stretto

[ stret-oh ]

/ ˈstrɛt oʊ /

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noun, plural stret·ti

[stret-ee], /ˈstrɛt i/, stret·tos.Music.

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

Words nearby stretto

stretch receptor, stretch runner, stretchy, Stretford, stretta, stretto, streusel, streuselkuchen, strew, strewment, strewn

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use stretto in a sentence

The first and last quartet end with a thoroughly worked-out fugue, complete with stretto and inversions.
Life Of Mozart, Vol. 1 (of 3)|Otto Jahn
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
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.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 2|Various

The middle-section, the stretto-work, and the powerful ending, give the fugue the right to exist.
Contemporary American Composers|Rupert Hughes

British Dictionary definitions for stretto

stretto

/ (ˈstrɛtəʊ) /

noun plural -tos or -ti (-tiː)

(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

Also called: stretta (ˈstrɛtə) a concluding passage in a composition, played at a faster speed than the earlier material

Word Origin for stretto

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