cabaletta

American  

[kab-uh-let-uh, kah-buh-, kah-bah-let-tah] / ˌkæb əˈlɛt ə, ˌkɑ bə-, ˌkɑ bɑˈlɛt tɑ /

noun

plural

cabalettas, cabalette

1. a short, operatic aria of simple form and style.

---

Etymology

Origin of cabaletta

1835–45; < Italian, alteration of coboletta stanza, diminutive of cob ( b ) ola, cobla stanza, couplet < Old Provençal cobla < Latin cōpula bond; see copula

Example Sentences

As she scrabbled for a laser pointer in her large handbag, her coloratura was comically on point, though she was inaudible in her middle range during the cabaletta.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 1, 2025

An associate director an ocean away didn’t realize he also planned to perform the cabaletta, the faster-moving second part.

From Washington Times • Apr. 26, 2020

The scene moves on to the gentle “Cielo a’ miei lunghi spasimi” before ending with “Coppia iniqua,” a raging cabaletta in which Bolena goes triumphantly to her death.

From New York Times • Sep. 25, 2011

She made a tremendous impact in her multisectional final scene, in which Gemma sings of entering a convent, then reacts with horror to Tamas’s crime in a final cabaletta of despair.

From New York Times • Sep. 20, 2011

In the succeeding cabaletta, which was brilliantly executed, Miss Patti took the high note E flat, above the line, with the greatest ease.

From The Mapleson Memoirs, vol II 1848-1888 by Mapleson, James H.