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135 Italian loanword topics matching:
Filter this Collection| x name | x image | x article |
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| x A cappella |
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A cappella (Italian for "in the manner of the church" or "in the manner of the chapel", also see gospel music and choir) music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It...
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| x A capriccio |
A capriccio (Italian: "following one's fancy") is a tempo marking indicating a free and capricious approach to the tempo (and possibly the style) of the piece. This marking will usually modify another, such as lento a capriccio, often used in the...
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| x Al dente |
In cooking, the Italian expression al dente ( /ælˈdɛnteɪ/; Italian: [al ˈdɛnte]) describes pasta and (less commonly) rice or beans that have been cooked so as to be firm but not hard. "Al dente" also describes vegetables that are cooked to the ...
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| x Aria |
An aria (Italian for air; plural: arie or arias in common usage) in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice...
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| x Aria di sorbetto |
The Aria di sorbetto, or "sherbet aria", was a convention of Italian opera in the early nineteenth century.
Nineteenth-century audiences would rarely listen to an opera straight through, preferring instead to talk among themselves, eat, and drink...
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| x Arioso |
In classical music, arioso is a style of solo opera singing between recitative and aria. Literally, arioso means airy. The term arose in the 16th century along with the aforementioned styles and monody. It is commonly confused with recitativo...
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| x Arpeggio |
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An arpeggio (plural arpeggi or arpeggios) is a musical technique where notes in a chord are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously. This word comes from the Italian word "arpeggiare", which means "to...
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| x Azione teatrale |
Azione teatrale (English theatrical action, plural azioni teatrali) is a genre of opera, popular in Italy in the late 17th and 18th centuries. It is also sometimes referred to as azione scenica, componimento dramatico or componimento da camera.
An...
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| x Bel canto |
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Bel canto (Bel-Canto) (Italian, "beautiful singing"), along with a number of similar constructions ("bellezze del canto"/"bell’arte del canto"), is an Italian opera term. It has several different meanings and is subject to a wide array of...
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| x Bravura |
In classical music, a bravura is a virtuosic passage intended to show off the skill of a performer, generally as a solo, and often in a cadenza. It can also be used as an adjective ("a bravura passage", "her bravura piece"), or to refer to a...
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| x Burletta |
A burletta (Italian, meaning little joke), also sometimes burla or burlettina, is a musical term generally denoting a brief comic Italian (or, later, English) opera. The term was used in the 18th century to denote the comic intermezzos between the...
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| x Cabaletta |
Cabaletta describes the two-part musical form particularly favored for arias in 19th century Italian opera, and is more properly the name of the more animated section following the songlike cantabile. It often introduces a complication or...
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| x Cadenza |
In music, a cadenza (from Italian: cadenza, meaning cadence) is, generically, an improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist or soloists, usually in a "free" rhythmic style, and often allowing for virtuosic display....
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| x Caffè macchiato |
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Caffè macchiato (Italian pronunciation: [kafˈfɛ makˈkjaːto]), sometimes called espresso macchiato, is a coffee drink, made out of espresso with a small amount of milk.
'Macchiato' simply means 'marked' or 'stained', and in the case of caffè...
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| x Cantabile |
Cantabile is a musical term meaning literally "singable" or "songlike" (Italian). It has several meanings in different contexts. In instrumental music, it indicates a particular style of playing designed to imitate the human voice. For 18th century...
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| x Cantastoria |
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Cantastoria (also spelled cantastorie, canta storia or canta historia) comes from Italian for "sung story" or "singing history" and is known by many other names around the world. It is a theatrical form where a performer tells or sings a story while...
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| x Cantata |
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A cantata (literally "sung", derived from the Italian word "cantare") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir.
The meaning of the term changed over time, from the simple...
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| x Cappuccino |
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A cappuccino (Italian pronunciation: [kapputˈtʃiːno], English pronunciation: /ˌkæpəˈtʃiːnoʊ/, meaning "Capuchin" or literally "small cap") is an Italian coffee drink prepared with espresso, hot milk, and steamed-milk foam. The name comes from the...
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| x Capriccio |
A capriccio or caprice (sometimes plural: caprices, capri or, in Italian, capricci), is a piece of music, usually fairly free in form and of a lively character. The typical capriccio is one that is fast, intense, and often virtuosic in nature.
The...
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| x Castrato |
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A castrato (Italian, plural: castrati) is a man with a singing voice equivalent to that of a soprano, mezzo-soprano, or contralto voice produced either by castration of the singer before puberty or one who, because of an endocrinological condition,...
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| x Cavatina |
Cavatina (Italian diminutive of cavata, the producing of tone from an instrument, plural cavatine) is a musical term, originally a short song of simple character, without a second strain or any repetition of the air. It is now frequently applied to...
