'Music drama' definitions:
Definition of 'Music drama'
From: GCIDE
- Music drama \Mu"sic dra`ma\ An opera in which the text and action are not interrupted by set arias, duets, etc., the music being determined throughout by dramatic appropriateness; musical drama of this character, in general. It involves the use of a kind of melodious declamation, the development of leitmotif, great orchestral elaboration, and a fusion of poetry, music, action, and scene into an organic whole. The term is applied esp. to the later works of Wagner: "Tristan und Isolde," "Die Meistersinger," "Rheingold," "Walk["u]re," "Siegfried," "G["o]tterd[aum]mmerung," and "Parsifal." [Webster 1913 Suppl.]