A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Ostinato

by George Grove

OSTINATO, i.e. Obstinate. 'Basso ostinato' is the Italian term for a ground bass, which recurs obstinately throughout the composition. [See Ground Bass, vol. i. 634b.] 'I shall seem to you,' says ^[1]Mendelssohn, 'like a Basso ostinato, always grumbling over again, and at last becoming quite tiresome.'

[ G. ]

1. Letter Jan. 8, 1838.