incidental music
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of incidental music
First recorded in 1860–65
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The incidental music, though, offers needed theatrical context.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2026
The show’s theme was a cocktail culture cover of “Crazy Train”; incidental music transitioning one scene to the next was intentionally reminiscent of 1950s sitcoms.
From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2025
Franz Schubert, master melodist and progenitor of the song cycle, never wrote for the theater with success, producing scores for singspiels, operas and incidental music that collect dust on the shelf.
From New York Times ● Nov. 23, 2022
The evening opened with “The Consecration of the House,” an overture Beethoven wholly revised in 1822 from incidental music originally composed a decade earlier for August von Kotzebue’s play, “The Ruins of Athens.”
From Washington Post ● Jan. 28, 2022
In the incidental music the first number is the King Henry theme, a plaintive minor melody; then the Lady Anne motif, also plaintive, but not minor.
From Shakespeare and Music by Wilson, Christopher
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
