SECCO RECITATIVE, accurately Recitativo Secco—that is, ‘dry
’—(also R. parlante; Germ. Einfache Recitativ, Sprechende Recitativ; Fr. Recitatif sans Orchestre; Eng. Simple Recitative; Plain Recitative.) The simplest form of Declamatory Music, unrelieved either by Melody, or Rhythm, and accompanied only by a Thoroughbass. [See Recitative.]
It was invented at Florence during the closing years of the 16th century; and first extensively employed, in the year 1600, in Peri's ‘Euridice,
’ and Cavaliere's ‘...