barcarole

American  

[bahr-kuh-rohl] / ˈbɑr kəˌroʊl /

Or barcarolle

noun

1. a boating song of the Venetian gondoliers.

2. a piece of music composed in the style of such songs.

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barcarole British  

/ 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

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Etymology

Origin of barcarole

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

Example Sentences

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

From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 30, 2014

As the Sicilian men intone shocked syllables in a martial rhythm, a carefree barcarole suddenly emerges from a passing boat carrying ladies and gentlemen to the ball.

From New York Times • Jul. 7, 2013

I enhanced the likeness very much, last Friday morning, by singing a barcarole on the rocks.

From The Letters of Charles Dickens Vol. 1, 1833-1856 by Hogarth, Georgina

The sailor, bound for Puget Sound, Finds pleasure still unfailing, If he but troll the barcarole Old Osborne wrote on Whaling.

From Second Book of Verse by Field, Eugene

So the lamps were lighted in the room, the piano opened, and an Italian barcarole went rowing away out through the open windows.

From In God's Way A Novel by Bj?rnson, Bj?rnstjerne