepusch, Bononcini, Scarlatti, Gasparini, Albinoni, 1707) Muzio Scevola (1721), Ivanhoé (1826)	Handel, Vivaldi

Pièce lyrique	French	alternative name for opéra lyrique

Pastorale héroïque	French	Type of ballet héroïque (opéra-ballet). Usually in three acts with an allegorical prologue, that typically drew on classical themes associated with pastoral poetry.	Acis et Galatée (1686)	Issé (1697), Zaïs (1748), Naïs (1749)	Lully, Rameau

Posse	German	alternative name for Posse mit Gesang

Posse mit Gesang (plural Possen mit Gesang)	German	Literally, "farce with singing". Popular entertainment of late 18th/early 19th centuries, associated with Vienna, Berlin and Hamburg.	Der Alpenkönig und der Menschenfeind (Raimund, 1828), Filmzauber (1912)	Kreutzer, Müller, Schubert, Walter Kollo

Possenspiel	German	early name for Posse mit Gesang

Possenspil	German	early name for Posse mit Gesang

Radio opera	English	Works written specifically for the medium of radio.	The Red Pen (1925)	The Willow Tree (Cadman, 1932), Die schwarze Spinne (Sutermeister, 1936), Comedy on the Bridge (1937), The Old Maid and the Thief (1939), Il prigioniero (1949), I due timidi (1950)	Martinů, Sutermeister, Menotti, Dallapiccola, Rota

Rappresentazione sacra	Italian	alternative name for azione sacra

Rescue opera	French	Early nineteenth century transitional genre between opéra comique, Romantic opera, and grand opera, featuring the rescue of a main character; called opéra à sauvetage in French, and Rettunsoper or Befreiungsoper in German (also Schrekensoper)	Les rigueurs du cloître (Henri Montan Berton, 1790) or Lodoïska (1791); some antecedents whose inclusion in the genre is debated	Fidelio, Lodoïska, Les deux journées	Dalibor (1868)	Cherubini, Dalayrac, Le Sueur

Romantische Oper	German	Early 19th-century German genre derived from earlier French opéras comiques, dealing with "German" themes of nature, the supernatural, folklore etc. Spoken dialogue, originally included with musical numbers, was eventually eliminated in works by Richard Wagner.	Der Freischütz (1821)	Hans Heiling (1833), Undine (1845), Tannhäuser (1845)	Lohengrin (1850)	Weber, Marschner, Lortzing, Wagner

Sainete	Spanish	Literally, "farce" or "titbit". 17th/18th century genre of comic opera similar to the Italian intermezzo, performed together with larger works.	Il mago (1632)	Pablo Esteve, Soler, Antonio Rosales

Sainetillo	Spanish	Diminutive of sainete

Savoy opera	English	19th-century form of operetta (sometimes referred to as a form of "comic opera" to distance the English genre from the continental) comprising the works of Gilbert and Sullivan and other works from 1877 to 1903 that played at the Opera Comique and then the Savoy Theatre in London.	Trial by Jury (1875)	H.M.S. Pinafore (1878), The Pirates of Penzance (1880), The Mikado (1885), The Gondoliers (1889), Merrie England (1902)	A Princess of Kensington (1903)	Sullivan, Solomon, German

Saynète	French	French for sainete. Description used for a particular style of opérette in the 19th century.	La caravane de l'amour (Hervé, 1854), Le rêve d'une nuit d'été (Offenbach, 1855), Le valet de coeur (Planquette, 1875)	Hervé, Offenbach, Planquette

Schauspiel mit Gesang	German	Literally, "play with singing". Term used by Goethe for his early libretti, though he called them Singspiele when revising them.	Erwin und Elmire (Goethe 1775)	Liebe nur beglückt (Reichardt, 1781), Die Teufels Mühle am Wienerberg (Müller 1799)

Schuloper	German	Literally, "school opera". Early 20th century, opera created for performance by school children.	Der Jasager (1930), Wir bauen eine Stadt (Hindemith, 1930)	Weill, Hindemith

Semi-opera	English	Early form of opera with singing, speaking and dancing roles. Popular between 1673 and 1710.	The Tempest (Betterton, 1674)	Psyche (1675), King Arthur (1691), The Fairy-Queen (1692)	Purcell

