(It.: ‘play for music’).
A phrase found on the title-page of many Italian librettos; it refers to a text expressly written to be set by a composer (e.g. L’Erismena, drama per musica di Aurelio Aureli, Favola Seconda dedicata all’illustriss. Signor Giacomo Cavalli … M DC LV), and by extension also to the composition. The term was commonly used for serious Italian opera in the 18th century, and is in effect interchangeable with the primarily modern term opera seria. Variants such as dramma in musica (referring to the setting rather than to the verbal text) or dramma musicale are also found. Some later writers have misinterpreted the term in the sense ‘drama through music’ and applied it to musico-dramatic effects achieved by the composer.