‖ basso, a. and n. Mus.
(ˈbasso)
[It.:—late L. bassus: see base a.]
= bass a. 3, n.5 1, 2.
| 1817 Byron Beppo xxxii, Soprano, basso, even the contra-alto, Wish'd him five fathom under the Rialto. 1883 Harper's Mag. Mar. 554/1 The minor basso part..was given to Kindermann. |
Hence,
basso-buffo (
-ˈbuffo) [
It.,
= comic bass], a bass singer who plays the comic part in opera;
basso cantante (
-kanˈtante) [
It.,
lit. ‘singing bass’], a male voice of fine quality and power of expression in the upper register of the bass range; also, a singer having such a voice;
basso continuo, thorough-bass (see
bass n.5 5);
basso ostinato (
-ostiˈnato) [
It.,
lit. ‘persistent bass’], a musical structure in which a figure is repeated successively throughout a work, with or without variation, usually in the bass part; ground-bass (
cf. ground n. 6 c, 18 a); also
transf.;
basso-ripieno (
cf. alto-ripieno), a bass part used only occasionally in a grand chorus.
| 1909 in Cent. Dict. Suppl., Basso-buffo. 1960 Times 15 July 16/3 Mr. Forbes Robinson..may seem an unlikely basso buffo. |
| 1876 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms 52/1 Basso cantante. 1889 G. B. Shaw in Star 11 Oct. 2/3 He was by no means the deep, powerful basso cantante his brother Edouard now is. 1916 ― in Nation 6 May 158/1 A good rough basso cantante. 1963 Times 28 Feb. 16/2 Voice that seemed most like a basso cantante. |
| 1876 Stainer & Barrett Dict. Mus. Terms 211/1 The connecting link between one form of the falso-bordone and the basso ostinato. 1935 A. Galsworthy in J. Galsworthy End of Chapter Foreward p. v, This is not by any means the whole of the plan, or story, but is a sort of basso ostinato to it. |