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In a singing style — melodically, with a vocal quality.
Cantabile asks instrumentalists to imitate the human voice — sustained, connected, with natural phrase breathing. When writing cantabile passages, think vocally: keep the melody within a comfortable range, use stepwise motion with occasional expressive leaps, and phrase in breath-length units.
Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 ("Pathétique"), second movement (Adagio cantabile) — the famous melody sings as if played on a cello, not a piano.
Cantabile is one of 228 terms in the Gradus musical dictionary, where every definition is written around how composers actually use the word.
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