Cantabile[kanˈtaːbile] is a term in music meaning to perform in a singing style. The word is taken from theItalian language and literally means "singable" or "songlike".^[1] In instrumental music, it is a particular style of playing designed to imitate thehuman voice. The German-language equivalent to cantabile isgesangvoll.^[2]

For 18th-century composers,cantabile is often synonymous with "cantando" (singing) and indicates a measuredtempo and flexible,legato playing. For later composers, particularly inpiano music,cantabile is the drawing out of one particular musical line against the accompaniment (comparecounterpoint).Felix Mendelssohn's six books ofSongs Without Words are short lyrical piano pieces with song-like melodies written between 1829 and 1845. A modern example is an instrumental piece byHarry James & His Orchestra, called "Trumpet Blues and Cantabile".

Acantabile movement, or simply a "cantabile", is the first half of a doublearia, followed by acabaletta. The cantabilemovement would be slower and more free-form to contrast with the structured and generally faster cabaletta.Louis Spohr subtitled his violin concerto No. 8"in moda d'una scena cantata," "in the manner of a sung [operatic] scene"; opera arias exerted a strong influence on the "singable"cantabile melodic line inRomantic writing for stringed instruments.

• Kennedy, Michael,The Oxford Dictionary of Music, Oxford University Press, 1985, p. 123.ISBN 0-19-311333-3
• Milsom, David,Theory and Practice in Late Nineteenth-century Violin Performance, Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2003, p. 113.ISBN 0-7546-0756-9
• Warrack, John and West, Ewan,The Oxford Dictionary of Opera, Oxford University Press, 1992, p. 115.ISBN 0-19-869164-5

• Italian opera terminology
• Classical music styles

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