Definition of "cavatina" []

• An operatic song in slow tempo, either complete in itself or (e.g., in Bellini and Verdi) followed by a faster, more resolute section: hence (noun)
• A rather slow, song-like instrumental movement; the title, for example, of a movement in Beethoven's string quartet in B flat, op. 130 (1826) and of a once-famous piece (originally for violin and piano) by Raff, and of the slow movement of Rubra's string quartet No. 2 (noun)

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• "Idomeneo has an aria, or rather a kind of cavatina, to sing between the choruses."
• "Addie sets his bowl on the table then moves about the apartment, his arms and legs and odors wafting like ribbons in the air, dancing cavatina to our choir bites of frosted oats and yellow moons, orange stars, green clovers."
• "It's the prime masterpiece of the period where Verdi went from a talented master of the Italian operatic tradition to a genius of reinvention: Verdi saw that the conventions of bel canto — the coloratura decoration, the steady build from recitative to cavatina to cabaletta, the diagetic justification for dance and popular music — had matured to the point that their mere presence could have dramatic content above and beyond the story."