Accompagnato

As Printed on a Score

Printed as a heading above a recitative — Accompagnato or Recitativo accompagnato — and it applies to the whole number. Secco recitative is headed simply Recitativo and shows only the voice over a continuo line; an accompagnato shows orchestral staves under the voice.

Also spelled: recitativo accompagnato

How Composers Use It

Choose accompanied recitative for the dramatic peaks of a recitative passage — a vision, an oracle, a moment of decision — where the orchestra can paint and punctuate. Handel, Bach and Mozart reserve it for such moments, so it gains weight against the surrounding secco. Keep the orchestral interjections short and the voice free to declaim; sustained strings, like the halo around Christ’s words in Bach’s St Matthew Passion, frame the text without covering it.

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