Direction to play smoothly left with an example at start of opera (6)
I believe the answer is:
legato
'direction to play smoothly' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'left with an example at start of opera' is the wordplay.
'left' becomes 'l' (common abbreviation).
'with' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'an example' becomes 'eg' (short for 'exempli gratia', 'for example' in Latin).
'start of' suggests taking the first letters.
The initial letter of 'opera' is 'o'.
'l'+'eg'+'at'+'o'='LEGATO'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for legato that I've seen before include "In a smooth and flowing manner (music)" , "Smoothly (mus.)" , "Played smoothly" , "Got ale (anag.)" , "(Music) without breaks between notes" .)