obbligato

American  

[ob-li-gah-toh, awb-blee-gah-taw] / ˌɒb lɪˈgɑ toʊ, ˌɔb bliˈgɑ tɔ /

adjective

1. (used as a musical direction) obligatory or indispensable; so important that it cannot be omitted.

---

noun

obbligatos, plural obbligati plural

1. an obbligato part or accompaniment.

2. a continuing or persistent subordinate or background motif.

3. a subordinate part of a solo.

obbligato British  

/ ˌɒblɪˈɡɑːtəʊ /

adjective

1. not to be omitted in performance

---

noun

1. an essential part in a score

   with oboe obbligato

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• obbligatos
  plural
• obbligati
  plural

Etymology

Origin of obbligato

1715–25; < Italian: bound, obliged < Latin obligātus; see obligate

Example Sentences

Schachtner fills in the instrumental colors — obbligato winds, vocal doublings, radiant strings — that might have swirled in Puccini’s mind.

From New York Times • Jan. 25, 2024

Boris Allakhverdyan supplied the fluid clarinet obbligato in the first.

From Los Angeles Times • Oct. 2, 2017

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

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

From Seattle Times • Mar. 2, 2014

His song, "Protestations," is tender, and has a violin obbligato that is really more important than the voice part.

From Contemporary American Composers Being a Study of the Music of This Country, Its Present Conditions and Its Future, with Critical Estimates and Biographies of the Principal Living Composers; and an Abundance of Portraits, Fac-simile Musical Autographs, and Compositions by Hughes, Rupert