passage work

noun

1. music scales, runs, etc, in a piece of music which have no structural significance but provide an opportunity for virtuoso display

Example Sentences

The original in this piece is confined to the passage-work, and has not yet got out of the rudimentary stage.

From Project Gutenberg

Indeed, the latter, if not wholly absent, are confined to the introductory bars of the first subject and some passage-work.

From Project Gutenberg

Phrases of an apparent intensity and lyricism are negated by frivolous and tinkling passage-work.

From Project Gutenberg

Except for three lines of passage work in the first part, the concerto remains to-day precisely as MacDowell finished it then.

From Project Gutenberg

With Mozart the theme is little more than a piece of chance passage-work.

From Project Gutenberg