obbligato
Americanadjective
noun
-
obbligatos,
plural
-
obbligati
plural
-
an obbligato part or accompaniment.
-
a continuing or persistent subordinate or background motif.
-
a subordinate part of a solo.
adjective
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of obbligato
1715–25; < Italian: bound, obliged < Latin obligātus; see obligate
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
“With Rita it was all one voice. Rita was like a pop singer, yet she could do these obbligato things, and it didn’t seem strange.”
From New York Times ● Sep. 28, 2022
Colin St. Martin’s elegant flute obbligato and Bradley Tatum’s beautiful, pure sound on the natural horn adorned this pungently colorful performance.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 26, 2017
I’m so touched by his vulnerability in reading that song, his choices as a piano player, and what he adds as sort of an obbligato sidebar commentary with his playing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 13, 2016
The obbligato viole d’amore parts in the bass arioso “Betrachte, meine Seel’,” were ravishingly played.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 2, 2014
It is a very sweet-toned organ, this little orgue de Barbarie, with a plaintive, apologetic tone, and a flute obbligato that would do credit to many a small orchestra.
From The Real Latin Quarter by F. Berkeley (Frank Berkeley) Smith
The bird actors whistle, or appear to whistle, jazz obbligati.
From Time Magazine Archive
The greatest work I have hitherto written is a Grand Mass with Choruses, and four obbligati voice parts, and full orchestra.
From Beethoven's Letters 1790-1826, Volume 2 by Ludwig Nohl
The existence of such a part would imply the co-existence of considerable musicianship on the part of the pipe player and of an advanced technic in the composition of instrumental obbligati.
From Some Forerunners of Italian Opera by W. J. (William James) Henderson
It spotlights six-beat drumming, intertwined guitars, synthesizer and accordion obbligatos, call-and-response vocals, singing and rapping, cheerfully claiming a whole continuum of ideas.
From New York Times ● Jan. 6, 2023
Eva Salina lent her poised, lustrous voice to complexly morose songs from the Balkans in a duo with the Serbian-style accordionist Peter Stan, who backed her with oompah chords and puckish, skittering obbligatos.
From New York Times ● Jan. 15, 2018
Oboist Stephen Bard and violinist Tatiana Chulochnikova were her able partners in the obbligatos, though intonation problems with John Moran’s cello in the second aria were a minor distraction.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 26, 2017
The four solo voices – Anna Dennis, Tim Mead, Stuart Jackson and George Humphreys – emulated that lilt in their phrasing, with the timbre of Mead's countertenor in particular blending well with the instrumental obbligatos.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 26, 2013
Then there were more solos and duets, with obbligatos for the violin.
From The Martian by George Du Maurier
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
