Music Drama
One of the considerations for composers and librettists is this; how are ideas revealed in Opera? By text or by the music or both?
To illustrate the various possibilities lets consider a simple situation. Our young soprano has just discovered that her zipper is broken. We can reveal this to the audience in any the following ways, all of which can be combined with each other.
She may know but the audience may not
She may not know but the audience may.
She may not know but the other characters may.
She may know but –oh forget it.
1)vocal and text
Our soprano sings “my zipper is breaking, but not my heart”
Another character sings “your zipper is broken, but not your heart”
The Chorus sings “Her zipper is breaking, but not her heart”
2)visual with underscoring
Our Soprano acts out or mimes a broken zipper as noted in the stage directions, or another character can act out noticing her zipper… etc.
or
We see the dastardly Baritone put crazy glue in her zipper.
3)Music, aural
A musical cue tone paints or describes the zipper breaking.
A stuttering Ratchet would do quite nicely.
or
A musical cue tone paints or describes her reaction to her zipper breaking.
4)text only
The super titles reveal that our soprano’s zipper is broken.
5)Action, with underscoring
The broken zipper is revealed while our soprano is focused on something else.
a)As our soprano runs towards her hero her dress gets caught yet she doesn’t notice this.
b)As our soprano sings her song of love she is blissfully unaware that her betrothed is trying to take advantage of her. She is saved as her zipper is stuck!