parlando

American  

[pahr-lahn-doh] / pɑrˈlɑn doʊ /

adjective

Music.

1. sung or played as though speaking or reciting (a musical direction).

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parlando British  

/ pɑːˈlændəʊ /

adjective

1. music to be performed as though speaking

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Etymology

Origin of parlando

1875–80; < Italian, present participle of parlare to speak; parle

Example Sentences

“I’m tired of making up while you’ve been making out with someone else’s makeup,” she spits in her signature punk parlando.

From Salon • Feb. 19, 2026

The result, though, on first hearing can sound like an endless flow of parlando singing, more ongoing narration than operatic musing, music confined to underscoring Shakespeare’s unbroachable phrases.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 16, 2022

Strauss underscored spoken dialogue with arch instrumental commentary, but the orchestra, at times hamstrung by his sumptuous style and parlando vocal lines, shifts its weight like an elephant in ballet shoes.

From New York Times • Jul. 24, 2022

Her singing was variable in the extreme, with some soft, meltingly lovely parlando phrases giving way to strident, insecurely pitched climaxes that quavered on wiry threads of sound.

From Chicago Tribune • Jan. 24, 2011

The music suited her voice; she delivered a good deal of it almost parlando, and the vapid speeches of Mr. Redding tripped so audibly off her tongue that their banality became painfully apparent.

From Interpreters by Van Vechten, Carl