Musical Forms
| A cappella | in chapel style | Sung with total no instrumental accompaniment |
| Aria | air | A song, esp. one from an opera |
| Arietta | little air | A short or light aria |
| Ballabile | danceable | (song) to be danced to |
| Battaglia | battle | An instrumental or vocal piece suggesting a battle |
| Bergamasca | from Bergamo | A peasant dance from Bergamo |
| Burletta | a little joke | A light comic or farcical opera |
| Cadenza | falling | A florid solo at the end of a performance |
| Cantata | sung | A piece for orchestra and singers |
| Capriccio | caprice | A lively piece of music |
| Coda | tail | The end of a piece |
| Concerto | concert | A work for one or more solo instruments accompanied by an orchestra |
| Concertino | little concert | A short concerto; the solo instrument in a concerto |
| Concerto grosso | big concert | A Baroque form of concerto, with a group of solo instruments |
| Intermezzo | interval | A short connecting instrumental movement |
| Libretto | little book | A work containing the words to an opera, musical, or ballet |
| Opera | work | A drama set to music for singers and instrumentalists |
| Opera buffa | humorous opera | A comic opera |
| Opera seria | serious opera | An opera with a serious, esp. classical theme |
| Sonata | sounded | A composition for one or two instruments in sonata form |
Read more about this topic: Italian Musical Terms Used In English
Famous quotes containing the words musical and/or forms:
“Sometimes a musical phrase would perfectly sum up
The mood of a moment. One of those lovelorn sonatas
For wind instruments was riding past on a solemn white horse.
Everybody wondered who the new arrival was.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“Media mystifications should not obfuscate a simple, perceivable fact; Black teenage girls do not create poverty by having babies. Quite the contrary, they have babies at such a young age precisely because they are poor—because they do not have the opportunity to acquire an education, because meaningful, well-paying jobs and creative forms of recreation are not accessible to them ... because safe, effective forms of contraception are not available to them.”
—Angela Davis (b. 1944)