< A Dictionary of Music and Musicians
​OSTINATO, i.e. Obstinate. 'Basso ostinato' is the Italian term for a ground bass, which recurs obstinately throughout the composition. [See Ground Bass, vol. i. 634b.] 'I shall seem to you,' says [1]Mendelssohn, 'like a Basso ostinato, always grumbling over again, and at last becoming quite tiresome.'

[ G. ]

  1. ↑ Letter Jan. 8, 1838.


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