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| x Chiaroscuro |
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Chiaroscuro (English pronunciation: /kiˌɑːrəˈskjʊəroʊ/, Italian: [kjarosˈkuːro] "light-dark") in art is "an Italian term which literally means 'light-dark'. In paintings the description refers to clear tonal contrasts which are often used to suggest...
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| x Ciao |
The word "ciao" (Italian pronunciation: [ˈtʃaːo], English: /ˈtʃaʊ/) is an informal Italian verbal salutation or greeting, meaning either "hello", "goodbye", "bye" or "hi". Originally from the Venetian language, it was adopted into the Italian...
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| x Cinquecento |
Cinquecento (Italian pronunciation: [ˌtʃiŋkweˈtʃɛnto], 'five hundred'; short for millecinquecento '1500') is a term used to describe the Italian Renaissance of the 16th century, including the current styles of art, music, literature, and...
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| x Coda |
Coda (Italian for "tail", plural code) is a term used in music in a number of different senses, primarily to designate a passage that brings a piece (or a movement) to an end. Technically, it is an expanded cadence. It may be as simple as a few...
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| x Coloratura |
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Coloratura has several meanings. The word is originally from Italian, literally meaning "coloring", and derives from the Latin word colorare ("to color"). When used in English, the term specifically refers to elaborate melody, particularly in vocal...
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| x Comprimario |
A Comprimario is a supporting role in an opera. Derived from the Italian "con primario", or "with the primary", the term refers to a performer who sings small role pieces.
Many singers began their careers as comprimario singers; some have made a...
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| x Concerto |
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A concerto (from the Italian: concerto, plural concerti or, often, the anglicised form concertos) is a musical composition usually composed in three parts or movements, in which (usually) one solo instrument (for instance, a piano, violin, cello or...
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| x Concertino |
A concertino (or Konzertstück) is a short concerto freer in form. It normally takes the form of a one-movement musical composition for solo instrument and orchestra, though some concertinos are written in several movements played without a pause....
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| x Convenienze |
Convenienze (Italian literally conveniences) were the rules relating to the ranking of singers (primo, secondo, comprimario) in 19th-century Italian opera, and the number of scenes, arias etc. that they were entitled to expect.
The convenienze are...
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| x Curva |
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Curva (plural: curve) is an Italian term or name for curved stands of seating located at sports stadiums, particularly in Italy; so named, originally, due to their curved or bending shape. The curva plays an integral part in the culture of Ultras...
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| x Da capo |
Da Capo is a musical term in Italian, meaning from the beginning (literally from the head). It is often abbreviated D.C. It is a composer or publisher's directive to repeat the previous part of music, often used to save space. In small pieces this...
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| x Da capo aria |
The da capo aria is a musical form, which was prevalent in the Baroque era. It is sung by a soloist with the accompaniment of instruments, often a small orchestra. The da capo aria is very common in the musical genres of opera and oratorio....
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| x Dal Segno |
In music notation, Dal segno (Italian pronunciation: [dal ˈseɲɲo], English: /ˌdæl ˈseɪnjoʊ/ or /ˈsɛɡnoʊ/) (often abbreviated D.S.) is used as a navigation marker. From Italian for "from the sign," D.S. appears in sheet music and instructs a musician...
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| x Diva |
A diva (English pronunciation: /ˈdiːvə/, Italian: [ˈdiːva]) is a celebrated female singer. The term is used to describe a woman of outstanding talent in the world of opera, and, by extension, in theatre, cinema and popular music. The meaning of ...
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| x Dramma giocoso |
Dramma giocoso (Italian, literally: jocular drama; plural: drammi giocosi) is the name of a genre of opera common in the mid-18th century. The term is a contraction of "dramma giocoso per musica" and is essentially a description of the text rather...
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| x Dramma per musica |
Dramma per musica (Italian, literally: play for music, plural: drammi per musica) is a term which was used by dramatists in Italy and elsewhere between the late-17th and mid-19th centuries. It was sometimes abbreviated to dramma.
A dramma per musica...
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| x Espresso |
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Espresso is a concentrated beverage brewed by forcing a small amount of nearly boiling water under pressure through finely ground coffee beans. Espresso often has a thicker consistency than coffee brewed by other methods, a higher concentration of...
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| x Extravaganza |
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An extravaganza is a literary or musical work (often musical theatre) characterized by freedom of style and structure and usually containing elements of burlesque, pantomime, music hall and parody. It sometimes also has elements of cabaret, circus,...
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| x Falsetto |
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Falsetto (Italian diminutive of falso, "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave.
It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous edges of...
