[In form an It. dim. of tragedia: see -ETTA: cf. comedietta.] A slight or short tragedy; a dramatic sketch of tragic character.
1860. New Orleans Crescent, 3 March, 1/1. A word is wanting. What shall it be? Let’s see. How will ‘tragedietta,’ do to designate these one-horse, illegitimate dramas that are commonly called ‘melo-dramas.’
1885. Pall Mall Gaz., 16 Dec., 3/1. It [Marston & Nelson’s ‘A Test’] may be best described as a tragedietta, for it is steeped in gloom from beginning to end.
1891. Pall Mall G., 19 Oct., 2/3. My ‘tragedy’—it is a very little one, a one-act tragedietta.
1902. Daily Chron., 2 July, 3/1. One of them … might be called a ‘tragedietta,’… but, as a whole, they may be said to range from comedietta to farce.
