obbligato

[ ob-li-gah-toh; Italian awb-blee-gah-taw ]

adjective

1. (used as a musical direction) obligatory or indispensable; so important that it cannot be omitted.

noun

, plural ob·bli·ga·tos, ob·bli·ga·ti [ob-li-, gah, -tee, awb-blee-, gah, -tee].

1. an obbligato part or accompaniment.
2. a continuing or persistent subordinate or background motif.
3. a subordinate part of a solo.

obbligato

/ ˌɒblɪˈɡɑːtəʊ /

adjective

1. not to be omitted in performance

noun

1. an essential part in a score

   with oboe obbligato

Word History and Origins

Origin of obbligato¹

1715–25; < Italian: bound, obliged < Latin obligātus; obligate

Word History and Origins

Origin of obbligato¹

C18: from Italian, from obbligare to oblige

Example Sentences

In another 1959 CBC documentary, Columbia recording director Howard Scott is seen pleading with Gould before a take of Bach’s Italian Concerto for “a straight piano solo, without vocal obbligato.”

From Los Angeles Times

Schachtner fills in the instrumental colors — obbligato winds, vocal doublings, radiant strings — that might have swirled in Puccini’s mind.

From New York Times

It spotlights six-beat drumming, intertwined guitars, synthesizer and accordion obbligatos, call-and-response vocals, singing and rapping, cheerfully claiming a whole continuum of ideas.

From New York Times

“With Rita it was all one voice. Rita was like a pop singer, yet she could do these obbligato things, and it didn’t seem strange.”

From New York Times

The other was the whole first section of the fast movement, a solo in F major with obbligato flute, in which Florestan recalls happier days with Leonore at his side.

From New York Times