grand opera
noun
1.
a serious, usually tragic, opera in which most of the text is set to music.
Origin
1795-1805
Examples from the web for
grand opera
Others again whistled airs from
grand opera
or declaimed pieces of poetry by the best authors.
British Dictionary definitions for
grand opera
grand opera
noun
1.
an opera that has a serious plot and is entirely in musical form, with no spoken dialogue