burletta

[ber-let-uh]

noun Theater.

(in the 18th and 19th centuries) a musical drama containing rhymed lyrics and resembling comic opera or a comic play containing songs.

Origin of burletta

1740–50; < Italian, equivalent to burl(a) jest (see burlesque) + -etta -ette

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

It may be regarded as a species of prototype of the burletta or ballad opera of later days.
A Book of Burlesque
Willam Davenport Adams
We move ourselves—they are moved by wires; but we do just the same things—we are life and we are art, in the burletta we are both.
The Little Schoolmaster Mark
J. H. Shorthouse
Every body liked the Burletta, but none were pleased with the music—which has induced me to reset it.
Dr. Arne and Rule, Britannia
William Hayman Cummings