stretto

American  

[stret-oh] / ˈstrɛt oʊ /

noun

Music.

• stretti,
  plural
• strettos
  plural

1. the close overlapping of statements of the subject in a fugue, each voice entering immediately after the preceding one.

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stretto British  

/ ˈstrɛtəʊ /

noun

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.  a concluding passage in a composition, played at a faster speed than the earlier material

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• stretti
  plural
• strettos
  plural

Etymology

Origin of stretto

1745–55; < Italian: literally, narrow < Latin strictus. See strict, strait

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stretto stretti

It is in four parts, but in one place the addition of a fifth part and stretto treatment render the feeling of grief more intense.

From The Pianoforte Sonata Its Origin and Development by J. S. (John South) Shedlock

The Duchess sat on the floor of the box reading one of them, and turning of course very rapidly over the leaves during the stretto of the "Leonora" overture.

From The Mapleson Memoirs, vol I 1848-1888 by James H. Mapleson

A definitely faster tempo at once     più allegro più presto più animato più mosso più tosto più stretto un poco animato     Terms Indicating a Slower Tempo     1.

From Essentials in Conducting by Karl Wilson Gehrkens

His manœuvre that morning had been a wild and undisciplined fugue, culminating in an unconventional stretto upon an exceedingly dominant pedal-point, that is to say, his heel on my toe.

From Punch or the London Charivari, Vol. 147, November 25, 1914 by Sir Owen Seaman

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

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 7, Slice 2 "Constantine Pavlovich" to "Convention" by Various

‘Signor Arrigo mio,’ says he, ‘I pensieri stretti ed il viso sciolto will go safely over the whole world.’

From Minor Poems by Milton by John Milton

I see it in his eye, I hear it in the tread of his foot; volto sciolto he has not; i pensieri stretti he has.

From My Novel — Complete by Edward Bulwer Lytton, Baron Lytton

The Italians have a proverb, which I hope you have not forgot poor Pierrotti's lessons so far as not to comprehend, "Volto sciolto e pensieri stretti."

From Memoirs of the Life of Sir Walter Scott, Volume 6 by J. G. (John Gibson) Lockhart

Certainly no one ever more fully grasped the sense of the famous sentence given by Wotton to Milton, when the latter was starting on his travels: “I pensieri stretti ed il viso sciolto.”

From Andrew Marvell by John Morley

Milton had not acted on Sir Henry Wootton's advice to him, il volto sciolto, i pensieri stretti.

From Life of John Milton by Richard Garnett