Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A style used in opera and oratorio, similar to but more melodic than recitative.
  • noun A passage rendered in this style.
  • noun A short vocal solo having the melodic style but not the form of an aria.
  • adverb & adjective In a melodic style like that of an aria. Used chiefly as a direction.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • In music, like an air, as contradistinguished from recitative.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adverb (Mus.) In the smooth and melodious style of an air; ariose.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun music A musical style, in opera and oratorio, that is more melodic than recitative, but less so than aria

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun (music) a short recitative that is melodic but is not an aria

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Italian, from aria, aria; see aria.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Italian

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Examples

  • Her vocal lines are mostly routine arioso, while the ensemble writing is most effective when thinned to a single line?

    The Lion's Face 2010

  • But the solo writing is mostly in the tedious note-for-syllable arioso style that drags down so many modern operas.

    'Shadowboxer: Based on the Life of Joe Louis' at Maryland Opera Studio Robert Battey 2010

  • Del freddo Rheno, a complete sestina rather in the style of the cyclic madrigals of Arcadelt and Berchem, opens the group on a note of simple tunefulness (this piece was popular with intabulators); in other madrigals the style varies from Willaert-like seriousness (Occhi piangete), through supple contrapuntal writing resembling Rore (Per pianto la mia carne), to the chordal declamation typical of the Roman madrigale arioso (Queste non son più lagrime).

    Archive 2009-06-01 Lu 2009

  • The solo sections of these anthems contain arioso writing, with virtuoso decorations to highlight individual words or phrases those composed for the bass John Gostling—such as They that go down to the sea in ships and I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord—are especially spectacular.

    Archive 2009-05-01 Lu 2009

  • His role was part speaking, part sprechstimme, and part outright arioso and he was perfection in all of them.

    Archive 2007-02-01 sfmike 2007

  • "L'elegante mise en page del testo, infatti, vergato in scrittura umanistica, a piena pagina, con uno specchio di scrittura arioso, di gusto classico, il formato decisamente moderno e 'petrarchesco' di «libretto da mano» ne fanno un maneggevole libro di lettura, scritto al contempo con eleganza e chiarezza, che ripete da vicino teoria e prassi della riforma del libro voluta e imposta da Petrarca negli ambienti delle più avanzate avanguardie umanistiche" p.

    Francesco Petrarca, De insigni obedientia et fide uxoria, ed. Albanese (1998) Miglior acque 2007

  • His role was part speaking, part sprechstimme, and part outright arioso and he was perfection in all of them.

    Lou Harrison's "Young Caesar" sfmike 2007

  • "L'elegante mise en page del testo, infatti, vergato in scrittura umanistica, a piena pagina, con uno specchio di scrittura arioso, di gusto classico, il formato decisamente moderno e 'petrarchesco' di «libretto da mano» ne fanno un maneggevole libro di lettura, scritto al contempo con eleganza e chiarezza, che ripete da vicino teoria e prassi della riforma del libro voluta e imposta da Petrarca negli ambienti delle più avanzate avanguardie umanistiche" p.

    Archive 2007-12-01 Miglior acque 2007

  • One thing Del Monaco always did well was Otello's entrance arioso, which establishes Otello's heroic side in 40 seconds of very difficult music.

    Archive 2007-10-01 Jaime J. Weinman 2007

  • One thing Del Monaco always did well was Otello's entrance arioso, which establishes Otello's heroic side in 40 seconds of very difficult music.

    Esultate! Jaime J. Weinman 2007

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