barcarole

Meaning

Noun

• A Venetian folk song traditionally sung by gondoliers, often in or time with alternating strong and weak beats imitating a rowing motion.
• A piece of music composed in imitation of such a song.

Origin

• {| align="right" width="20%"
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• | File:Jacques Offenbach by Reutlinger, 1871.jpg|thumb|German-born French composer Jacques Offenbach in an 1871 [[carte de visite by Charles Reutlinger. Offenbach’s duet “Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour” (“Beautiful Night, O Night of Love”), known simply as the Barcarolle, from his last and unfinished opera The Tales of Hoffmann first performed in 1881, is said to be the most famous barcarole (sense 2) ever written.]]
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• Borrowed from French barcarolle, from Venetian barcaroƚa ("song sung by a boatman"), from barca, ultimately from Egyptian bꜣjr ("transport ship; type of fish").