Ostinato

Part of speech: noun

Pronunciation: /ɒstɪˈnɑtoʊ/

Definitions

1. A musical technique involving the incessant reiteration of a particular sequence or motif serves as a structural backbone for the piece
2. A short musical phrase or rhythm continually repeated throughout a composition to create a sense of persistence
3. A recurring melodic or rhythmic motif that is consistently reiterated to build the foundation of a musical piece

Etymology: Musicians borrowed "ostinato" from Italian, where it meant "stubborn" or "obstinate," and the English word is a doublet of "obstinate," the two having split from the same Latin source, "obstinatus," and come into English by different routes. In the Italian musical sense, the word described a pattern that refused to give way: a short figure repeated again and again, unchanged, while other voices moved above or around it. The stubbornness of the original adjective became the defining trait of the musical idea. That is the whole of the musical shift. The adjective kept its ordinary sense in English, where "obstinate" describes a person who will not yield, while the noun traveled into the vocabulary of composers and musicians who needed a precise term for a pattern that holds its ground through the length of a piece.

Synonyms: refrain, loop