The Collaborative International Dictionary
Burletta \Bur*let"ta\ (b[^u]r*l[e^]t"t[.a]), n. [It., dim. of
burla mockery. See Burlesque, a.] (Mus.)
A comic operetta; a music farce.
--Byron.
Wiktionary
n. A comic operetta; a musical farce.
Wikipedia
A burletta ( Italian, meaning "little joke"), also sometimes burla or burlettina, is a musical term generally denoting a brief comic Italian (or, later, English) opera. The term was used in the 18th century to denote the comic intermezzos between the acts of an opera seria, but was sometimes given to more extended works; Pergolesi's La serva padrona was designated a 'burletta' at its London premiere in 1750.
In England the term began to be used, in contrast to burlesque, for works that satirized opera but without using musical parody. Burlettas in English began to appear in the 1760s, the earliest identified being Midas by Kane O'Hara, first performed privately in 1760 near Belfast, and produced at Covent Garden in 1764. The form became debased when the term 'burletta' began to be used for English comic or ballad operas, as a way of evading the monopoly on "legitimate drama" in London belonging to Covent Garden and Drury Lane. After repeal of the 1737 Licensing Act in 1843, use of the term declined.
The word 'burletta' has also been used for scherzo-like instrumental music by composers including Max Reger and Bartók. In America, the word has sometimes been used as an alternative for burlesque.
Usage examples of "burletta".
Chipping had given her the starring role as the heroine in tonight’s burletta, The Venetian Outlaw.
He had a rare and lovely humor which could amuse itself both in English and Italian with such an airy burletta as "Il Pesceballo" (he wrote it in Metastasian Italian, and Lowell put it in libretto English).
But at this point Jessamy’s uncomfortable conscience intervened, and he refused to take Felix either to a burletta, or to the Cock-pit Royal.
The Haymarket Theatre being closed, owing to the preoccupation of the management in the Court of Chancery, the Surrey, on the south bank of the river devoting itself to burlettas that were not at all the thing for ladies, the Regency fast sinking into decay, and both the Lyceum and the Olympic staging displays that resembled Astley's circuses, lovers of the drama were obliged either to stay at home, or to attend a succession of indifferent plays put on at Drury Lane, or at the Sans Pareil.