Da capo
Musical term meaning "from the beginning" / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Da capo (/dɑː ˈkɑːpoʊ/ dah KAH-poh, US also /də -/ də -, Italian: [da (k)ˈkaːpo]; often abbreviated as D.C.) is an Italian musical term that means "from the beginning"[1] (literally, "from the head"). The term is a directive to repeat the previous part of music, often used to save space, and thus is an easier way of saying to repeat the music from the beginning.
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In small pieces, this might be the same thing as a repeat. But in larger works, D.C. might occur after one or more repeats of small sections, indicating a return to the very beginning. The resulting structure of the piece is generally in ternary form. Sometimes, the composer describes the part to be repeated, for example: Menuet da capo.[further explanation needed] In opera, where an aria of this structure is called a da capo aria, the repeated section is often adorned with grace notes.
The word Fine (Ital. 'end') is generally placed above the stave at the point where the movement ceases after a 'Da capo' repetition. Its place is occasionally taken by a pause (see fermata)."[2]