mélodrame French · revision 16085

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=1762, Arnaud}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''mélodrame''' ''m'' (plural mélodrames)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a compound of [[mélo-]] (from [[grc|μέλος|tr=mélos|t=song, music]]) and [[drame]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)^(FEW|6/1, 687a) made after [[it|melodramma]] (17th century), a wholly sung drama.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) Littré gives Greek “melos” “music” and “drame”.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ François Arnaud's ''Essai sur le mélodrame ou drame lyrique'' (1762; printed 1768) has it for a spoken drama with musical accompaniment in some scenes, at the time of the ''Querelle des Bouffons''.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Rousseau's ''Pygmalion'' is a ''mélodrame'' in this sense, the dialogue being prepared by instrumental music.^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007) From 1788 it named a popular drama piling up violent episodes and unforeseen twists, with pathetic effects underlined by music, a genre in vogue in the 19th century with Guilbert de Pixérécourt, “the father of melodrama”, in the theatres of the ''boulevard du Crime''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) It passed into common use for excessively sentimental speech or behaviour (''héros de mélodrame'', 1840), and is used of films and television, often pejoratively.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) ''Mélo'' dates from 1872, ''mélodramatique'' from 1814 and ''mélodramatiser'' from 1876.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1762 – In Arnaud's ''Essai sur le mélodrame''.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1771 – In ''L'Année littéraire''.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1788 – A popular drama.^(TLFi)

+ * 1814 – ''Mélodramatique''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1840 – ''Héros de mélodrame''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1872 – ''Mélo''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ * 1876 – ''Mélodramatiser''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|melodrama]] (play, film): ''le traître du mélodrame''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Melodrama, exaggerated sentimentality: ''faire du mélodrame''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(history)'' A drama with musical accompaniment.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[mélo]]

+ * [[mélodramatique]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[drame]]

+ * [[mélodie]]

+ * [[grc|μέλος|tr=mélos]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}