Ossia
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Ossia is a musical term for an alternative passage which may be played instead of the original passage. The word ossia comes from the Italian for "alternatively" and was originally spelled o sia, mean
Ossia example (2nd bar) Play original Play ossia
Opera
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Opera is a form of Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librettist and
Ossia
…The word ossia comes from the Italian for "alternatively" and was originally spelled o sia, meaning "or be it". Ossia passages are very common in opera and solo-piano works. They are usually an easier version of the preferred form of passage, but in Mily Balakirev's Islamey, for instance, the urtext…
Macbeth at the Savonlinna Opera Festival in St. Olaf's Castle, Savonlinna, Finland, in 2007
La Scala of Milan
Palais Garnier of the Paris Opéra
Audience at the Théâtre des Bouffes-Parisiens, the birthplace of Jacques Offenbach's operettas; caricature of 1860 by Émile Bayard