Sepolcro	Italian	Azione sacra on the subject of the passion and crucifixion of Christ.	Draghi

Serenata	Italian	Literally, "evening song". Short opera performed at court for celebrations, similar to the azione teatrale.	Acis and Galatea (1720), Il Parnaso confuso (Gluck 1765)	Handel, Gluck

Singspiel (plural Singspiele)	German	Literally, "sing play". Popular genre of the 18th/19th centuries, (though the term is also found as early as the 16th century).	Der Teufel ist los (Johann Georg Standfuss, 1752)	Die verwandelten Weiber (1766), Die Jagd (1770), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782), Abu Hassan (1811)	Hiller, Mozart, Weber

Situationsposse	German	Specialized form of Posse mit Gesang concentrating on social situations.

Songspiel	German	Literally, "song play" ("Song" being the English word as used in German, e.g. by Brecht, etc.) Term invented by Kurt Weill to update the concept of Singspiel	Mahagonny-Songspiel (1927)	Kurt Weill

Spieloper	German	Literally, "opera play". 19th-century light opera genre, derived from Singspiel and to a lesser extent opéra comique, containing spoken dialogue.	Zar und Zimmermann (1837), The Merry Wives of Windsor (1849)	Lortzing, Nicolai

Syngespil	Danish	Local form of Singspiel. Late 18th/19th century.	Soliman den Anden (Sarti, 1770), Holger Danske (1787), Høstgildet (Schulz, 1790)	Sarti, Schulz, Kunzen

Television opera	English	Works written specifically for the medium of television.	Amahl and the Night Visitors (1951)	The Marriage (1953), Owen Wingrave (1971), Man on the Moon (2006)	Menotti, Martinů, Sutermeister, Britten

Tonadilla	Spanish	Literally, "little tune". 18th century miniature satirical genre, for one or more singer, that developed out of the sainete.	La mesonera y el arriero (Luis Misón, 1757)	Antonio Guerrero, Misón, José Palomino

Tragédie	French	alternative name for tragédie en musique

Tragédie en musique	French	17th/18th century lyric genre with themes from Classical mythology and the Italian epics of Tasso and Ariosto, not necessarily with tragic outcomes.	Cadmus et Hermione (1673)	Médée (1693), Scylla et Glaucus (1746)	Lully, Marais, Montéclair, Campra, Rameau

Tragédie lyrique	French	alternative name for tragédie en musique

Tragédie mise en musique	French	alternative name for tragédie en musique

Tragédie-opéra	French	alternative name for tragédie en musique

Verismo	Italian	Late 19th/early 20th century opera movement inspired by literary naturalism and realism, and associated with Italian post-romanticism.	Cavalleria rusticana (1890)	Pagliacci (1892), Tosca (1900)	Mascagni, Leoncavallo, Puccini, Giordano

Volksmärchen	German	alternative name for Märchenoper.	Das Donauweibchen (Kauer 1798)

Zarzuela	Spanish	Dating back to the 17th century and forward to the present day, this form includes both singing and spoken dialogue, also dance.	La selva sin amor (Lope de Vega, 1627)	Doña Francisquita (1923), La dolorosa (1930), Luisa Fernanda (1932)	Hidalgo, Barbieri

Zauberoper	German	Literally, "magic opera". Late 18th and early 19th centuries, particularly associated with Vienna.	Oberon, König der Elfen (Wranitzky, 1789)	Die Zauberflöte (1791), Das Donauweibchen, (Kauer, 1798)	Kauer, Müller, Schubert

Zauberposse	German	Specialized form of Posse mit Gesang concentrating on magic.	Der Barometermacher auf der Zauberinsel (Müller 1823)	Müller

Zeitoper (plural Zeitopern)	German	Literally, "opera of the times". 1920s, early 1930s genre, using contemporary settings and characters, including references to modern technology and popular music.	Jonny spielt auf (1927), Neues vom Tage (1929)	Krenek, Weill, Hindemith

Zwischenspiel	German	German name for intermezzo	Pimpinone (1725)

Sentence(s)

La bonne d'enfant is an opérette bouffe by Offenbach in French.

final_sentence: La bonne d'enfant is an opérette bouffe by Offenbach in French.