barcarole

or bar·ca·rolle

[ bahr-kuh-rohl ]

noun

1. a boating song of the Venetian gondoliers.
2. a piece of music composed in the style of such songs.

barcarole

/ ˌbɑːkəˈrəʊl; -ˌrɒl; ˈbɑːkəˌrəʊl /

noun

1. a Venetian boat song in a time of six or twelve quaver beats to the bar
2. an instrumental composition resembling this

Word History and Origins

Origin of barcarole¹

1605–15; < Venetian barcarola boatman's song, feminine of barcarolo, equivalent to barcar- (< Late Latin barcārius boatman; bark ³, -ary ) + -olo (≪ Latin -eolus )

Word History and Origins

Origin of barcarole¹

C18: from French, from Italian barcarola , from barcaruolo boatman, from barca boat; see barque

Example Sentences

Halvorson’s therapy, which involves a slide projector, stock photographs and the barcarole from "The Tales of Hoffman," looks pretty silly in action.

From Los Angeles Times

The new work felt like a barcarole for our precariously warming seas.

From Los Angeles Times

Long-held but shifting sonorities here suggest a barcarole as a voyage to the underworld.

From Los Angeles Times

For "Tui nati vulnerati," in which Mary asks to be noticed, Dvorák writes a short, flowing movement for chorus in 6/8 that is almost like a barcarole, gliding of its own accord.

From Los Angeles Times

The Britten work was most persuasive in its calmer passages, like the sublime, increasingly muted barcarole of the fifth and final movement, quoting his own “Death in Venice.”

From New York Times