A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Imbroglio

by William Smyth Rockstro

IMBROGLIO, i. e. confusion. A passage, in which the vocal or instrumental parts are made to sing, or play, against each other, in such a manner as to produce the effect of apparent, but, really, well-ordered confusion. A fine passage of this description occurs in the overture to 'Der Freischütz, at bars 145–154 of the Molto Vivace, though little trace of its intention is conveyed by the Pianoforte arrangement.

[ W. S. R. ]