giocoso

American  

[juh-koh-soh, jaw-kaw-saw] / dʒəˈkoʊ soʊ, dʒɔˈkɔ sɔ /

adjective

Music.

1. merry; playful.

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Etymology

Origin of giocoso

1820–30; < Italian: playful < Latin jocōsus jocose

Example Sentences

In the dramatic terminology of the eighteenth century "Don Giovanni" was a dramma giocoso; in the better sense of the phrase, a playful drama—a lyric comedy.

From A Book of Operas Their Histories, Their Plots, and Their Music by Krehbiel, Henry Edward

The fairy theme is also unmistakable, that first plays in the flute, against soft horns, Allegro giocoso, and is lost in the onrushing attack, furioso, of a strain that begins in murmuring of muted strings.

From Symphonies and Their Meaning; Third Series, Modern Symphonies by Goepp, Philip H.

Da Ponte contemplated a dramma giocoso; Mozart humored him until his imagination came within the shadow cast before by the catastrophe, and then he transformed the poet's comedy into a tragedy of crushing power.

From How to Listen to Music, 7th ed. Hints and Suggestions to Untaught Lovers of the Art by Krehbiel, Henry Edward

He had hardly caught sight of me when he held out two volumes to me: the orchestral score of Le Nozze di Figaro, dramma giocoso in quarti atti.

From My Recollections by Massenet, Jules