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Definition of passagework - 2 dictionary results

pas⋅sage⋅work

  [pas-ij-wurk]
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–noun Music.
1. writing that is often extraneous to the thematic material of a work and is typically of a virtuosic or decorative character: passagework consisting of scales, arpeggios, trills, and double octaves.
2. the performance of such writing: The pianist's passagework is brilliantly clear and smooth.
Origin:
1860–65; passage 1 + work
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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pas·sage·work   (pās'ĭj-wûrk')   
n.  

  1. A portion of a musical composition that permits a performer to make a display of technique, especially in the rapid execution of scales and arpeggios, and that has little thematic or structural importance to the whole: The concerto contained brilliant passagework for the soloist.

  2. A musician's performance of this portion of a composition: her virtuosic passagework.

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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