Definition of passagework
: a section of a musical composition characteristically unimportant thematically and consisting especially of ornamental figures
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Recent Examples of passagework from the Web
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Radiant, expansive horn passagework opened the piece, setting the stage for Gunn’s poetic solo.
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The piano writing is almost frenetically brilliant; Mr. Andsnes dispatched it with such effortless command and penetrating clarity that every burst of arm-blurring octaves, every tangled patch of passagework, seemed both meaningful and fantastical.
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The piano writing, nodding to the taste at the time for florid, virtuosic passagework, brims with brilliance and rippling runs, as well as captivating elegance and intricacy.
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Polonsky’s brilliant passagework and transparent textures suited Mozart well.
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This was poetry in motion, Davis sustaining an unmistakable line even amid fleetly nimble passagework.
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Here the crystalline touch of his pianism and the chorale-like three-horn passagework stood out, the music constantly shifting tone and texture, just as novelist Cole's protagonist observes the panoply of life in New York.
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Sometimes, in bringing a milky gloss to passagework, the results just sounded smudgy.
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Throughout his range, his tone was lovely and assured; difficult passagework seemed as straightforward as scales are to mere mortals.
These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'passagework.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
First Known Use of passagework
1865
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