OBBLIGATO

Obbligato

In classical music obbligato usually describes a musical line that is in some way indispensable in performance. Its opposite is the marking ad libitum. It can also be used, more specifically, to indicate that a passage of music was to be played exactly as written, or only by the specified instrument, without changes or omissions. The word is borrowed from Italian . The word can stand on its own, in English, as a noun, or appear as a modifier in a noun phrase .

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obbligato

Noun

  1. An obbligato section; a prominent countermelody, often written to be played or sung above the principal theme (in a higher pitch range).

Adjective

  1. Designating part of a musical piece which is subordinate to the main melody but still essential; designating a crucial instrumental part.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: obbligato
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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