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stretto

[stret-oh]
noun, plural stret·ti [stret-ee] /ˈstrɛt i/, stret·tos. Music.
  1. the close overlapping of statements of the subject in a fugue, each voice entering immediately after the preceding one.
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Origin of stretto

1745–55; < Italian: literally, narrow < Latin strictus. See strict, strait
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for stretto

Historical Examples

  • A stretto is a net, and if one is not constantly on the watch, he is caught in its meshes.

    An American Girl in Munich

    Mabel W. Daniels

  • One of its rules was that every fugue should have a stretto.

  • He was thinking more of his prima donna than of Elcia when he wrote that stretto.

    Massimilla Doni

    Honore de Balzac

  • The scena ends with a stretto, a concluding passage taken in more rapid tempo in order to enhance the effect.

  • The chief feature in this brilliant passage is a piling up of the theme in stretto form (see measures 148-153).

    Music: An Art and a Language

    Walter Raymond Spalding

British Dictionary definitions for stretto

stretto

noun plural -tos or -ti (-tiː)
  1. (in a fugue) the close overlapping of two parts or voices, the second one entering before the first has completed its statement of the subject
  2. Also called: stretta (ˈstrɛtə) a concluding passage in a composition, played at a faster speed than the earlier material
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Word Origin

C17: from Italian, from Latin strictus tightly bound; see strict
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012