Obbligato

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Italian for obligatory, from Latin word obligare, to oblige. In classical music an obbligato is an elaborate accompaniment part played by a single instrument. Originally indicated a passage of music that was to be played as written, without changes or omissions, as opposed to ad libitum. An adjective or noun referring to an essential instrumental part. The term is often used for a part ranking in importance just below the principal melody and not to be omitted. Obbligato is the opposite of Ad Libitum when the latter qualifies the mention of a part in a title. On the title-page of Corelli's Concerti Grossi op.6, for example, the concertino parts are designated 'obligato' while the ripieno parts are described as 'ad arbitrio, che si potranno radoppiare'. Used in connection with a keyboard part in the 18th century, obbligato designated a fully written-out part instead of a figured bass. Sometimes obbligato means simply independent(Fuller, David. Obbligato. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Edited by Stanley Sadie. Second Edition, vol. 18 page 253).

In music for voice with instruments, 'obbligato' refers to a prominent instrumental part in an aria or other number. The archetype of the obbligato part is the instrumental solo which, with a basso continuo, constitutes the accompaniment of vast numbers of late Baroque arias. An especially ornate violin obbligato appears in the Benedictus of Beethoven's Mass in D. Such parts were often less formal in the 19th century, but prominent obbligato writing for flute in particular is not unusual in Romantic opera-for example in the cadenza of the traditional version of the Mad Scene in Lucia di Lammermoor(1835)-and the cello and english horn are often assigned an obbligato role in melancholy contexts(Fuller, David. Obbligato. The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, Edited by Stanley Sadie. Second Edition, vol. 18 page 253).

A example of a well-known obbligato would be the piccolo obbligato in the trio of John Philip Sousa's march Stars and Stripes Forever.

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