cabaletta
əˈlɛt1835–45; < Italian, alteration of coboletta stanza, diminutive of cob(b)ola, cobla stanza, couplet < Old Provençal cobla < Latin cōpula bond; see copula
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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cabaletta
(from Italian cobola, "couplet"), originally an operatic aria with a simple, animated rhythm, and later a fast concluding section of a two-part operatic aria. An example of the earlier type is Le belle immagini ("The Beautiful Images") in Christoph Gluck's Paride ed Elena (1770). In 19th-century Italian opera, cabaletta may mean either a short aria in quick tempo with repeated sections (examples occur in the operas of Gioachino Rossini) or a brilliant conclusion to the ubiquitous two-part aria of Vincenzo Bellini, Gaetano Donizetti, and Giuseppe Verdi-e.g., Violetta's Sempre libera ("Always Free") in Verdi's La traviata, the second part of Ah, forse e lui che l'anima. The cabaletta was famously revived in Igor Stravinsky's The Rake's Progress (1951): Anne's cabaletta I go, I go to him (second part of Quietly, night)
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| a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc. |
| a fool or simpleton; ninny. |
