Art & MusicGreek → English
Sinfonia
/sɪnfəˈniːə/noun
An instrumental piece, especially one opening an opera or oratorio, or a small orchestra named after the form.
The Greek roots
σύν
sýn
together, with
φωνή
phōnḗ
sound, voice
Literally: “sounding together”
The story of the word
συμφωνία in Greek meant nothing more elaborate than sounding together, a concord of voices or of strings. Italian composers used sinfonia for the instrumental number that opened an opera, and that curtain-raiser grew away from the stage into the concert symphony. Bach titled his three-part keyboard inventions Sinfonias, which is the same word doing much quieter work.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → Latin → Italian → English
- First recorded
- 18th century
The same roots elsewhere
Other languages reached for exactly the same Greek pieces.
Same family
symphonytelephonephoneticeuphony
In a sentence
The sinfonia before part two is the best three minutes in the oratorio.
She plays second violin in a chamber sinfonia.