Melodrama

properly, a form of drama in which speech and song, or instrumental music, alternate. As commonly used, a melodrama is a sensational play full of unnatural situations and exaggerated sentiment. The music is of minor importance, often accompanying only the more pathetic passages. In opera, the term melodrama is sometimes used to designate such parts as are spoken instead of sung by the actors, but to a musical accompaniment. See Drama; Comedy; Tragedy