recitative

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a speechlike style of singing in opera, oratorio, and related music, used especially to advance dialogue or narrative between more melodic passages

   A brief recitative carried the opera's action forward before the soprano's aria.

2. 2
   adj

   performed or written in the speechlike style of recitative

   The singer delivered the recitative passage with flexible rhythm and sparse accompaniment.

Borrowed from Italian recitativo, from recitare ("to recite"), ultimately Latin recitare ("to read aloud"). The form imitates the rhythms and inflections of speech while remaining sung.

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