teston.
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a. The text or words of a song; the libretto of an opera.
b. The text, theme, or subject of a composition.
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theme1655
subject1740
testo1786
thema1786
1724 Short Explic. Foreign Words Musick Bks. Testo, the Text or Words of a Song.
1786 T. Busby Compl. Dict. Music Testo (Ital.), the text, subject, or theme, of any composition... When the words are well written, the song is said to have a good testo.
1891 in Cent. Dict.
1898 J. Stainer Stainer & Barrett's Dict. Musical Terms (rev. ed.)
c. The narrator in an oratorio or similar piece of music.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musician > singer > opera-singer > [noun] > narrator in oratorio
testo1947
1947 A. Einstein Music Romantic Era xiii. 177 Through the gradual elimination of the testo or narrator, oratorio had approached opera to such a degree as to be confused with it.
1980 New Grove Dict. Music XVIII. 706/2 The testo part as normally set as recitative with continuo accompaniment and sung either by one or more soloists... In secular music the term was occasionally used for the narrator in dramatic dialogues and similar works.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1911; most recently modified version published online March 2018).
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