music drama

noun

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

Compare number opera.

Origin of music drama

First recorded in 1875–80

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for music drama

Historical Examples of music drama

The influence of Wagner and the music-drama is distinctly to be felt.
Great Men and Famous Women, Vol. 8 (of 8)
Various
Within him the sap of the future music-drama was beginning to rise.
Wagner as I Knew Him
Ferdinand Christian Wilhelm Praeger
This is the first milestone on the road from opera to music-drama.
The Complete Opera Book
Gustav Kobb
Music-drama in three acts, words and music by Richard Wagner.
The Complete Opera Book
Gustav Kobb
Music-drama in a prologue and three acts, words and music by Richard Wagner.
The Complete Opera Book
Gustav Kobb

British Dictionary definitions for music drama

music drama

noun

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

the genre of such operas

Word Origin for music drama

C19: translation of German Musikdrama, coined by Wagner to describe his later 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