Glossary of Opera Terms

Opera has a vocabulary of its own, much of it Italian. These are the terms you are most likely to meet in programs, reviews, and conversation, grouped by subject. For an introduction to opera itself, see how to listen to opera, our page on the opera form, and our guide to voice types.

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The music

Aria: A song for one character, in which the action pauses while they express their feelings. Most of opera's famous tunes are arias.
Recitative: Sung dialogue that moves the story along, following the rhythms of speech. Secco ("dry") recitative is accompanied only by keyboard and bass; accompagnato recitative uses the orchestra.
Arioso: A style between recitative and aria: more melodic than recitative, but shorter and freer than an aria.
Cavatina and cabaletta: In 19th-century Italian opera, a slow, lyrical aria (the cavatina) is often followed by a fast, brilliant one (the cabaletta), giving the singer a chance to show off.
Ensemble: A number for two or more singers - a duet, trio, quartet, and so on - often with characters expressing different feelings at the same time.
Chorus: The group of singers who play crowds, soldiers, villagers, and so on, and the music they sing.
Finale: The final number of an act, often a large ensemble that builds to a dramatic climax.
Overture and prelude: The orchestral music before the curtain rises. An overture is usually a complete piece; a prelude is often shorter and leads straight into the action.
Intermezzo: An orchestral interlude between scenes or acts, such as the famous Intermezzo in Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana.
Leitmotif: A short musical idea linked to a character, object, or idea, which returns and transforms throughout the work. Wagner used leitmotifs on a vast scale.
Number opera: An opera made of separate musical numbers - arias, duets, choruses - linked by recitative or spoken dialogue, as in Mozart and early Verdi.
Patter song: A comic song with words sung at breakneck speed, like Figaro's "Largo al factotum" in Rossini's The Barber of Seville.

Voices and singing

Bel canto: Italian for "beautiful singing": a style that prizes smooth, elegant tone and agile ornament, and the early 19th-century operas of Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti written for it.
Coloratura: Elaborate vocal decoration - rapid runs, trills, and leaps - and the agile, usually high voices that specialize in it.
Fach: A German term for a singer's voice category, such as lyric soprano or dramatic tenor, used to decide which roles suit them.
Heldentenor: "Heroic tenor": a powerful tenor voice able to sing Wagner's demanding heroes over a large orchestra.
Tessitura: The range in which most of a role lies - not its highest or lowest notes, but where the voice spends most of its time.
Mezza voce: "Half voice": singing softly and with restraint.
Trouser role: A male character sung by a woman, usually a mezzo-soprano, such as Cherubino in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. Also called a breeches role.
Castrato: A male singer castrated before puberty to preserve a high voice, a star of Baroque opera. Their roles are now sung by countertenors or women.
Prima donna and diva: The leading female singer of a company; later, also a word for a temperamental star.
Comprimario: A singer of smaller supporting roles.

Kinds of opera

Opera seria: "Serious opera": the noble, formal Italian opera of the 18th century, on heroic and mythological subjects, as written by Handel.
Opera buffa: Italian comic opera, with everyday characters, disguises, and ensembles, as in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro and Rossini's The Barber of Seville.
Singspiel: German opera with spoken dialogue between the musical numbers, such as Mozart's The Magic Flute.
Opéra comique: French opera with spoken dialogue - not always comic. Bizet's tragic Carmen was first written in this form.
Grand opera: Lavish 19th-century French opera in four or five acts, with huge choruses, ballets, and spectacular staging.
Music drama: Wagner's term for his later works, in which music, poetry, and staging form a continuous, unified whole.
Gesamtkunstwerk: "Total work of art": Wagner's ideal of combining all the arts in a single work.
Verismo: "Realism": Italian opera of the late 19th century about the passions of ordinary people, as in Puccini, Mascagni, and Leoncavallo.
Operetta: Light, comic opera with spoken dialogue, catchy tunes, and dance, as perfected by Offenbach and Johann Strauss II.
Zarzuela: Spanish musical theatre mixing song, spoken dialogue, and dance.

In the theatre

Libretto: "Little book": the text of an opera. Its writer is the librettist.
Surtitles: Translations of the words, projected above the stage or shown on screens in the seat backs.
Bravo, brava, bravi: Shouts of approval: bravo for a man, brava for a woman, bravi for a group.
Curtain call: The bows at the end of a performance, when the singers return to the stage to be applauded.
Repertory and stagione: Two ways of running an opera house: a repertory house rotates many productions through a season, while the stagione system presents one production at a time.
Cover: A singer who learns a role in case the scheduled performer is unable to sing - an understudy.
Prompter: A member of staff, traditionally hidden in a box at the front of the stage, who cues singers with their words.

See also our glossary of musical terms for tempo, dynamics, and general musical vocabulary.