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In general monodramas are lumped together with operas by music historians, although I personally think they are their own genre that should not be lumped with either operas or plays as they are a genre inbetween the two. The concept of the monodrama is of course to create a work where both the spoken drama and the music are used with equal emphasis to dramatize the story. Neither one is viewed as more important than the other, but as working in tandem with one another. In contrast, a play with incidental music uses music in a supporting role to the dialogue. One possible explanation for the monodrama's link with opera is the fact that Rousseau and other composers which followed experimented with monodrama devices in works where they did include some sung arias such as Rousseau's Le Devin du village (1752). Another link between melodrama and opera is the fact that monodramas were programmed as part of the opera season in opera houses. Straight theatre companies never staged them because the works required an orchestra.
In doing some research, here are some books which describe Rousseau's Pygmalion as an operatic work:
Jacqueline Letzter (2001). Women Writing Opera: Creativity and Controversy in the Age of the French Revolution. Los Angeles: University of California Press. p. 254. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthor= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
George L. Hersey (2009). Falling In Love With Statues: Artificial Humans from Pygmalion to the Present. University of Chicago Press. p. 101.
