obbligato

plural obbligatos · plural obbligati · alternative obligato

1. entertainmentAn obbligato section; a prominent countermelody, often written to be played or sung above the principal theme (in a higher pitch range).First known use 19th c.

   The noise of the traffic outside the building on the boulevard made an unmusical obbligato to my thinking.

   1953, Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye, Penguin, published 2010, page 281