Opera is a drama in which the characters sing, rather than speak, all or most of their lines. Opera is one of the more complex of all art forms. It combines acting, singing, orchestral music, costumes, scenery, and often ballet or some other form of dance.
In telling a story, opera uses the enormous power of music to communicate feeling and to express emotions. Singers, accompanied by an orchestra, may bring a dramatic situation to life more vividly than actors with spoken dialogue. Vocal and orchestral music can also tell an audience much about a character and his or her state of mind.
Because music expresses emotions so forcefully, most opera composers base their works on highly emotional stories. An opera, more than a spoken play, is likely to emphasize passionate scenes of anger, cruelty, jealousy, joy, love, revenge, sadness, or triumph. Music can also add excitement to scenes portraying spectacle. Some of the most stirring music in opera accompanies colorful crowd scenes, such as a coronation or a military parade.
Opera differs in several ways from other kinds of plays that have music. For example, William Shakespeare's comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream has scenes that call for music. Such music is called incidental music because the play is dramatically complete without it. Different productions of the same play may use incidental music by different composers.
Musical comedies and operettas resemble opera, but most of them have much more dialogue than an opera has, and their music is lighter. Compositions called oratorios also share certain features with opera. Like an opera, an oratorio has music for soloists, chorus, and orchestra. It may also tell a story. But unlike operas, almost all oratorios are performed in a concert hall and without acting, costumes, or scenery.
Organizations called opera companies produce most operas. Most companies are repertory theaters
