Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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| an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle. |
| a chattering or flighty, light-headed person. |
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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barcarole
(from Italian barcarola, "boatman" or "gondolier"), originally a Venetian gondolier's song typified by gently rocking rhythms in 68 or 128 time. In the 18th and 19th centuries the barcarole inspired a considerable number of vocal and instrumental compositions, ranging from opera arias to character pieces for piano. The term surfaced as early as 1710, when the French composer Andre Campra included a "Fete des barquerolles" in a stage work (Les Fetes venitiennes, 1710). Subsequently, operas by Giovanni Paisiello, Carl Maria von Weber, Daniel-Francois-Esprit Auber, Gioachino Rossini, Giuseppe Verdi, and Johann Strauss, among others, featured barcaroles.
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