libretto

Definitions

Italian libro (book) + -etto (diminutive) = 'little book.' A libretto is literally the slim booklet of words handed out at an opera so the audience can follow the singing — the text, as opposed to the score (the music). The person who writes it is a librettist.

Example Sentences

• 1.

  Mozart's composer set music to a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte.

• 2.

  The opera's music is gorgeous, but the libretto feels clumsy.

• 3.

  Audiences once bought the printed libretto at the theater door.