Barcarolle
A barcarolle (/ˈbɑːrkəˌroʊl/; from French, also barcarole; originally, Italian barcarola or barcaruola, from barca 'boat')[1] is a traditional folk song sung by Venetian gondoliers, or a piece of music composed in that style. In classical music, two of the most famous barcarolles are Jacques Offenbach's "Belle nuit, ô nuit d'amour", from his opera The Tales of Hoffmann; and Frédéric Chopin's Barcarolle in F-sharp major for solo piano.
For the racehorse, see Barcarolle (horse). For a deep red rose, see Black rose (symbolism).Description[edit]
A barcarolle is characterized by a rhythm reminiscent of the gondolier's stroke, almost invariably in 6/8 meter at a moderate tempo.[2]
While the most-famous barcarolles are from the Romantic period, the genre was known well enough 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".[3]