barcarole

barcarole (BAHR-kuh-rohl) - n., a traditional folk song sung by Venetian gondoliers; a piece of music written in the same style as such songs.


Usually they are moderate tempo in 6/8 (sometimes 12/8) time, with strong and weak beats alternating suggestive of the rhythm of the sculling of the gondolier. From French barcarolle, from Venetian dialect Italian barcarola, song sung by a boatman, feminine of barcarolo, boatman, from barca, boat, from Latin, from Greek, from Egyptian byjr, a type of flat-bottomed boat + -olo, ending indicating a person.


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---L.