cantabile

Meanings

1. 1adverbnot comparablemusictechnical

   In a smooth, flowing style that imitates a singing voice, as an instruction to a musician.

   Grammar: Appears as an instruction on the score: play this cantabile.

   Patterns

   • play something cantabile
   • marked cantabile

   The violin theme is marked cantabile and should be played warmly.

   Her teacher told her to play the slow melody cantabile.

   The cellist shaped the phrase cantabile, almost like a voice.

2. 2nouncountablemusictechnical

   A piece or passage of music written in a smooth, singing style.

   Grammar: Countable: a cantabile, several cantabiles.

   Patterns

   • a cantabile for something

   The second movement is a lovely cantabile for the strings.

   He wrote a short cantabile for solo flute.

   The pianist's cantabile drew applause.

Word forms

Common combinations

play cantabile

Try to play cantabile in the middle section.

marked cantabile

The theme is marked cantabile.

cantabile style

The piece is written in a cantabile style.

cantabile passage

The cantabile passage shows off the oboe.

Synonyms and how they differ

lyrical

It describes any expressive, song-like quality, while cantabile is a specific instruction to the performer.

singing

It is the plain description of the tone, but does not appear as a score direction.

legato

It means smoothly connected notes, while cantabile adds a vocal, expressive quality.

dolce

It asks for sweetness and softness, which is a different quality from singing tone.

Opposites

Word family

cantata noun

a piece for voices with instruments

cantor noun

a singer who leads a congregation

cantare verb

Italian for to sing, the root of cantabile

Commonly confused: cantabile or cantata?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “cantabile”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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