stile rappresentativon.

1886 F. Praeger tr. E. Naumann Hist. Mus. I. xv. 525 At first the opera was variously styled according to the individuality of the composer... The style itself was generally called Stile rappresentativo.

1915 Strad Jan. 299/1 The so-called stile rappresentativo of Florence was claiming more and more adherents and ministers; Monteverde, likewise, was moved by the ever-expanding ripple.

1938 Oxf. Compan. Music 896/2 Stile rappresentativo... The term was used by the early Roman composer of oratorio, Cavalieri, and the contemporary Florentine composers of opera..to indicate the use of their invention of recitative..which aimed rather at representing the sense and the natural inflection of the speaking voice than at providing the enjoyment of pure musical beauty.

1947 M. F. Bukofzer Mus. Baroque Era (1948) ii. 25 The emergence of the stile rappresentativo or recitative about the year 1600 has often been regarded as the most important turning point in the entire history of music.

1959 N. C. Carpenter Mus. in Medieval & Renaissance Univ. iv. 357 University learning..led such people as Vincenzo Galilei..to experiment in a new musical style based upon his concept of Greek music, the stile rappresentativo, with its close affinity between words and music.

1980 Early Music 8 298/1 But we should not let the polemics of the day in favour of monody obscure the very close, though perhaps not immediately apparent, bond between the expressiveness of the stile rappresentativo and the concept of melody that pervades the fabric of many polyphonic works from the second half of the 16th century.