grand opera

noun

1. a serious, usually tragic, opera in which most of the text is set to music.

grand opera

noun

1. an opera that has a serious plot and is entirely in musical form, with no spoken dialogue

Word History and Origins

Origin of grand opera¹

First recorded in 1795–1805

Example Sentences

An impossible composer to pin down, Machover has written a traditional grand opera such as “Resurrection,” based on Tolstoy’s novel, and “Brain Opera,” which is just that, using electrodes on your noggin.

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Here were all the trappings of grand opera and none of the substance.

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Then again, not much opera was actually presented in these grand opera houses, rather Gilbert and Sullivan, music revues of all sorts and straight theater.

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Among the grandest of grand operas, “Turandot” is a demanding enterprise.

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Like the United States, Egypt did not have a permanent national-scale ballet company until the 1950s, although it had a grand opera house in Cairo.

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