Festa teatrale

The term festa teatrale (Italian: [ˈfɛsta teaˈtraːle], plural: feste teatrali [ˈfɛste teaˈtraːli]) refers to a genre of drama, and of opera in particular. The genre cannot be rigidly defined, and in any case feste teatrali tend to be split into two different sets: feste teatrali divided by acts are operas, while works in this genre performed without division, or merely cut into two parts, are serenatas. A festa teatrale is a dramatic work, performed on stage (unlike many serenatas, which are labelled drammatico but were not performed in dramatic contexts). The festa teatrale was always a fairly minor genre, born of courtly entertainments and the celebration of royalty – hence the abbreviated length of most feste teatrali, and the focus on drama, spectacle and chorus, as opposed to elaborate music.