Music, Theatrical

Music, Theatrical, vocal or instrumental music forming a part of theatrical presentations. It may be restricted to the background, as in most film music, or it may be the principal focus, as in opera, operetta, or musical comedy.

Ancient religious ceremonies that combined music, dance, and speech gave rise to theatrical forms such as Greek tragedy, in which the chorus provided commentary that was both sung and danced. The still-performed puppet drama (wayang) of Indonesia is a musical and dramatic re-enactment of Hindu myth. In Chinese music, acting, singing, and instrumental music are mingled with dance, acrobatics, masks, and costumes in the many varieties of Chinese opera. In Japan, the great theatrical genres of Noh and kabuki represent a union of drama, music, and dance. On the other hand, in light 19th- and 20th-century European and American entertainments such as the minstrel show, vaudeville, and revue, the integration of dance, music, and dialogue is slight.

The Latin liturgical dramas performed by clerics between the 10th and 13th centuries included plainsong and other music. In their vernacular-language descendants, the miracle, mystery, and morality plays of the 13th-16th centuries, popular songs, chant, and instrumental music were used to accompany dances and processions and to heighten the dramatic or comic effect.

During the Renaissance, incidental music, often arranged by local musicians, accompanied theatrical works, including revivals of classical Latin plays. Many passages in Shakespeare's plays specify songs or dancing, and later English composers such as Henry Purcell and Thomas Arne wrote music for them. Incidental music reached its height in the 19th century, when theatres maintained orchestras and scores were commissioned from leading composers. Examples include Egmont (1819) by Beethoven, a melodrama in which music underscored Goethe's spoken dialogue; and the music by Felix Mendelssohn for A Midsummer Night's Dream (1843). In the 20th century, incidental music, when used for staged plays, was often provided by recordings and electronic equipment.