Heavy-hearted female character in opera (4)
I believe the answer is:
aida
'opera' is the definition.
(Aida is an opera by Giuseppe Verdi)
'heavy-hearted female character' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'character' could be 'i' and 'i' is found within the answer.
'female' could be 'ada' (woman's name) and 'ada' is present in the leftover letters.
This accounts for all the letters.
This explanation may well be incorrect...
'in' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for aida that I've seen before include "slave of Covent Garden" , "Princess" , "Verdi's slave girl" , "title role" , "Fragrant shrub" .)