music drama

American

noun

an opera having more or less continuous musical and dramatic activity without arias, recitatives, or ensembles.

music drama British

noun

an opera in which the musical and dramatic elements are of equal importance and strongly interfused
the genre of such operas

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of music drama

First recorded in 1875–80

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.

Nicôle Lecky, who took home the Best Miniseries award for her music drama Mood, which she wrote and starred in, agrees that writing goes way beyond the script.

From BBC • May 15, 2023

Philadelphia’s 21 special admissions high schools have various specialties — music, drama, science, liberal arts, etc.

From Washington Post • Mar. 24, 2023

It will compete for the night's top prize - best film - alongside dark comedy "The Banshees of Inisherin", the biopic "Elvis", dimension-hopping "Everything Everywhere All At Once" and music drama "Tár".

From Reuters • Feb. 19, 2023

Focus Features’ “Tár,” Todd Field’s challenging classical music drama with Cate Blanchett, placed third.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 19, 2023

There was a whole chain of separate departments dealing with proletarian literature, music, drama, and entertainment generally.

From "1984" by George Orwell

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023