Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adverb Without instrumental accompaniment.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun In music, noting a species of time which employs four minims or half-notes in each measure.
- noun In the style of church or chapel music.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- In church or chapel style; -- said of compositions sung in the old church style, without instrumental accompaniment.
- A time indication, equivalent to
alla breve .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adverb obsolete, music In
alla breve time. - adjective obsolete, music
alla breve .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adverb without musical accompaniment
- adjective sung without instrumental accompaniment
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Italian : a, in the manner of + cappella, chapel, choir.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Italian alla cappella ("in the manner of the [Sistine] chapel"), referring to non-instrumental choirs; from Latin a-, ad, "to", + cappella, "chapel".
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Examples
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