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barcarole

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bar⋅ca⋅role

[bahr-kuh-rohl]
–noun
1. a boating song of the Venetian gondoliers.
2. a piece of music composed in the style of such songs.
Also, bar⋅ca⋅rolle.


Origin:
1605–15; < Venetian barcarola boatman's song, fem. of barcarolo, equiv. to barcar- (< LL barcārius boatman; see bark 3 , -ary ) + -olo (≪ L -eolus)
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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bar·ca·role also bar·ca·rolle   (bär'kə-rōl')   
n.  
  1. A Venetian gondolier's song with a rhythm suggestive of rowing.

  2. A composition imitating a Venetian gondolier's song.


[French, from Italian barcaruola, from barcaruolo, gondolier, from barca, boat, from Latin.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Encyclopedia

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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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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