Abstract
How do we consider opera, music with drama or drama with music? D. J. Grout defines opera as a drama sung throughout to the accompaniment of an orchestra. But this opinion can not satisfy, because the word "drama" is used in the sense of dramatic poetry. Thomas Mann emphasizes that we are wrong to relate drama to acting, because originary drama meant an affair, an event or a story. Besides, what should we think about opera buffa and singspiel? Opera is related to festivities, and theater too. Theater originated from ritual, religious parades, etc. Later the commedia dell'arte came into existence and the doctorin embodied the style of the show through the language of acting. We can find this influence particularly in W. A. Mozart's opera buffa. Opera and theater kept a close relationship with festivities, a relationship further intensified by what Huizinga has called sense of play. We could say that Mozart's opera buffa expresses a playful space.
