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ballad opera

Meaning of Ballad Opera in Music

Ballad opera is a genre of English stage entertainment that originated in the early 18th century and continued to develop over the following century. It is a form of musical theater that combines spoken dialogue with songs. Ballad operas were created as a response to the dominance of Italian opera in London during that time. Unlike Italian opera, which often featured aristocratic themes and music, ballad operas focused on lower-class characters and used popular folk songs as their musical foundation The stories of ballad operas typically revolved around the lower, often criminal, orders, and often satirized the high moral values of Italian opera.

The term "ballad" in ballad opera refers to a work in dance form that imitates a folk song and has a narrative structure These ballads were adapted to new words or borrowed from popular operas, and they were often deliberately kept very short to minimize disruptions to the flow of the story. The dialogue in ballad operas was typically spoken in English, and the songs were interspersed throughout the performance.

One of the most influential ballad operas is "The Beggar's Opera" by John Gay, first performed in 1728. It satirized the political and social climate of the time and became a significant cultural phenomenon In the 20th century, Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht's "The Threepenny Opera" reworked the story and characters of "The Beggar's Opera" while maintaining its satirical nature.

In summary, ballad opera is a genre of English stage entertainment that combines spoken dialogue with songs. It originated in the early 18th century as a response to the dominance of Italian opera and often featured lower-class characters and popular folk songs as its musical foundation.

References: 'Ballad opera | English, 18th Century, Comedy | Britannica' - Source: 'Ballad opera - Wikipedia' - Source: 'Ballad opera - Wikipedia' - Source: 'An introduction to The Beggar's Opera | The British Library' - Source:

English comic opera, usually featuring spoken dialogue alternating with songs set to popular tunes.

In addition, you can familiarize yourself with the terms:

Popular questions related to ballad opera

The most famous example of a Ballad opera is The Beggar's Opera written in 1728 by John Gay. It's believed by some to be the first musical. It's a clear example of a 'crossover' and was transposed by Brecht and Kurt Weill into The Threepenny Opera in 1928.

Opera with spoken dialogue and using popular tunes of the day provided with new words. Form originated in England with Allan Ramsay's The Gentle Shepherd (1725), but the success in 1728 of Gay's The Beggar's Opera started the vogue for this type of entertainment which lasted for nearly 30 years.

dramatist John Gay The ballad opera was the idea of the writer and dramatist John Gay (1685–1732). He wrote the play and chose a wide variety of popular tunes for the ballads for which he provided the words.

It is generally accepted that the first ballad opera, and the one that was to prove the most successful, was The Beggar's Opera of 1728.

Ballad opera has been called an "eighteenth-century protest against the Italian conquest of the London operatic scene." It consists of racy and often satirical spoken (English) dialogue, interspersed with songs that are deliberately kept very short (mostly a single short stanza and refrain) to minimize disruptions to ...

Some of the most iconic ballad songs date back to the 90's, such as Mariah Carey's “Hero”, and Aerosmith's “I Don't Want to Miss a Thing.” But there are also examples of ballads in modern music, such as “Hello” by Adele, and “Love Yourself” by Justin Bieber.

ballad opera, characteristic English type of comic opera, originating in the 18th century and featuring farcical or extravaganza plots. The music was mainly confined to songs interspersed in spoken dialogue.

18th century The earliest singspiels were light plays whose dialogue was interspersed with popular songs. Resembling the contemporary English ballad opera and the French opéra-comique (both of which stimulated its development), the singspiel rose to great popularity in the late 18th century.

A ballad is rhythmic in nature, they are generally narrative in nature and follows a particular ballad structure. Most ballads have an ABAB rhyme scheme or an ABCB rhyme scheme. In an ABAB rhyme scheme, lines 1 and 3 rhyme, and lines 2 and 4 rhyme. In an ABCB rhyme scheme, only lines 2 and 4 rhyme.

Ballads do not have the same formal consistency as some other poetic forms, but one can look for certain characteristics that identify a ballad, including these:

  • Simple language.
  • Stories.
  • Ballad stanzas.
  • Repetition.
  • Dialogue.
  • Third-person objective narration.

A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French chanson balladée or ballade, which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century.

A pop ballad is a pop song that is focused on an emotional subject and has a slow tempo. Ballads usually focus on narrating a story, whether it is funny, romantic, or emotional. Pop ballads typically focus on romance, relationships, and love.

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