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| x Falsettone |
Falsettone is a term used in modern Italian musicology to describe a vocal technique used by male opera singers in the past, in which the fluty sounds typical of falsetto singing are amplified by using the same singing technique as is used in the...
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| x Fantasia |
The fantasia (from Italian: fantasia; also English: fantasy, fancy, phantasy, German: Fantasie, Phantasie, French: fantaisie) is a musical composition with its roots in the art of improvisation. Because of this, it seldom approximates the textbook...
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| x Farsa |
Farsa (Italian, literally: farce, plural: farse) is a genre of opera, associated with Venice in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It is also sometimes called farsetta.
Farse were normally one-act operas, sometimes performed together with short...
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| x Fermata |
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A fermata (also known as a hold, pause, colloquially a birdseye or cyclops eye, or as a grand pause when placed on a note or a rest) is an element of musical notation indicating that the note should be sustained for longer than its note value would...
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| x Festa teatrale |
The term festa teatrale (Italian, plural: feste teatrali) refers to a genre of drama, and of opera in particular. The genre cannot be rigidly defined, and in any case feste teatrali tend to be split into two different sets: feste teatrali divided by...
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| x Fianchetto |
In chess the fianchetto (Italian: [fiaŋˈkɛtto] "little flank") is a pattern of development wherein a bishop is developed to the second rank of the adjacent knight file, the knight pawn having been moved one or two squares forward.
The fianchetto is...
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| x Fioritura |
"Fioritura" is the name given to the flowery, embellished vocal line found in many arias from nineteenth-century opera. It is derived from the Italian fiore, meaning "flower".
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| x Foiba |
Foiba (plural: foibas or foibe) is a type of deep natural sinkhole, doline, sink and is a collapsed portion of bedrock above a void. Sinks may be a sheer vertical opening into a cave, or a shallow depression of many acres which are common in the...
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| x Fusilli |
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Fusilli are long, thick, corkscrew shaped pasta. The word fusilli presumably comes from fusile, archaic or dialectal word for "rifle" (fucile in modern Italian), referring to the spiral-grooved barrel of the latter.
In addition to plain and whole...
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| x Glissando |
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In music, a glissando (plural: glissandi, abbreviated gliss.) is a glide from one pitch to another. It is an Italianized musical term derived from the French glisser, to glide. In some contexts it is distinguished from the continuous portamento....
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| x Graffiti |
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Graffiti (singular: graffito; the plural is used as a mass noun) is writing or drawings scribbled, scratched, or sprayed illicitly on a wall or other surface in a public place. Graffiti ranges from simple written words to elaborate wall paintings,...
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| x Influenza |
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Influenza, commonly referred to as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae (the influenza viruses), that affects birds and mammals. The most common symptoms of the disease are chills, fever, sore throat...
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| x Intaglio |
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Intaglio (from Italian: intaglio), when used in the context of jewellery, refers to incised (negative) image-making, and is the opposite of cameo. It is used in making engraved seals, where it leaves a raised design on the material being stamped,...
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| x Intermedio |
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The intermedio, or intermezzo, in the Italian Renaissance, was a theatrical performance or spectacle with music and often dance which was performed between the acts of a play to celebrate special occasions in Italian courts. It was one of the...
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| x Intermezzo |
In music, an intermezzo (Italian pronunciation: [ˌintɛrˈmɛddzo], plural: intermezzi), in the most general sense, is a composition which fits between other musical or dramatic entities, such as acts of a play or movements of a larger musical work. In...
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| x Lacuna |
A lacuna is a gap in a manuscript, inscription, text, painting, or a musical work. A manuscript, text, or section suffering from gaps is said to be lacun(ul)ose.
Weathering, decay, and other damage to old manuscripts or inscriptions are often...
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| x Lasagna |
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Lasagne (English pronunciation: /ləˈzænjə/ or /ləˈzɑːnjə/, Italian pronunciation: [laˈzaɲːe]; U.S. spelling lasagna) is a wide and flat type of pasta and possibly one of the oldest shapes. The word also refers to a dish made with this type of pasta....
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| x Latte |
A latte (from the Italian caffè latte or caffellatte pronounced [ˌkaffelˈlatte], meaning "coffee [and] milk") is a coffee drink made with espresso and steamed milk or soy milk. Variants include replacing the coffee with another drink base such as...
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| x Latte macchiato |
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Latte Macchiato (Italian pronunciation: [ˈlatte makˈkjaːto]) is a coffee beverage, which literally means stained milk. This refers to the method of preparation, wherein the milk gets "stained" by the addition of espresso.
It differs significantly...
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| x Legato |
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In musical notation the Italian word legato (literally meaning "tied together") indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly and connected. That is, in transitioning from note to note, there should be no intervening silence. Legato...
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