obbligato

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obbligato

(ŏbləgä`tō) [Ital.,=obligatory], in music, originally a term by which a composer indicated that a certain part was indispensable to the music. Obbligato was thus the direct opposite to ad libitum [Lat.,=at will], which indicated that the part so marked was unessential and might be omitted. Misunderstanding of the term obbligato, however, resulted in a reversal of its meaning; when a violin part, for example, is added to a song it is called a violin obbligato, whereas it may be a superfluous ornament for which ad libitum would be a more precise direction.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Obbligato

an instrumental part in a musical work that must not be omitted; it is obligatory that it be performed. Obbligato parts can be of varying importance—ranging from those that are significant but still form part of the accompaniment to parts that share equal significance with the featured solo part. In 17th- and 18th-century operas, oratorios, and cantatas (for example, in Bach’s Mass in B Minor) one often encounters arias, and sometimes even duets, with the participation of an obbligato instrument (or several instruments) and the orchestra. The opposite of obbligato is ad libitum (“at will”).

obbligato

, obligato Music

1. not to be omitted in performance

2. an essential part in a score

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

References in periodicals archive ?

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NEC Revamps Obbligato Platform to Support Enterprises in Transforming Business Models

This particular song, with its low tessitura and mirroring of pathetic gestures shared between the voice and obbligato instrument, is a particularly good choice for a mezzo soprano voice with an easy lower extension.

BID THE SOUL OF ORPHEUS SING

He requested that I play the third movement obbligato part sitting in front of the orchestra, by the bass section, then move to the back of the hall for the solo horn calls in that movement.

Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 5: an interview with Karl Pituch

Previously all technological communications were managed by paper, e-mail and FAX.The new system, managed by Obbligato II, allows users to smoothly access and change product and technological information from any site, such as laboratories and manufacturing plants, without causing confusion between company divisions.

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The violin part is obbligato throughout, though not always as soloistic as this recording would suggest.

C.P.E. Bach: 5 flute sonatas

It is one thing to transcribe late nineteenth century Russian romantic scores and another to do the same with eighteenth century Spanish music originally scored for two 'obbligato organs'.

Scheherazade, Capriccio Espagnol and Neopolitan Song

A sinister obbligato to this trend is the rise of xenophobic feelings, particularly in France and Germany but, as David Cole illustrates below, increasingly in the United States, where a lurid picture is being conjured up of thousands of aliens pouring into New York and other entrepots either to take jobs from Americans or exploit the welfare system or spread terror.

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But we also cannot deny the sustained intensity of Downes' engagement, and the strength of this performance (Duncan Honeybourne scintillating in the important organ obbligato - and what depth of string tone!) under Bradbury.

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TOKYO, June 16, 2016 - (JCN Newswire) - NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) today announced the launch of a new "ProChemist/BM" chemical substance management solution and "Obbligato III" product lifecycle management (PLM) software supporting "chemSHERPA," a scheme that facilitates inter-company sharing of information on chemical substances in products (CiP).

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104-11), verse 4 of Ich bin ja, Herr, in deiner Macht, Insistent dotted rhythms and an obbligato part for Waldhorn help illustrate the foreboding text describing the Day of Judgment.

Chorale settings by Telemann

70 and 73, with a superimposed text of Francisco Balagtas' poem Kay Selya, aptly titled Kundiman ni Schumann; and Richard Wagner's song cycle Wesendonck Lieder which the composer transformed into Wesendonck Sonata, enriched by a cello obbligato.