cavatina means An operatic song in slow tempo, either complete in itself or (e.g., in Bellini and Verdi) followed by a faster, more resolute section: hence Lexicurio rates it Sui generis — a strength score of 87 out of 100.
Why this word is great
CAVATINA — [Noun] A short, lyrical solo song in opera, simpler than a full aria, or a similarly song-like instrumental movement. From Italian cavatina, a diminutive of cavata (literally "extraction, production"), from cavare ("to extract, to quarry"), from Latin cavāre ("to hollow out"). Unlike an aria—a structured, virtuosic edifice—or a recitative—a declamatory narrative—a cavatina is an emotional extraction, a hollowed space of pure feeling. It is a quarrying of a private sigh from the public stone of the score: the solitary line of a cello in a quiet room, the single pearl lifted from a seabed of turmoil, the clear note struck from a depth of silence before the storm returns—an unadorned, resonant ache, perfectly formed.
noun
- An operatic song in slow tempo, either complete in itself or (e.g., in Bellini and Verdi) followed by a faster, more resolute section: hence
- A rather slow, song-like instrumental movement; the title, for example, of a movement in Beethoven's string quartet in B flat, op. 130 (1826) and of a once-famous piece (originally for violin and piano) by Raff, and of the slow movement of Rubra's string quartet No. 2.