bel canto

Noun

bel canto (uncountable)

1. An elegant style of singing characterized by beautiful tone and an effortless technique.
   • 'Slender' West Lake lies on the western outskirts of Yangzhou. In the early years of the Manchu Emperor Kangxi, the area beside the lake, known as the Alley of Chiming Jade, was famed for its high concentration of houses of pleasure, and for the beauty of its singsong-girls (whose skills extended...1993 June, Louis Cha, “The Deer and the Cauldron—Two Chapters from a Novel by Louis Cha”, in John Minford, transl., edited by Geremie Barmé, East Asian History, number 5, Australian National...
   • Bel canto, or the art of beautiful singing, in 17th- and 18th-century Italy cultivated embellishment through ornaments such as cadenzas, scales, and trills which declined as the size, power, and volume of the orchestra increased.2012 March 22nd, David Blockley, Engineering: A Very Short Introduction (309), Oxford University Press, chapter 1: “From idea to reality”, page 5