rococo

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rococo (from Fr. rocaille, fancy rock-work in architecture). In visual arts term is applied to the delicate, diverting style of Watteau and his contemporaries. Mus. application refers to the decorative style e.g. of F. Couperin, and of certain works by Rameau and J. C. Bach. Musically it is a vague term, almost synonymous with galant and the 18th cent. and referring to works which are no longer baroque and not yet classical.

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