Patter Song

The patter song is characterized by a moderately fast to very fast tempo with a rapid succession of rhythmic patterns in which each syllable of text corresponds to one note (there are few or no melismatic passages). It is a staple of comic opera, especially Gilbert and Sullivan, but it has also been used in musicals and other situations.

The lyric of a patter song generally features tongue-twisting rhyming text, with alliterative words and other consonant or vowel sounds that are intended to be entertaining to listen to at rapid speed, and the musical accompaniment is lightly orchestrated and fairly simple, to emphasize the text. The song is often intended as a showpiece for a comic character, usually a bass or baritone (with or without choral interjection). The singer should be capable of excellent enunciation in order to show the song to maximum effect.

Famous quotes containing the words patter and/or song:

    Houndsditch was ... a crumbling and smoke-grimed necropolis in boarded windows, mummified everywhere by old railings, stagnant air, and cobwebs, where draughty hallways reek with the smell of stale cabbage, Blakean children weep soot, and merchants patter with Mammon and make God evanescent.
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    And this shall be for music when no one else is near,
    The fine song for singing, the rare song to hear!
    That only I remember, that only you admire,
    Of the broad road that stretches and the roadside fire.
    Robert Louis Stevenson (1850–1894)