soli
Pluralsolis
- 1Plural of solo. Rare, chiefly in classical music; solos is the usual plural.
The concert program listed four soli for the visiting pianist.
The concerto's slow movement contains two brief soli for the oboe.
Note
A musician's plural that keeps its Italian ending and belongs to writing about scores and performance. Kurt Birsak, in "Salzburg, Haydn, and the Clarinet" (The Clarinet, 1999), has the flute play solo while the oboe "has soli" in certain trios. Everyday English prefers solos. The same spelling also names the ensemble passage, which has its own plural, solis, so context decides whether soli means several solos or one group line.
- 2A musical passage played together by a group of players, typically all the players in one instrumental section, or one player drawn from each of several sections.
Like a small choir within the orchestra: several players sharing one melodic line.
The conductor cued the woodwind soli at the start of the second movement.
The arrangement gives the cellos a rich soli before the full orchestra returns.
Note
Despite its plural look, the word here is singular: one soli, several solis. Several players share the line, either a whole section or one player from each of several sections, but they play it as a single voice. An article is the surest sign of this sense, as in a soli or the woodwind soli. Without one, soli may simply be the plural of solo.
soli is a form of solo
solo, noun: A piece of music written for a single performer. Full entry
- Spelling
- solo → soli: irregular plural (no -s)
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