cadenza

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian cadenza, from Latin cadentia. Doublet of cadence and chance.

Noun

cadenza (plural cadenzas or cadenze)

1. (music) A part of a piece of music, such as a concerto, that is very decorative and is played by a single musician.
   • 1993, John Banville, Ghosts:

     Yes, laugh, as I want to laugh for instance in the concert hall when the orchestra trundles to a stop and the virtuoso at his piano, hunched like a demented vet before the bared teeth of this enormous black beast of sound, lifts up deliquescent hands and prepares to plunge into the cadenza.

Translations

decorative solo piece of music

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 华彩 (zh) (huá cǎi)

• French: cadence (fr) f
• German: Kadenz (de) f

• Hungarian: kadencia
• Italian: cadenza (it) f
• Maori: wāhanga takitahi
• Russian: каде́нция (ru) f (kadɛ́ncija)

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Italian

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *cadentia, from Latin cadēns, present participle of cadō (“to fall”). Doublet of chance.

Noun

cadenza f (plural cadenze)

1. cadence
2. rhythm

Verb

cadenza

1. third-person singular present indicative of cadenzare
2. second-person singular imperative of cadenzare