Both Uses of
opera
in
The Idiot
- He takes her to his box at the opera at the French theatre of an evening, and the officers and people all look at her and say, 'By Jove, there's the famous Nastasia Philipovna!' but no one ever gets any further than that, for there is nothing more to say."†
Chpt 1.1
- And then he told me that I could see Nastasia Philipovna at the opera-house that evening, if I liked, and described which was her box.†
Chpt 1.1 *
Definition:
-
(opera) a musical play with orchestra in which most dialogue is sung -- (typically associated with classical music and often in a language foreign to the audience)
or:
the art form (or describing something as related to it) that consists of musical plays with orchestra in which most dialogue is sung