Music drama

The Greek dramatic theatre featured dance and vocal music to enhance the artistry of the presentation. This unity of arts was broken for two thousand years. During the Renaissance there was incidental music in theatrical presentations, as in Shakespeare, but integrity of word, music and movement was not achieved until the opeara established itself. Opera, however, subordinated the book to the music until Monteverdi and Gluck called for a higher level of dramaturgy. This was realized partially in Wagner's 'Ring' cycle. Music drama, if an elusive ideal, may also have been closely approximated occasionally in the cinema, although in non-operatic forms.