Recitative (reh-sih-ta-téev), from the Italian word for “recite,” is a technique of declaiming words musically in a heightened, theatrical manner. There is always an instrumental accompaniment. The singing voice closely follows the free rhythm of emotional speech; it mirrors and indeed exaggerates the natural ups and downs that occur as an actor raises his or her voice at a question, lowers it in “asides,” or cries out angrily. The composer makes no effort to organize these speechlike utterances into real melodies; the point is speechlike song.

Recitative was used for plot action, dialogue, and other places in the drama where it is particularly important for the words to be brought out. Text phrases and individual words are not ordinarily repeated any more than they would be in speech.

Most of the time, recitative accompaniment was kept to a minimum — basso continuo (typically cello and harpsichord) alone — so that the singer could interpret the dialogue or the action as spontaneously as possible. Italians at the time called recitative with continuo accompaniment secco recitative, from the Italian meaning “dry” (think of the sound of the harpsichord).

In every opera seria, however, one or two of the most excited, emotion-filled recitatives were provided with orchestral accompaniment of one kind or another. This type is called accompanied recitative.