cadenza

English

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kəˈdɛnzə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

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 (hu)
• Italian: cadenza (it) f
• Maori: wāhanga takitahi
• Russian: каде́нция (ru) f (kadɛ́ncija)
• Ukrainian: каде́нція (uk) f (kadéncija)

Italian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kaˈdɛn.t͡sa/
• Rhymes: -ɛntsa
• Hyphenation: ca‧dèn‧za

Etymology 1

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

Derived terms

• cadenzare

Descendants

Descendants

Many of the borrowings have had their endings Latinized.

• → Catalan: cadència
• → Danish: kadence
• → Friulian: cadence
• → Dutch: cadens
• → Dutch: cadans
• → Esperanto: kadenco
• → Estonian: kadents
• → Finnish: kadenssi
• → German: Kadenz
• → Hebrew: קדנצה
• → Hungarian: kadencia
• → Old French: cadence
  • → Middle English: cadence
    • English: cadence
  • Middle French: cadence
    • French: cadence
  • Norman: cadenche
• → Ido: kadenco
• → Occitan: cadéncia
• → Portuguese: cadência, cadenza
• → Romanian: cadență
• → Russian: каденция (kadencija)
• → Serbo‐Croatian: kadenca, каденца
• → Slovene: kadenca
• → Spanish: cadencia, cadenza
• → Ukrainian: каденція (kadencija)

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

cadenza

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

Further reading

• cadenza in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana