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cabaletta

 - 3 dictionary results

ca⋅ba⋅let⋅ta

  [kab-uh-let-uh, kah-buh-; It. kah-bah-let-tah]
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–noun, plural -let⋅tas, -let⋅te  [-let-ey; It. -let-te] .
a short, operatic aria of simple form and style.
Origin:
1835–45; < It, alter. of coboletta stanza, dim. of cob(b)ola, cobla stanza, couplet < OPr cobla < L cōpula bond; see copula
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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ca·ba·let·ta   (kāb'ə-lět'ə, kä'bə-)   
n.   pl. ca·ba·let·tas or ca·ba·let·te (-lět'ē)

    1. A short aria that has a repetitive rhythm and a simple style.

    2. The final section of an aria or duet marked by a quick uniform rhythm.

  2. Something likened to such a short aria or a final section of a piece: "And a chronic chorus of cascades and birds/Cuts loose in a wild cabaletta" (W.H. Auden).


[Italian, alteration of coboletta, stanza, diminutive of cobola, cobla, from Old Provençal cobla, from Latin cōpula, link.]
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

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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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.
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