A barcarolle (from French; also Italian barcarola, barcarole) is a folk song sung by Venetian gondoliers, or a piece of music composed in that style. In classical music, the two most famous barcarolles are those by Jacques Offenbach, from his opera The Tales of Hoffmann, and Frédéric Chopin's barcarolle for solo piano, in F-sharp major, opus 60. Country Italy Region Veneto Province Venice (VE) Mayor Massimo Cacciari (since April 18, 2004) Elevation m Area 412 km² Population  - Total (as of December 31, 2004) 271,251  - Density 646/km² Time zone CET, UTC+1 Coordinates Gentilic Veneziani Dialing code 041 Postal code 30100 Frazioni Chirignago, Favaro Veneto, Mestre... A Venetian gondola A gondola is a small long, narrow boat with a high bow and stern, best known for its use in the canals of Venice. ... Classical music is a broad, somewhat imprecise term, referring to music produced in, or rooted in the traditions of, European art, ecclesiastical and concert music, encompassing a broad period from roughly 1000 to the present day. ... Jacques Offenbach (20 June 1819 – 5 October 1880), composer and cellist, was one of the originators of the operetta form, a precursor of the modern musical comedy. ... Sydney Opera House: one of the worlds most recognisable opera houses and landmarks. ... Tales of Hoffmann (Les contes dHoffmann) is an opera by Jacques Offenbach. ... The only known photograph of Frédéric Chopin, taken by Louis-Auguste Bisson in 1849. ...

A barcarolle is characterized by a rhythm reminiscent of the gondolier's stroke, almost invariably a moderate tempo 6/8 meter. While the most famous barcarolles are from the Romantic period, the genre was well-enough known in the 18th century for Burney to mention, in The Present State of Music in France and Italy (1771), that it was a celebrated form cherished by "collectors of good taste." It was a popular form in opera, where the apparently artless sentimental style of the folklike song could be put to good use: in addition to the Offenbach example, Paisiello, Weber, and Rossini wrote arias which were barcarolles, Gaetano Donizetti set the Venetian scene at the opening of Marino Faliero (1835) with a barcarolle for a gondolier and chorus, and Verdi included a barcarolle in Un Ballo in Maschera: (Richard's atmospheric "Di’ tu se fidele il flutto m’a spetta" in Act I). Schubert, while not using the name specifically, used a style reminiscent of the barcarolle in some of his most famous songs, including especially his haunting "Auf dem Wasser zu singen" ("to be sung on the water"), D.774. The era of Romantic music is defined as the period of European classical music that runs roughly from the early 1800s to the first decade of the 20th century, as well as music written according to the norms and styles of that period. ... (17th century - 18th century - 19th century - more centuries) As a means of recording the passage of time, the 18th century refers to the century that lasted from 1701 through 1800. ... Charles Burney by Sir Joshua Reynolds in 1781 Charles Burney (April 12, 1726 – April 12, 1814) was an English music historian and father of author Fanny Burney. ... 1771 was a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Paisiello at the clavichord, by Marie Louise Élisabeth Vigée-Lebrun, 1791. ... Carl Maria von Weber Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber (born November 18 or November 19, 1786, in Eutin near Lübeck, Germany; died June 5, 1826, of tuberculosis, in London, England) was a German composer. ... Portrait Gioacchino Antonio Rossini (February 29, 1792 – November 13, 1868) was an Italian musical composer who wrote more than 30 operas as well as sacred music and chamber music. ... This article is about the musical term aria. ... Gaetano Donizetti Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (29 November 1797 – 8 April 1848) was a famous Italian opera composer. ... Giuseppe Verdi, by Giovanni Boldini, 1886 (National Gallery of Modern Art, Rome). ... Un Ballo in Maschera, or A Masked Ball, is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi with text by Antonio Somma. ... Franz Schubert. ...

Other famous barcarolles include the three Venetian gondolier's songs from Songs without Words, opus 19, opus 30 and opus 62 by Felix Mendelssohn; the "June" barcarolle from Tchaikovsky's The Seasons; Béla Bartók's "Barcarolla" from Out of Doors; several examples by Rubenstein, Balakirev, Glazunov, and MacDowell; and most impressively of all, the collection of thirteen by Gabriel Fauré for solo piano. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy at the age of thirty Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, known generally as Felix Mendelssohn (February 3, 1809 – November 4, 1847) was a German composer and conductor of Jewish parentage of the early Romantic period. ... A young Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1874) Tchaikovsky redirects here. ... A set of twelve short character pieces for solo piano by the Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893). ... Béla Bartók in 1927 For other uses, see Bartok (disambiguation). ... Anton Rubinstein Anton Grigorevich Rubinstein (Анто́н Григо́рьевич Рубинште́йн) (November 28, 1829 – November 20, 1894) was a Russian pianist, composer and conductor. ... Balakirevs grave at Tikhvin Cemetery. ... Alexander Konstantinovich Glazounov (or Glazunov or Glazunow) (August 10, 1865 – March 21, 1936) was a major Russian composer, as well as an influential music teacher. ... Edward and Marian MacDowell. ... Gabriel Urbain Fauré (May 12, 1845 – November 4, 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist, and teacher. ...

References and further reading

• The New Harvard Dictionary of Music, ed. Don Randel. Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard University Press, 1986. ISBN 0-674-61525-5
• Article "Barcarolle", in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 1980. ISBN 1-56159-174-2