barcarole ,
n :
(music) A Venetian folk song traditionally sung by gondoliers, often in 6⁄8 or 12⁄8 time with alternating strong and weak beats imitating a rowing motion. (music) A piece of music composed in imitation of such a song. German-born French composer Jacques Offenbach was born on this day in 1819. His duet “Belle nuit, ô nuit d’amour” (“Beautiful Night, O Night of Love”), known simply as the Barcarolle, from his last and unfinished opera The Tales of Hoffmann, is said to be the most famous barcarole ever written.
