arioso

American  

[ahr-ee-oh-soh, ar-, ah-ryaw-saw] / ˌɑr iˈoʊ soʊ, ˌær-, ɑˈryɔ sɔ /

adjective

1. in the manner of an air or melody.

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noun

plural

ariosos

1. an arioso composition or section.

arioso British  

/ ˌɑːrɪˈəʊzəʊ, ˌæ- /

noun

1. music a recitative with the lyrical quality of an aria

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Etymology

Origin of arioso

1735–45; < Italian: literally, songlike. See aria, -ose ¹

Example Sentences

But staying true to the original setting allows the piece to emerge as Gershwin conceived it: a full-fledged opera with long stretches of recitative and arioso, soaring arias and duets and complex choral ensembles.

From New York Times • Jan. 12, 2020

Recitative and arioso passages allow the singers to barrel through words at a tremendous clip.

From Washington Post • Jul. 12, 2015

The obbligato viole d’amore parts in the bass arioso “Betrachte, meine Seel’,” were ravishingly played.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 2, 2014

Her vocal lines are mostly routine arioso, while the ensemble writing is most effective when thinned to a single line – a teetering piano solo, perhaps, or a thrummed cello.

From The Guardian • May 25, 2010

To have set them in the sustained arioso style of Tristan und Isolde would have been as impossible as it would have been inept.

From Debussy's Pelléas et Mélisande A Guide to the Opera with Musical Examples from the Score by Gilman, Lawrence