Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- In music, in the style of a recitative; as if spoken.
- noun In music:
- noun A form or style of song resembling declamation—that is, in which regularity of rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic structure is reduced to the minimum.
- noun A section, passage, or movement in the style described above.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of or pertaining to recitation; intended for musical recitation or declamation; in the style or manner of recitative.
- noun (Mus.) A species of musical recitation in which the words are delivered in a manner resembling that of ordinary declamation; also, a piece of music intended for such recitation; -- opposed to
melisma .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun music
dialogue , in anopera etc, that, rather than beingsung as anaria , is reproduced with therhythms of normalspeech , often with simplemusical accompaniment orharpsichord continuo , serving to expound theplot - adjective of a
recital
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a vocal passage of narrative text that a singer delivers with natural rhythms of speech
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The function of the recitative is to relate the story or action; the aria reflects on the action or becomes a state of mind; and the chorus completes the thought, summarizes the situation, or participates in the action (the turba chorus).
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Literature, A.W. Schlegel writes that the "learned and artificial modulation" of recitative is less
'An assiduous frequenter of the Italian opera': Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound and the opera buffa 2005
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He heard from within a feeble sound of lamentation, and then some notes of that solemn and peculiar kind of recitative, which is in some parts of Italy the requiem of the dying.
The Italian 2004
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4 Despite his general suspicion of Italian opera, Addison approved of the innovation of sung dialogue in recitative, remarking that
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When the Italians revived tragedy in the sixteenth century the recitative was a melopée which could not be written; for who could write inflections of the voice which are octaves and sixths of tone?
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Singing and recitation -- as the very word recitative should be enough to remind any one -- pass into each other by degrees imperceptible to any but a technical ear; and the instruments, if any, which accompanied the performance of the _chansons_, the extent of that accompaniment, and the rest, concern, if they concern history at all, the history of music, not that of literature.
The Flourishing of Romance and the Rise of Allegory (Periods of European Literature, vol. II) George Saintsbury 1889
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The declamation and the dramatic treatment of the recitative were the points upon which his attention principally dwelt.
A Popular History of the Art of Music From the Earliest Times Until the Present 1874
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The flow of his verse in the recitative is the most pure and harmonious known in any language, and the strophes at the close of each scene are scarcely surpassed by the first masters in lyric poetry.
Handbook of Universal Literature From the Best and Latest Authorities Anne C. Lynch Botta 1853
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Add to this, that, besides the common dialect, they often expostulate, in a kind of stanza or recitative, which is answered in the same manner.
A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 16 Robert Kerr 1784
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So the villain Argante is trying, the musical conversation mode known as recitative, to force himself on Almirena, and I guess my mind is mostly on the work I'm doing on-screen, and suddenly I'm riveted.
DownWithTyranny! 2009
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