ballad opera
ballad opera,a theatrical and musical form, popular in the 18th cent., in which the action of the play (usually comic) is carried in spoken prose, interspersed with songs set to traditional or currently fashionable melodies. The first ballad opera, The Beggar's Opera ( 1728 ) by Gay, with music arranged by J. C. Pepusch , is also the most famous. Its success touched off a series of imitations, and the ballad opera became the main weapon of the English faction in its battle with the Italian operatic invaders, Handel at their head. But its vogue was short-lived and began to decline at the end of the next decade, though it left an heir in the English comic opera of the later 18th cent.: works like Arne and Bickerstaffe 's Thomas and Sally ( 1760 ) or Love in a Village ( 1762 ) or Linley and Sheridan's The Duenna ( 1775 ) are very close to the ballad opera.
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